DAY 15 - CYCLE REPAIRS AT CASTLEMAINE

I had a day off today, partly to recover from Mt Macedon yesterday, and partly to sort out an annoying creaking sound that drove me nuts when cycling up Macedon.

I thought it was the bottom bracket this time - I've done over 3000 miles on that bracket in 2.5 years since getting it, and it's coming to the end of its life.

Castlemaine

I was recommended the cycling shop at Castlemaine, a medium sized country town about 30 mins drive away that was important during the gold rush of the 1800's. In fact the town has a very olde worlde feel about it, some of the shop fronts look like they are straight out of the wild west. There's a lot of antique shops and a very large 2nd hand book shop. It has a lot of character and when I have a bit more time I'll return there to look at the gold diggings (and maybe do a bit of panning myself!)

Castlemaine Cycles

It was quite a result to get someone to look at this bike on Christmas Eve (with 1 hour's notice) so all credit to them for doing this. The mechanic, whose name is Bruce (yes), set about on the bike with expert hands while me and my wife chatted to the proprietor about cycling.

He told me all about the local challenging hills and in particular, Mt. Alexander, that I now have to add to my list. He recounted stories of his visit to the Tour de France and it was apparent he's a very keen road and MTB cyclist himself, it was so good to hear someone so enthusiastic.

He swears by the Giant TCR carbon road bikes, pulled one down off the pegs for me to have a look. Quite impressive oversizing on the frame, and the best advantage over my planet-X was the stiffness of the frame (mine is prone to rear brake rub on the climbs).

He also told us about how cycle security just isn't an issue around this area and no-one bothers to lock their bikes (or their cars or houses). However if you go into the city you have to lock up of course.

Meanwhile Bruce was pulling the Planet-X apart by now and had eliminated frame crack, bottom bracket, cranks, loose chainring, saddle, seat post and the main part of the wheel (which had just had new hub cups/bearings). The creaking noises were still there and Bruce was starting to get a little puzzled.

Then Bruce remembered he'd once had a bike with similar symptoms caused by a poor rear wheel skewer. So they greased that up and sent me off on a test ride up the hill. Bingo! Everything's good. I would never have guessed it was the skewer. One year's free Karma to Bruce!

So that's another good bike shop on the list, thanks Castlemaine Cycles.