Leftward

Diagnose this:

In the past 4 years, I have owned four pairs of Crankbrothers pedals. Two Eggbeaters, two Quattros. None of those pairs are still usable, because all four Left pedals are all loosey-goosey. Only one of the Right pedals is similarly worn. It is the Left pedals that are chattery, like the bearings are loose.

For what it's worth, I am a righty. However, I trackstand with my left foot forward, I start races with my left foot clipped in, and I unclip the right foot when I stop at a traffic light. I don't have a particular tendency to crash on one side over the other, but I have yet to crash horrifically - spectacularly, yes, but not horrifically.

Why are my left pedals dying?

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My legs have felt poopy ever since Granogue. In part, I blame the latest pedal failure, because it bothered my left knee and definitely probably maybe changed the way I pedal. Mostly the problem is rooted in my inability to ride consistently.

Ben Swift, who's having a breakthrough race in Italy, said in an interview that he starts and ends each ride with five 30-sec sprints. Given my embarrassing lack of top-end speed, and especially given the "only crits ever" race scene in these parts, it seems like a good idea to add this to my utterly unstructed training regimen. After four training rides with this addition... my legs feel poopy. But that's been going on for weeks.

Yesterday, my legs felt poopy. For dinner, I tried a new (new to me) recipe: bacon-wrapped chicken. Today, my legs felt poopy. Clearly, bacon-wrapped chicken has, at the very least, no adverse effect on my riding.

No good experiment has a sample size of 1. Therefore, I will strive to have bacon-wrapped chicken as often as possible. For science.












(The secret is brown sugar)