The Chain Gang Cycle Tours

The Big Dartmoor Cleanup

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With the Dartmoor Challenge only days away, and with almost no preparation on the training side, it becomes even more important that the bike looks the part.

Apart from looking good at the start of the ride, and attracting admiring looks from other riders, a clean, smooth drive train gives me my best shot at actually completing the ride, so there’s a powerful incentive for me to get on with this job.

The Problem

Today’s jobs are the chain, the rear derailleur and the rear cassette.

Here Is Our Toolkit

I started with the Chain Cleaner, a wonderful piece of specialist equipment. You open up the chain cleaner, fill it with degreaser, clamp it round the chain (middle chain ring, 3^rd smallest sprocket) . . .

The Magic Chain Cleaner

. . . and start turning the pedals. After a few dozen turns it’s worth wiping the chain with a cloth, but basically you keep spinning the pedals until the chain looks shiny new.

Shiny Chain, Dirty Cassette

Next is the cassette. You need some special tools here, which make the job very easy. Without them you’ve got no chance: chain whip, cassette removal tool, and either the correct spanner, or an adjustable. Holding the cassette still with the chain whip, insert the removal tool into the cassette locking ring and turn anti-clockwise.

Lovely Tools

Then it’s like magic. The locking ring unscrews and you just remove all the sprockets off the cassette.

We get a close-up of some pretty serious dirt here . . .

Filthy Cassette

. . . but if you’re able to separate the sprockets the job of cleaning them, with a cloth and more degreaser is an easy one. Be careful, between each sprocket is a spacer, to ensure the indexing works correctly. Don’t lose any, and I’m afraid they have to get cleaned too.

Once all the parts are clean, it’s time for reassembly. Each sprocket has an outside and an inside, and an extra large spline so that provided the writing is on the outside, you can only put the sprockets on correctly. Careful to put the sprockets and spacers on in the correct order, and as the cassette is reassembled you’ll notice there is a very specific pattern to the sprockets. They’re not the same all the way round, and they’re not symmetrical. They have special features to help with smooth gear changing and dirt dispersal.

Looking Better . . .

. . . And Better

Put the wheel back on, and your bike has been truly transformed.

Beautiful

I put the chain cleaner on one more time to make it squeaky clean.

Try The Dirt Test

Very Important. Remember, there is no lubricant at all on the drive train now, so you must lubricate your chain again before you ride. But does that look beautiful or what?

All Ready For A Bit Of Lubricant

Next step, the Chain Set, and the derailleurs, but we’ve made a great start.

The Dartmoor Cycle Challenge 2008

Dr Bike Pouring a Drink

Next Sunday, my friend Doctor Bike and I are entered for the Dartmoor Cycle Challenge . It’s a 100 mile bike ride round Dartmoor, which for those who don’t know is an area of moorland in the southwest of England, probably most famous as the home of the Hound of the Baskervilles.

The key thing about the Dartmoor Challenge, of course, is that I haven’t prepared properly for it. Gulp! When it’s 6 months away it seems like such a great idea. May always sounds beautiful and sunny in October, and of course 6 months is plenty of time to get ready for a long bike ride. One week isn’t enough time, and anybody who’s spent the last 2 months in the UK will tell you May isn’t quite so lovely right now either.

Last September we did Stage 2 from the Tour of Britain together, which ended up being 130 miles, and included some serious climbing over Exmoor and the infamous Porlock Hill. There are hills in the Dordogne of course, and in Provence and Tuscany. But there ain’t nothing like this, or I don’t suppose we’d ever have any repeat custom!

In fact, let’s celebrate Porlock Hill just for a minute. It’s the UK’s steepest A road, and they’ve had to build a shallower toll road to enable caravans and coaches to get up the hill. This is the route the Tour of Britain took up the hill. But not me and Andy, aka Dr Bike!

Here are some great photos

Here’s a video of a drive down Porlock Hill.

And here is something wonderful. A bunch of exuberant lunatics freeboarding down the final, steepest corner of Porlock Hill. I could never have done this in my life, and was never brave anyway, but I love watching other people doing it:

Back to Dartmoor

Bernard Climbing First Hill

I’ve found some photos of me and Andy doing the last Dartmoor Devil. I wish someone had told me how stupid I looked in my blue hat and Chianti cycle shirt.

It’s a lovely hat, and a lovely shirt (thank you Julian and Tanya respectively, both coincidentally Chain Gang Tuscany alumni), but cycling gear really only suits people in good shape, like Dr Bike. What a fashion disaster!

The ‘Devil is specifically a climbing event, where the organisers try to take you over the steepest, longest climbs they can find. It’s always held on the last Sunday in October, and it’s meant to be very hard.

My only hope is that the Dartmoor Challenge takes a more forgiving view of the Dartmoor hills. Otherwise, frankly, I’ve got no chance. I should be able co-ordinate the clothing a bit better though.