Even Steven

After last week-end's fabulous weather, April returned with a vengeance. Rain, wind and cold all week long. The only outside ride all week was when Russ forced Elvis to ride in the cold rain on Tuesday. The weather radar looked green when we started out but at some point it turned yellow and then orange. Yes, light rain to a downpour. At least we avoided any radar red thunderstorms. I suppose a rainy week evens things out after a summer-like week-end. Nonetheless, it was time to give the bike a thorough spring cleaning.

During the cleaning I noted that the rear wheel hub wasn't spinning smoothly. There was quite a bit of drag. Time to breakdown and overhaul the rear hub. This process is not nearly as frightening as it may sound and in fact, only took 15 minutes. As a reader service of ElvisKennedy.com, we provide you with complete details on how to do this HERE. You visit the site - Elvis provides useful information. We're even!

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Darin had a rough day at the Whitnall Park Criterium race. Here is his report;

Thirty eight minutes into our race and some guy coming out of the turn going up the hill on the big climb lost his rear end and "high sided" (a motorcycle racing term that means when you are under acceleration and leaned over the rear tire looses traction and slides and then regains traction and flips the rider over the bike and on to the tarmac) and I was right behind him. I had no reaction time to do anything and his sideways bike on the ground made for a not so good ramp for me to ride over. I broadsided him and flipped butt over head and got ran over by my teammate Mike (who is not a small guy!) and then other people went down in a chain reaction. I was up on my feet pretty fast and tried to remount only to realize that my chain was off. After a few attempts I was up and going but the pack was too far ahead to catch. I TT'd it home with Rudy from team Wheaton (who also went down), he said he was too damaged to take a turn on the front but was nice enough not to sprint by me at the end.
 
When I downloaded the race off of my Polar bike computer I was doing 20 mph when I hit and went flying. I was happy just to get up and finish the race. There was a record amount of guys in our race, 82. I finished 55th, I think I was in the top ten when I went down with three laps to go. I would of got a free lap if it was earlier in the race but it was not to be.
 
As I sit here right now (ten hours after the race) my right wrist might have a break in it, it's pretty swollen and black and blue. The 600 milligrams of ibuprofen have taken most of the pain away. I will wait until Monday to go to the doctor for X-Rays. If I go on the weekend it could cost $200, if I go Monday it's $6! (Ed. note: must be nice to have a great health insurance plan). The nice nurse on the phone at Elmbrook said I can wait until Monday and get it looked at and it won't do any more damage than what is already done.

Monday Update: The wrist is not broken. Just trashed. Darin says he'll be toeing the line this coming Saturday. Hmmm... This has the making of a great story. Similar to; Tyler riding with a broken collarbone, Floyd riding with a failing hip, Brett Favre playing with turf toe, Ronald Reagan running the country without his mental faculties. You get the idea. Anyway, Darin crashes and gets hurt, but a legend may be in the making. Things even out.

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The following is from the Elvis Reports - You Decide file;

Elvis took a trip to Chicago and was accosted by this fella here;

But the next day everything evened out when Elvis saw this little display while out riding his bike;