HBR Addendum

Some additional notes from the Hilly Billy Roubaix:

• I Frankensteined a crankset from some parts I had laying around. I swapped the 36t ring from my Gossamer 'cross crankset with an extra 34t ring that wasn't being used. The result was a 46/34 coupled with my existing 11-28 cassette. I probably would have been fine with the 36t ring, but the 34t had to have helped at least a little. Having the 46 in front worked out well, too. I was able to make use of it a lot more frequently than I would have expected, but there was never a point where I was out of high gears. It's not like I'd have been going any faster with a 50t big ring, and sticking with the 46 meant that I didn't have to screw around with the front derailleur.

• There were descents where I thought my knees would explode and my hands would fly off of my hoods. I've never done any downhill mountain biking, but I can only imagine what kind of punishment that entails.

• Overall I finished 58th of 116 (not including DNFs). In the Men's Under 40, I was 26th of 50. I could have been 2nd among Clydesdales and 7th in Women's. Just saying.

• My Blue CX6.5 probably weighs five or six pounds less than my Trek Portland. I think that probably helped this year, too.

• The Blue got a bath yesterday. It's squeaky clean again. The only reminders of the HBR are a scuffed shift lever and a little notch taken out of that hood. I picked a line on one rutted road where the rut just ran into my line. Before I could come to a complete and stable stop I fell over. Oh well.

That's all I have for now.