I know you’re all anxiously awaiting to hear about the whereabouts of my singlespeed, which, as of  Tuesday, is at Niner headquarters getting the mysterious blemish in the layup near the headtube inspected. I heard back from tech guy Brad yesterday, and they’re replacing it under warranty. So, today, I’m pulling my replacement out of the Outdoors, Inc. stock and getting my race rig set up for Shenandoah this weekend.

I’m taking this “tear down/buildup” opportunity to swap cranks. I’ll be going back to my converted truvativ NOIR crank. I’ve been running the e*thirteen singlespeed crank– sweet because of the 30mm spindle, light weight, and relatively low cost. Not sweet because I’ve killed two bottom bracket bearings on it this race season. I think that in order to make bearings that are 30mm I.D. that also fit a standard threaded BB shell, the bearings just end up being too skinny to be durable. It also tried to loosen itself twice over Fool’s Gold weekend. My final word on it- if you don’t ride in poor conditions, go for it. If you were born in a brier patch, then stick to something a bit more reliable. I have the blackbox ceramic bottom bracket on my NOIR, and it’s survived the worst conditions you could possibly throw at a bottom bracket- specifically DSG 2009 (race photos and aftermath) and Fool’s Gold 2010.

I’ll also be going from the Rotor Q-ring back to a standard round 32t. Why? Well, first off, the chainstay clearance thing bugs me (I can’t run the EBB in any position in the rear half of the EBB or else the larger part of the Q-ring contacts my chainstay). Also, I am suspicious that the rotor ring may be causing me to lose a little traction on slippery climbs since it works like a larger chainring on the more powerful “downstroke” of pedaling. Sure, I love how I can more comfortably spin a higher cadence with it, but let’s face it- at races, I spend much more time on climbs than I do trying to spin a higher cadence. I could be totally wrong, though, so I plan on giving it another shot this winter at Syllamo where the stakes aren’t quite as high.

Other, less notable changes?

I finally rebuilt the front wheel I tacoed at Eureka springs, so I’m going to set my marginally heavier SS wheelset up to race this weekend since the RDO is wearing the race wheels I built up with aerolite spokes.

I got a set of new brake pads, too.

It was a little slow going, but my legs are recovered & re-tapered from Fool’s Gold, and I had an amazing “tune-up” ride yesterday. This weekend should be exciting- I’m sitting 4th in the points standings right now, but if Potter and Barclay both show up and beat me (unfortunately, it’s not improbable), I’ll drop to 6th. It’d still be an amazing finish to the year, though, considering how badass the NUE series competitors are. Do I keep playing it safe and go for my strong, steady ride the entire 100 miles? Or do I ride outside myself and see what happens?