Not very smart!! Live and learn.

Boy, did I almost screw up. I was out on a long ride Sunday. At about 40 miles a clinking, rattling noise developed that just made no sense (and was driving me nuts). The noise sounded as if it was in the front end of my bike. I only heard the noise on "rough" pavement. When the road was smooth I heard nothing. While riding I checked the stem cap, crank play, shoe cleat and bounced the front end and couldn't hear anything. There was no chain slap against the chainstay. Nothing was malfunctioning so I kept riding. At 50 miles I stopped to eat a sandwich I brought and checked some more potentials - stem play, brake pads, water bottle cages - ah ha! One cage was a little loose. I didn't see how a carbon cage on a metal frame could make the noise I heard but I tightened it and got rolling again. It was many miles before I hit some rough pavement, I think its called chip and seal asphalt. The noise started again. Dang! I left it alone until Thursday night and started pulling things off the bike. I couldn't make the noise on the bike stand or while bouncing it. I knew that noises travel on metal frames. A noise in the rear can travel to the front. So I started taking things apart. I removed the chain and then rear wheel and leaned the rear wheel against the wall. I thought for a second and bounced the rear wheel - faint noise. I shook it from side to side and A HA! My cassette (the rear cogs) was loose. What the??? Then I remembered, when I put the cassette on before the TN trip I tightened the cassette lockring but backed off to add a little oil later. Never added the oil and became a disaster waiting to happen. I had noticed a little shifting miss, but I thought that my chain needed relube sooner than normal. Actually, it was just another clue. Most bike noises are not normal. They are often trying to tell you something. What could have been the worst case scenario had it come really loose? Well, it can't come totally off because of the dropout. I would have had to periodically get off the bike, hand tighten the lockring and ride until it came loose again. I probably would have reduced cassette gear changes and relied on chain ring changes. Oh yeah, you need two special tools for cassette maintenance. Neither which is practical to lug around on a ride. Of course when cassette work is done right, you don't need them on a ride anyway. Doh!

A Black Pro Cyclist

African-American pro cyclist Erik Saunders takes his ground-breaking literally

They were elbow to elbow and wheel to wheel as they barreled around the last corner and made an all-out sprint for the finish line.

Almost 100 Tour de Georgia cyclists made that turn onto Lumpkin Boulevard within a few seconds of each other Wednesday afternoon, forming a blurry collage as they bore down on the Columbus Civic Center.

It was an art gallery on wheels, a Jackson Pollack painting moving at nearly 40 miles per hour.

But if you looked closely at the peloton as it pedaled by in a breeze of yellow, blue, green, orange and red jerseys, you saw color on every surface but the faces and limbs of the riders.

The exception was Erik Saunders, the only black cyclist in the Tour de Georgia field and one of only a handful worldwide who make their living in the sport. While Saunders stood out superficially from a field that seems as homogenous as the inside of a salt shaker, he doesn't attach any special significance to what he does.

He's just a guy who gets paid to ride a bicycle. The faster, the better.

"I kind of feel uncomfortable making a whole big deal out of that," said Saunders, the 28-year-old captain of the Ofoto Lombardi Sports team. "There are a lot of black people worldwide who race their bikes. But I'm proud when other people want to talk about sport cycling. They may see it (race) as a way to relate to me, and I think that's cool."

Saunders finished third in a timed sprint and led a 37-mile breakaway during Thursday's second stage of the five-day Tour de Georgia.

While Saunders doesn't consider himself a pioneer, he realizes his visibility in the sport might ultimately help broaden its reach. Black professional cyclists aren't so rare in Europe and the Caribbean, and Saunders sees evidence that African-American children are starting to see their bicycles as more than transportation devices.

He pointed to youth riding clubs in Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest as examples of how the complexion of the sport may change.

"It is special because there are a lot of black folks who don't know a lot about the sport," said Saunders, a Richmond, Va., native who now resides in Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif. "They get excited about it because they see me and think it's cool.

"I try to be an ambassador for the sport with whomever."

So far, so good.

But don't tell Saunders he's a ground-breaker. Unless, of course, you're talking about his hobbies, home improvement and landscaping.

If the genial Saunders ever retires from cycling, he could probably become the host of "Trading Spaces." In addition to conversing freely in Southern California surfspeak phrases like "gnarly" and "no worries," Saunders could also tell you what sort of pressure-treated lumber to buy for your new deck.

"I like working on my house," said Saunders, who decided to turn pro while a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. "I put a veranda on my house and poured a concrete slab for that.

"If there's anything that gets me motivated, it's that."

Whether Saunders wants to admit it or not, his presence in professional cycling may help build a more inclusive future for the sport.

One stage at a time.