As Kanza is drawing near, I’ve taken to making a few “last minute” tweaks to the Cysco. I’d originally purchased a Problem Solvers EBB 46 for use in the PF30 bottom bracket. My thinking was that it’d make swapping between singlespeed and geared one step easier. However,when I installed it the first time, a couple of things threw up some red flags- number one was the number of various spacers and wave washers (and a reducer shim for the NDS to make a GXP crank work) required to fit various cranks into the bottom bracket.
Once I’d read through the instructions and picked my necessary spacers out of the stack that came with the EBB, I went to install it, and realized something worse than spacers… it’s an incredibly loose fit in the bottom bracket of the frame. My first instinct was to double check that the frame itself wasn’t out of tolerance, and a quick test-fit of a standard PF30 BB revealed that the tolerance of the frame was perfect. The EBB is, literally, so loose in the frame that it rattles around until you torque its two bolts. I torqued it to spec, and, as you’d expect, it started making noise on the first ride.

I can tolerate a little EBB noise on a singlespeed. I’m not one of those people who is super OCD about it. However, I’m not going to listen to it on every single ride for the rest of that bike’s life. So, I put a Wheels Manufacturing PF30 Outboard Bearing BB in it, and it’s totally silent and happy. I may end up trying the newest PF30EBB offering from Niner at some point (if it’s ever actually available as an aftermarket part), because I’m not at all impressed with the Problem Solvers one. The best I can say about it is that it didn’t slip.

Also in the “tweak” category is a ti seatpost. I’ve been waiting on a backordered Niner RDO post. During my time with no RDO post, I’ve been using a standard Thompson, and I’ve found it to be noticeably less comfortable than a carbon post. So, since Poolboy Matt was wanting a Ti post for his bike, he bought a Salsa Regulator post, and is letting me borrow it through Kanza. When I swap that out, I’m also going to change to a different (but equally as tested over long distances) saddle- the getting-hard-to-find Selle Italia Max Flite Trans Am. I have a couple that I’ve been hoarding for situations just like this.

While I’m waiting on that, I’ll do a final test fit of everything today and make sure that all the bags and lights and whatnot can go where they need to go.  Stuff is generally falling into place well- I’ve got my nutrition dialed (mostly Gu Energy Roctane drink, gels, and Chomps, with additional Bonk Breaker Bites thrown in for some solid/easily digestible calories). I’m also using Gu Brew blueberry pomegranate (2x the sodium than regular Gu Brew) as a means of loading up on sodium before (and likely during) the race. Since reading this article from Outside Magazine, I decided to give extra sodium a shot, and, it seems that even on the longer/hotter rides I’ve done, my ability to stay hydrated and keep sweating is noticeably improved.  We’ll see how it goes when the distance and heat are multiplied.