tuesday quickspinspinspinspin

Tuesday night quick spin, was a good ride, except i felt truly crappy going up rapaki, tho, i was pushing myself a bit, cos when i got to the gate at the top of the trees, i saw a guy on a red specialised disappearing round the corner up ahead (~200-300 m ahead) so i was pushing to catch him, but when i got to that corner he was just disappearing around another corner about as far or further ahead so i had to push a bit harder... by the next bend in the track i was a tad closer, but still some ways behind, as i entered the last climb i was probably 100 m behind him, slowly gaining, so that by the top i was only about 40 m behind... and he was paused at the top when i got there, but took off just as i got there. i rested a bit letting him get another 100 m or so ahead again and this other guy came up on a Titus (rare bike round here and $$$bling too, nice blue Chris King hubs etc, very flash). he'd obviously been chasing me, he was one of those guys who i'd say is a multisporter, really lean in the face, super fit looking, he had massive muscles on his legs and he hardly looked to be breaking a sweat, plus that Titus would have been worth maybe $6 to $8K... said hi to me, friendly like, and i let him go first. i stayed on his tail a bit, and a we both caught the guy i'd been chasing all the way up (i said to him, "i've had a helluva time catching you!" and he apologised!), over took him then the superfit guy got away on me, tho i was holding his tail for a bit... he was only a bit faster than me. anyway, all in all a good ride. up rapaki, right, along summit trail to vic park, down Thomsons Track to the Kiwi, then up to top of marley's hill, down single track back under the kiwi, down singletrack below dyers pass road, up into vic park, over and down into bowenvale... flowing very smoothly. my bike was really feeling in tune... til the gears started skipping, which was annoying, but will be tunable, (i couldnt get it tuned quickly as was running out of time), or at worst, i might need a new chain. i tweaked it at one stage along the summit trail, i was shifting onto the big ring and it over shifted, then kinda got tangled in the crank and pedal, but then i thought i'd gotten it and tried to pedal on, but it was a bit stuck, which may have bent a couple of links. i had to stop and unloop it, and from then on it seemed to just kinda clickity click every now and then. might need to get a new chain, but may just get by with a good lube and worst case (other than a new chain) would be to go through and swap out the bent links... i've got a few remainders of chains lying around, from the leftover links when replacing them. at least, gotta get something sorted, cos Saturday, i'll be riding in Hanmer! yeah. bunch of guys i know are getting together to ride and drink and eat bbq'd meat. should be good... update as soon as after i can.