Mystery Solved!
It was quite the saga, this issue I had with a mystery noise, a groaning that seemed to be coming from my bottom bracket, especially while coasting.
Reluctantly I loaded up my bike into the back of my wife's car (my rear seats do not fold down...who makes a car that has rear seats that don't fold down?!) and I headed out to PhilCast show sponsor Cranked Bike Studio to have them diagnose the issue.
The owner, Steve "Pratter" Pratt himself took it for a little test ride. He came back saying he heard nothing. Of course he didn't. Isn't it always that way?
He asked me to take it out and come right back to see if I hear anything. I did. Of course. It wasn't as bad as yesterday, but it did pop up on my test.
Next he had a younger mechanic (he claimed with better hearing) take it out for a little longer test ride.
The kid came back and said to me, "Nothing. I didn't hear a thing."
But he DID have a theory.
He figured because I said it was pretty loud at times while coasting, that it was NOT the bottom bracket. And when you think about it, the rhythm of the noise made it seem wheel related.
The kid's theory came from my rear brake and brake handle. He said it felt mushy and the handle was not releasing back out crisply like it should when you let go of the lever.
Then he looked at the rear brake and sure enough, at times it did not seem to be releasing fully.
So he took the bike inside, cleaned and lubed up the brake handle and that seemed to allow the rear brakes to snap back out fully when released. His theory was that the brake handle was all gunked up inside and randomly would not fully release the brake, thereby causing a brake pad to rub on the rim making that noise.
All I could do was try it out this afternoon.
I went on a 17-mile ride on another glorious weather day here and guess what?
The bike was as quiet as a church on a Monday afternoon.
All seems to be well in bike town once again....until of course the next thing goes off.
Thanks CRANKED BIKE STUDIO of NEENAH!
Oh, and here is the picture that I never got to post from the other day....
This is that little walking path I now ride on as my turnaround point in a Lake Loop lap.
I now take the little path around this pond that has a couple of fountains going inside.
The winding little path is actually good practice at bike handling skills because there are some sharp bends along this thing and even while going slowly through here can be a challenge to hit just right.
Any way you slice it, this path makes for a much more pretty way to turnaround as opposed to just doing that in the parking lot like I used to do there.
RIDE ROUTE
2+2
Lake Loop 2 laps + Neighborhood Crit 2 laps
17 miles/13.4 average mph
Sunny and warm, 80, Wind 5-10 mph
2020 SEASON MILES
Indoor: 125.6
Outdoor: 633.2