The Dirty Side of Riding

It's inevitable that dirt will contaminate something on your bike. It doesn't matter how you try and prevent it, dirt is persistent and finds a way. Even with all the advanced space age polymers that protect like the secret service. Seals that could keep the pope out of church on Sunday. And lubricants that can turn a sled saucer into a sound barrier blasting missile. Dirt, grease, grime, mud, sand, gum, snow, rain, and road apples all find a way.

Cross is an enabler. An enabler to assist dirt find it's way into those curious places that usually only your mechanic knows about. And Cross enabled the hell out of dirt this year!

{Dirty}

This weekend I finally broke down to massage my poor Rainier and give it a nice little spa treatment. Making my way around the bike and the damage became more and more evident.
And what started out as a simple facial and manicure turned into full blown reconstruction with elective surgery.

{Going under the 'wrench'}

{Yup...That's the Top of my headtube!}

{Can you figure out which one was working?}

{Phil stood his muddy ground in the battle for my BB}

Brake cables and housing need replacement, along with the brake pads. Every bolt would need to be removed and re-greased. Chain is to be thrown away and replaced. The Headset and Bottom Bracket...once removed there was an executive decision made to replace them both. The NonDrive side BB bearing contained more dirt than bearings. And the lower cup of my headset scattered, to the various nether regions of my basement workshop, like cockroaches when the lights come on.

The conditions this cross season were pretty extreme. I threw my leg over my Rainier to race only 5 times, with weather 'happening' at every one. The only 'dry' race I participated in (in more ways than one...stupid UCI) happened in the Nevada desert. However...I think we can all learn a valuable lesson here...

Cross is more fun when you get muddy in the NW than staying clean in the Nevada desert.