The back-up plan

About a third of the way up the last hill of the night — big-ring hill — on Wednesday, the progression of sounds that came from my rear shifter went as follows: click, click, crunch.

The shift paddle — that little squarish-looking guy here — was no longer ratcheting to pull cable. It was just crunching. Oh, and releasing cable, too. Which means as I was fiddling with it, I was shifting to a harder gear on the back.

Luckily, we were just a few miles from the shop, so I threw it into the big ring and rode it out.

It's kind of funny how my thought progression went as I realized the problem:

"Oh, crap — broken shifter. Eh, it's under warranty. What will I ride, though? I'll just throw my road wheels and crank on the Cronus CX and get on with it."

A few years ago, the progression would not have been so quick. It would have ended up in full-on panic mode. I'm lucky to be able to (mostly) avoid such situations these days.

As it happens, I now have pretty much the same bike as Mark's "pro-build" Cronus CX, except mine has better wheels and pedals. (And I prefer clear frame protectors over finishing tape. Good frame protectors — like the ones that come with 6-Series Madones — will do what finishing tape does.) Everything else, though? Pretty much the same.

Though I really, really like my Madone (it's bordering on love ... maybe), I have to admit I'm pretty psyched about spending the next week or so on the Cronus. Maybe it's because it's a kick-ass bike, but more likely it's because riding different (awesome) bikes is exciting and fun and all of that.

In the meantime, there's a new shifter en route — I'll be here Monday or Tuesday, probably, because SRAM tech support is very, very good. For now, I'll enjoy the ride.