out of the box

"Nothing new on race day" A rule that every racer should live by but if I am going to try out the 1 x 9 gearing it is perfect timing to make the switch the night before 12 hours of racing tomorrow. So with that I started the cut...or grind.

(you cant find it....grind it)

Inspired by Paul and Mike who are both some of the fastest guys I know (and both riding 1x9 setups) I know it is time to test it out in a race. When I rode the Temecula course this week I never got out of my middle ring anyways so it should be a gentle transition. I am just not going to have an option to go "too" slow and if I am not racing solo this time around I should try my hand at the fastest lap of the day.

(simplified and race ready)

So with that I dropped my front derailleur, shifter, cable and housing. Gridded my big ring into a bash guard and lost my granny up front. Although I had a chain stop up front my seat tube was too wide at the bottom (due to the carbon connection) and so I got ghetto on the front chain guide. I mended a tire iron to a light mount and secured with zip ties. Nice! It has plenty of vertical coverage so when my Q ring gets delivered I will have plenty of space up and down the tire iron to keep my chain where it should be. Ghetto fabulous!!

(somewhere in there are some 44 teeth)

"If you don't get out of the box you live in the box" - Now its time to get some sleep and rest up for the big ride tomorrow. We have a nice big group and it looks to be a dry and fast day!