164 – Had Enough

My battered, scarred rear derailleur on my mountain bike is not long for this world. It’s been shifting sloppily for some time, and after this Spring’s endeavors, it just isn’t holding up any more. It’s been adjusted, and lubed, and cleaned, and tightened, but as my trusty local bike mechanic told me after the last race at MoMBA, “it’s had enough.”

And not only that, but the whole drivetrain is fairly well used up. The chain is stretched, the cassette is worn, and the chainrings up front aren’t exactly beautiful. So I’m faced with the undesirable scenario of spending money on a bike I don’t anticipate keeping for too much longer. The idea was to ride it out for the rest of the season, and then upgrade to a 29er (likely a HobGoblin) for next year. But I have at least 5 races left in the MTB season, possibly more, and I just can’t keep racing when I can’t shift.

Still, I can’t be upset. This drivetrain is original to the bike, and has seen thousands of miles of hard use, rough terrain, more than a few crashes, and only sporadic maintenance at times. Things wear out, and sometimes it’s not on your schedule. So I’ll take her down to Village next week, after my trip to West Virginia, and have them give her some much-needed lovin’. I know she’ll get me back.