I spent some time today, cleaning and waxing my race chain.  A clean and correctly lubricated chain, is another one of the small things that can add speed on race day.  Minimizing resistance in the drivetrain means less wasted energy, and even though the gains are small, they all add up.

I have written before about waxing my chain.  Since I wrote that blog post however, I have invested in an ultrasonic cleaner.  At a little under $80, this has been a great purchase.  My chains, and other components come out of this cleaner, squeaky clean.  The results are so much better than just using a degreaser and brush.

I rotate through several chains on my bike, and tend to clean and wax them all at the same time.  This minimizes the actual time spent doing the maintenance, and also uses less cleaning materials.  I have one chain that is a more expensive and higher quality.  I keep this chain just for races, and getting this chain cleaned and waxed was the main focus today.

I will put the ‘race chain’ on my bike during the week of the race.  I still have a good deal of miles to ride before the race, so I will use another chain for those rides.  My next ride is tomorrow, but with terrible weather forecasted for Pittsburgh, it looks like it will be three hours on the trainer.

So cleaning and waxing my race chain, is another one of the things I do to prepare for racing.  I hope you are enjoying me writing about preparing to race.  I have enjoyed writing about it. It is really getting me excited, about heading to Chattanooga.