My cyclocross race today ended before it even started.  I was just about to start my warm-up, when I tested the brakes and noticed the front was really weak.  Huh?  I kept squeezing it and it snapped.  I checked the cable and it had come out of it’s anchor and frayed.  #@(*#(*@!!! I tried to cut the frayed cable, but none of the cutting apparatuses that other racers lent me worked.  With about 30 minutes before my start, I gave up and headed up to the course to watch.

I ran into one of my teammates, Mike Seguin, who had heard about my situation and just happened to have a spare straddle cable in his car.  Sweet!  We headed back down to the parking lot only to find that it wouldn’t fit my brakes.  Damn.  With 20 minutes to go, it wasn’t worth trying to jerry rig it together.  I headed home disgusted, but finsally realized what had caused the problem.  I had forgotten to release the brake cable when I clamped the front wheel in place on my bike rack.  Doh!

So, here’s a tip…if you have a bike rack that clamps between the front wheel and fork (like the Thule T2), don’t forget to release the cable on your cantilever brakes!

To fix the brake, I found some straddle wires online but I might just try a derailleur cable.  Since I didn’t race, I ended up getting a run in and a race simulation on the Computrainer.  I was happy to see my legs are back to form, but in a way that makes we wonder how well I would have done if my straddle cable not snapped.