Back to normal

Did the usual Thursday evening SWC pizza ride tonight, 16.2 miles near Round Lake. Some hills, enough to get me down on the small chainring, but no leg problems. Everything feels fine. But then there's the bike...

The rear indexing is out of whack by just a little, enough to jump two cogs instead of one, or sometimes not quite one, requiring an extra nudge. I thought I noticed some of this on Monday's ride as well, but tonight confirmed it. So I'm about to learn a new skill in that area, courtesy of my Park Tools manual.

The rear fender is cracked where it clips to the chain stay bridge. That may have been a result of laying the bike down, either on Monday's ride or tonight in the back of the car. May need to find a creative way to use a zip tie and make that a little more secure.

The front chain guide seems a little crooked, and also a little too far from the chain when on the small ring. I've been having overshifting chain throws in that direction much more commonly than I would like. I knew this wouldn't be the perfect solution (which would be 3 new matched chain rings), but I'd like to get it working better than it is, if possible. On Monday, it happened on a downshift, but I think I was trying to help it along somehow when it was having difficulty. Tonight, it happened on an upshift, but I think I needed to continue UPWARD instead of trying to goose it back on to the small ring when it failed to grab right away. Touchy situation...

Meanwhile, I've been reading a lot about salt. More on that as it sorts itself out, but I think the bottom line is that I need to continue the meds, but supplement the sodium on an extended ride of over 2 hours. Will confirm that with the doc at my postponed appointment in a few weeks. I have replenishment numbers worked out and everything, courtesy of several reputable-looking web sites, but will be very conservative in this approach until then.