Fired my mechanic today - for good this time.

Hot afternoon for the Crit yesterday - flat, fast, with a tight corner where everybody would bottleneck - though no crashes, no blood, no ambulance. Started at the very back but wound my way through the field bit by bit & found myself at the pointy end of the pack with about 7-8 laps to go. Too early. Field reshuffled & was still sitting in decent position and managed to finish 13th on the stage. Didn't have a need to shift my front derailleur - stayed in the big chainring the whole race.

Today for the CR we enjoyed a full road closure just like the big boys - props to the Cascade Classic organization. Doing 4 laps of a 17+ mile circuit, with one moderate 1/2 mile climb and one steeper (15%) section. I started again at the very tail end of the bunch - this time by design, trying to minimize my exposure and see what was transpiring up the road. A few attacks early but everything under control as nobody was seeing anything get away on the 1st lap. The moderate climb up to the feed zone was a big chainring climb so I only had to worry about shifting once per lap - up the steeper section. After the first time up the steep section I shifted just fine and was a happy camper. We lost several folks on the first lap & I was hoping to see a few more fall back on subsequent laps.

Little did I know that I would get what I asked for. Second time up the feed zone hill again in the big chainring no problem. 2nd time up the steeper section I let a small gap form - but nothing that couldn't be gained back after the crest (slight downhill to a few rollers before the longer downhill to the start of the next lap). Then I threw my chain - oh crap. Shifted it back to the little ring on the fly and attempted another upshift - that's when it wrapped around my crank again - just like Friday. I stopped, got out of the road, again fighting to free the chain. When I finally do I scream up the course in chase. Coming to the start corner I see nobody, no trailing racers or follow vehicles - so I choose to continue further around the roundabout back to the school & drive home. I'd rather take an early DNF than ride solo for another 2 laps.

Got to fix this shifting issue before my dual with Andy & Bert next year.