CTS Day 2 - Waking Up

Waking up for Day 2 was not as difficult as I anticipated and prepping for the 3.5K neutral ride to the start was going well until my cabin mate mentioned that he had needed to change his brake pads after yesterday’s bogs.  Panic - calm down - deal with it - split second over.  I had not checked the condition of my pads until this point and discovered that the rear had worn unevenly and one side was completely gone.  Worse, a further casualty of my gear reduction while packing was the very specifically sized torx bit required to change these pads out.  The Trek Store tech had bits too large and too small and the Norco techs also did not have the correct bit until the manager dug a little deeper into his chest and found the right size on a multi-tool.  Fresh pads on the rear I headed for the start and made it just in time to push the bike under the start timing gate to scan my chip before they started tearing it down.  Whew!

Those of you paying attention will notice that I only changed my rear pads.  I run Formula R1 hydraulic disc brakes on the Mojo SL and they are far and away the best brakes I have ever used.  However finding stock of pads at the end of the season for these relatively esoteric units turned out to be more difficult than I had anticipated.  I had to resort to mail ordering a set of pads from MEC which worked out great except that I underestimated my needs and only brought one set.  This will matter in a moment…

Day 2 started with a good climb (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49743019) which the Mojo is very adept at and since I had done quite a bit of training for climbs so I passed all of the short course (non competitive category) folks quickly.  Got some encouragement from the previous night’s dinner table companions on the way up and was rocking the first section passing the back of the long course rider pack.  Trail conditions were good and since we were on solid Canadian Shield rock the puddles were not muddy and you could roll right through most and just get wet – not muddy.  This was much better for the brakes but, unfortunately, since I had not changed the front pads there was still enough grit to finish off the work of day 1 and shortly I was riding without front brakes.  I kept my speed in check for turns and downhills so even the reduced braking force of only my rear brakes would still be sufficient to keep me out of the weeds.  I continued to make good time as the terrain was fairly wide open for the second half of the day and my legs were strong.  At one point I was stopped by a man on a mountain bike heading the other direction on one of the road sections when he asked:
“Where do you get into the woods”
“I’m not sure but I’m following these ribbons so I know it we must be on the right track”
“We? Ribbons?  Is this some sort of event”
“Yes <laugh> I’ve already ridden 50K!”
“What’s it called”
“Crank the Shield”
“OK, good luck and I’ll join next year”
I continued but doubt had entered my mind and there were no ribbons for quite some time.  As I was considering the odds that I had gone wrong and was not looking forward to having to climb all these hills to get back to a known good location when I spotted a rider stopped at the top of a hill ahead.  He saw me as well likely coming to the same conclusion (blind leading the blind) started off again in order to not give up his spot easily.  I gradually reeled him in, spoke briefly as I passed to confirm that we were indeed on the right path and then continued pushing along.  I found the key on these stable road sections was to keep my heart rate very near 150BPM to ensure I wasn’t burning energy too quickly but while still pushing as hard as my training would allow.  Predictably, when I was next forced to dismount for water he caught up.  We rode together in the great section of single track – normally I’m very fast at this style of riding on this bike but without a front brake I was taking it easy.  This rest pace allowed me to sprint hard from the 1KM sign and finish well ahead my impromptu riding partner.

A great dinner on Day 2 followed by some time spent attempting to source a set of pads for my front brakes.  No luck with Trek and even though Norco had called the nearest store in Bracebridge to send their entire inventory up only the Shimano models had sufficient supply.  All the others, Avid, Hayes, Hope, Formula, etc – were out of luck.  I now had to decide whether or not to start day 3 with a known mechanical weakness.  Time for a massage and some sleep before making any decisions.