Siena to Volterra

Last year I rode in the opposite direction from Volterra to Siena, so I made an effort today to find another route.
I wasn't entirely successful, missing a planned turn early on, but I found an alternative a few kms later that took me away from my previously beaten path.

It is unseasonably hot here, and I was happy to find an osteria in San Dalmazia just when I was starting to wilt. A plate of ravioli, some salad and a beer saw me right.

Last year I arrived in Volterra a total wreck, unprepared for the 450m climb to the town. I was better prepared this time, with plenty of water for rehydration and cooling.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to Massa Marittima, hopefuly to be reunited with my bike case and other possessions, before catching the train back to Milan on Thursday.

Siena, again

This morning I was still munted from yesterday's exertions, so I decided on an easy day.

Radda to Siena is only 28kms, too easy, so I took a detour via the part of the percorso Eroica, starting with the downhill strada bianca through Vertine which is the last section of the 200km ride.

After stopping for coffee in the square at Gaiole, I followed the Eroica signage through three or four stretches of strada biancha before I missed a sign and found myself in sight of Siena's towers. I followed a couple of backroads in the hope of finding lunch at a rustic osteria, but they were dead-ends.

Finally, I got lunch, and Big Boy of Birra Moretti in a restaurant decorated with photos of il Palio, the annual horse race held in the main square of Siena.

Back in Italy

Actually, I've been back here for a week, but Italy's quaint laws about public internet access make internet cafes few and far between.

This afternoon I'm in Radda in Chianti, where I stayed last year for Eroica.
This morning I started in San Gimignano, riding my Ritchey Breakaway to Greve in Chianti for lunch, thence to Radda by the scenic route. I should have had dessert in Greve too, as my bowl of traditional Tuscan bean soup was well & truly burned up on the 8km climb from Dudda through Torsoli.

Yesterday I rode to San Gimigano from Massa Marittima, where I had spent three days at the Continental International Marketing meeting. Click here for a map.

Tomorrow's itinerary is somewhat vague.
If I'm feeling sharp in the morning, I'll head for a new location, if not I'll try to get a second night at the pricey Hotel Radda and do a short loop around Chianti country.

Real Mail

I'm pleased to say that I have got my ebay addiction under control, but regardless, the letterbox continues to bring happiness.
In the last week, two issues of Bicycle Quarterly, the latest Rapha catalog, and Rivendell Reader #39 have kept me happily distracted and, hopefully, better informed.

BQ & RR are keepers, to be stored in the front room and pored over for years to come, but the Rapha catalog is a more ephemeral thrill. Once I get past the visual hooks, their stuff is just too nice to treat as mere cycling kit.
I could go for a pair of their Grand Tour mitts though, if only because the accompanying photo evokes the famous image of the young Louison Bobet in the broom wagon of the 1949 Tour de France.

70s Cecil Walker on ebay

This bike is three years older than my Cecil Walker, and in much better condition, with it's paint and stickers intact.
My, presumably 1981, bike has an investment cast sloping fork crown, and brazed on toptube cable guides but otherwise the two frames could be identical.
While my Cecil Walker showed signs of a hard life before it came to me, this one is a bonafide late 70's time capsule.

Listed on ebay as :
Cecil Walker Professional Road Bike 1978
Item number:130095234055
Campagnolo, Reynolds 531, Haden Lugs,

Cecil Walker Professional Road Racing Bike 1978. Equiped with the highest quality parts available at the time. Frame Number 78046.
Frame size, seat tube 60cms ctc. top tube 57cms ctc.
This bike is in fine original condition having all the hallmarks of quality. Frame colour is metallic Red and is in excellent condition, having only a few minor marks.
Cecil Walker bikes have been built from the 1930's. I think they are still in production. Cecil Walker was a Champion Australian Cyclist who had international success in the 1920's.
Here are the specs.
Reynolds 531 Double Butted Tubing, Haden Lugset..... has the original Haden transfer.
Campagnolo Fork Ends.
Cinelli Alloy Road Bars with old logo, width 38cms ctc. Handlebar tape has been replaced, brake hoods are also a New Old Stock Era Correct Campagnolo Replacent, as the originals were perished. Cinelli Milano Alloy Stem 115mm ctc. long.
Seat Post Campagnolo 27.2mm original , some scratches, seat is a Cinelli Suede Original and has some wear.
Wheels are Mavic Alloy 36 Holes laced to Campagnolo High Flange Record Hubs, Spokes are Double Butted, all original to this bike. I have fitted a Pair Of New Old Stock D'alessandro era correct singles to these rims.
Original Campagnolo Chainset, 54/44 Rear is a 5 speed. Rear Derailleur Nuovo Record, front also an original to this bike. Original Campagnolo Friction Gear Levers and Cable Fasteners.
Pedals are Japanese, hard for me to say that, but there you have it,
Seat Binder Bolt is missing.
As you can see, this bike is in fabulous original condition, having been left in this state since new, only the tyres, hoods and bar tape have been replaced, the rest is original to the bike.
This bike would have been on a par with any other imported Colnago or such from the time and was quite a costly investment in it's day.
Your opportunity to add to your collection a high quality complete racing bike from the 70's.

Baggage & mudguards

For the last couple of weeks I've been riding the Breakaway to work, and as far on weekends as motivation will allow.

I've changed saddles a few times, finally stealing the Brooks Pro Titanium from the Cecil Walker, though I'll probably go back to the Brooks Swallow when I have some more time to break it in.
I experimented with a couple of modern saddles, but the lack of mounting loops for my new Carradice Camper Longflap saddlebag was the final clincher. I got a beautifully made Bagman quick release adapter with the Camper, but even half-loaded the Camper nearly drags on the tyre. Attached to the Brooks saddlebag loops, the Camper has a couple of inches clearance.

The recent filthy weather drove me to fit a set of Bluemels B35 mudguards.
Unlike their SKS Chromoplastic stablemates, the 35mm Bluemels guards have a round profile which not only looks better, but ought to be a better fit under dual-pivot brakes than the square-ish SKS.
I used a pair of Sheldon nuts to mount the mudguard brackets to the recessed brake bolts.

I would like these better if they had an external hex for spanner, like the nuts that come with the Berthoud carbon fenders, rather than the 6mm allen hex.

On the positive side, the front nut allows the mudguard to be raised to its maximum height by allowing the mudguard bracket to clear the bottom stack of the headset.
In the past I have removed the bracket entirely and ziptied the guard, in the effective but inelegant Grant Peterson style, to the brake centrebolt .



And finally, today I got to grips with that 12 second delay, self portrait feature on my camera. Here we are, atop Jones Rd, on the way to Hunua.

Movie Night

Since their inception last year, the SOLO Movie nights at the Westwinds Cinema in Avondale have been a not-to-be-missed part of the Auckland cycling social calendar.

This month's offering, 'The Eddy Merckx Story' could be more correctly titled 'The Story of Eddy Merckx in the Tour de France", as it gives only brief mention of his World Hour Record in 1972 and glosses over Merckx's other achievements such as his World Championships.
TV and newsreel racing footage is interspersed with subtitled reminiscences by Tour winners Lucien van Impe, Bernard Thevenet, Joop Zoetemelk & Merckx himself.

The next movie night will be on April 18.
Sign up to the Solo email list for an invite.

Possibly Akarana Cycling Club's finest hour...

Have a look at this video over at David Whittam's new blog.
Can anyone put a date to this, or name any of the participants?

Breakaway- ready to fly

Last week I took the Breakaway to Invercargill so I would have something to ride between sessions of the NZ Track Cycling Championships.

I took this photo to remind myself how the bike should look when packed in it's case, but astute readers will notice that the crucial seat & seatpost are absent.
Fortunately I found them again before we departed.

Needless to say, I didn't get much riding done- the weather was atrocious and the usual Track Nationals combination of malnutrition and lack of sleep kept me inside most afternoons.

More NAHBS

If you have already exhausted yesterdays cornucopia of NAHBS links, here are Dennis Stovers photos on the world famous Wool Jersey Gallery.

North American Handmade Bicycle Show

A few people of my acquaintance didn't get much work done today when they found the photos from last weekend's NAHBS posted on the internet.

www.cyclingnews.com has run three articles to date, featuring road bikes, track irons and utility and town bikes.

Over at CycloFiend there is a photo gallery, plus links to other NAHBS photo sites. Be prepared to waste a few hours.

There's not much to dislike, but this Vanilla, built for US collector Brett Horton, stands out for me as a near-perfect synthesis of classic aesthetics with modern technology.

The number of randonneur and porteur bikes is impressive, considering that neither style had any currency in the english-speaking cycling world until Jan Heine started writing about them in the Rivendell Reader in the late '90s, and then in his own Vintage Bicycle Quarterly (now Bicycle Quarterly).

Breakaway- complete, if not finished.

Last night I brought home a saddlebag full of stuff to build up the Breakaway, and today I knuckled down and built it up into a rideable device.
Though I could have built up a decent drivetrain out of shed junque, I went for 2007 Campagnolo Veloce 10 speed, with the new Ultra-Torque crankset.

This is meant to be a credit card tourer, so I went for a medium cage rear derailler so I can use a 13-29 cluster in future.
Instead of the standard Ergopower levers, I fitted Record bar-end shifters.
Brakes are Campagnolo Triomphe, which have better tyre & mudguard clearance than dual pivots, actuated by Campagnolo Cobalto brake levers.

The frame is built for a 1-1/8" headset, so I pressed in a set of Wheels Manufacturing headset adapters to suit the 1" fork and Ritchey WCS Logic headset. I am partial to cartridge bearing headsets on demountables because they are unlikely to spill ball bearings onto the ground while the bike is being assembled.

The bike is a long way from being finished- the wheels in the photo are old Campagnolo Electrons with Conti tubulars, and the rock-hard & slippery Benotto bar tape is coming off on Monday.
Crank Brothers Quattro pedals are not compatible with my MTB shoes, so will be replaced with Eggbeaters with the short Ti axles.



*Disclaimer- I am deeply implicated in the importation and distribution of Crank Brothers, Campagnolo, Ritchey and Continental in New Zealand.
Nothing that I write about them can necessarily be believed.

Questionable Retro fashion

Adam Lovell and me, modelling our Bicycle Fixation wool gabardine knickers atop One Tree Hill on the way back from the Go by Bike Day breakfast.

With time and mistreatment, my Woolistic jersey from Rivendell Bicycle Works will eventually match the Gillott.

Paint!

Today I removed the surface rust from the Breakaway frame and started painting it using DupliColor acrylic lacquer from the local Repco.

This won't be the final paintjob, just something to make it presentable enough to ride while I am in Invercargill for Track Nationals in a couple of weeks.
When I get back, I'll get it beadblasted and sent to Walter Thorburn to make it look more or less like this.

Wasting time with old bikes, part 2

A few months back Rick Woodward treated himself to a metal polisher, which he initially powered with a coffee grinder motor before embarking on Toolman-esque quest for more power.

The latest motor seems to be meeting with Rick's approval, but I'm wary of any tool that can flick a heavy object across the room at my first lapse of concentration, so lately I've been polishing a few widgets by hand:

This 1995 Chorus seatpost was heavily scratched from being pushed all the way into a small frame.

I removed the worst of the scratches with 120 grit emery tape before polishindg with progrssively finer wet & dry, and finishing with Autosol.

It probably has a home on my Bianchi.

Simon Kennett gave me this pair of 1950's Campagnolo Gran Sport hubs a few years ago.

Until recently they have been waiting for a suitable project (and that's a story for another day).

These Harden hubshells belong to Wayne Davidson from Invercargill, and are part of a transaction so convoluted that probably neither of us knows where or when it will end.

They will look good on one of the English 1950's road /track frames presently cluttering my shed.

Keeping the Breakaway off the backburner

The Auckland Track champs have kept me out of the shed lately, but I have a made a little more progress.
I brazed bidon bosses into the inside of the seatstays (left) for a stealthy Vanilla-style mudguard mount, and cleaned up all my brazing.

I'm still trying to work out how to mount a framefit pump.
My plan was to put a pump peg on the seatstay, but a thumblock head barely clears the Campagnolo Veloce rear hub, so I have to decide whether to put the pump along the top tube or track down something more compact like a Silca Impero.

This afternoon CTB brought around a brand spanking new Brooks Swallow, like this one but in black. The Swallow has longer rails than the rest of the Brooks range so I can get my preferred wayback seat position despite the Breakaway's 73.5 degree seat tube. I could get the same position with a modern plastic saddle, but, naaah, it wouldn't be the same.

Ritchey Breakaway project, part 1

My new project is steel Ritchey Breakaway road frame, that I will build up as a lightweight credit card tourer.

Though Tom Ritchey himself uses a Breakaway for lightweight touring, my requirements are somewhat different, so I made a few changes.

I'm not a fan of carbon fibre, so I built a Reynolds 531 fork with a modified Pacenti crown.

I want to be able to use this bike with fat tyres and/or mudguards, and this fork has plenty of clearance, plus eyelets on the dropouts.

To make the 1" fork fit in the frame, I'll be using a set of Wheels Manufacturing headtube reducers. I considered brazing sleeves into the headtube, but this would prevent a future owner from fitting a 1-1/8" fork.

Clearance between the back tyre and the seatstay bridge is minimal, so I cut the bridge out, and brazed in a new one 6mm higher. These old Campagnolo single pivot brakes are a better fit around mudguards than dual-pivots.

I brazed a bidon boss into the bottom of the bridge to attach the mudguard.

The new bridge is at the maximum reach of a Campagnolo short reach caliper.

Mudguards need a front mount too, so I brazed in a chainstay bridge with a threaded boss.

2007- forthcoming delights

Tokoroa Forest Charity Fun Ride
March 4th
Brought to you by the same folks who run the excellent mid-winter Fun Ride at Okoroire.
I've never done this ride, hopefully this year I will be able to negotiate a day off from track training.
There are three distance options: the 35k Radiata Rambler, 75k Cashmore's Challenge and the 100k Titanic
Click here to download the entry form.

Track Nationals
Invercargill, March 13-17
Donna is of a mind to do some damage to the UCI Masters World Records for 200m & 500m, and what better place than the new indoor velodrome at Invercargill.

Japanese Bike Retro Ride
On a date yet to be decided.
Like the Bianchi Ride last year, use of a Japanese bike is encouraged, but by no means compulsory.
At least four regular members of the Retro Grupetto own classic japanese road bikes, not to forget Keirin Pimps Glenn Selwyn & Chris Tennent-Brown who own NJS approved track bikes.

Chris Kulczycki's Velo Orange blog recently featured a list of links to Japanese framebuilders. Unless you can read Japanese, its best to treat them as an adventure in cyberspace and click on links randomly.

2007, so far

A month into the new year, and most of my recent cycling activity has been only fit to report over here, and accompanied by jolts of pain as my confidence exceeded my skill.
On Sunday morning I repeated the trick on the road, catching the pedal of my Holdsworth fixie on a curb and launching myself onto the street, much to the amusement of my 11 year old niece.

Not all the outings on the Holdsworth have been so painful.
A couple of weeks back I had a bi-modal expedition, catching the train to New Lynn, then riding the Butter Chicken loop from Swanson to Titirangi. I resisted the tempation to catch the train home again, navigating a route through Mt Roskill that avoided the misery of Hillsborough Rd, but also every bakery from New Lynn to Otahuhu.

It's not quite Big Brother...

but I have installed a hit counter, so I know y'all are out there.

Feel free to leave comments, or even email me.

43 Bikes

Jack Bissell's new website 43bikes is worthy of a few hours gawping.

At Velo Rendezvous last year, Jack brought this stunning restored Legnano Roma Olimpiade.
The other bikes on the site are just as good, and there's something for everyone.

There is also a handy page about bike photography on the cheap.
If your budget goes a bit further, try Ray Dobbins page.

Donna's Long Haul Trucker

My Christmas shopping, such as it was, was done at the last minute, and I had no idea what I was going to get for Donna until I saw a 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker frame for sale on Trademe.

Over the years she has had three different commuting/town bikes, all based on mountain bike frames. All of them required various manky solutions to fit utilitariana such as mudguards, and the riding position was less than ideal once a rigid fork was fitted to a 'suspension adjusted' frame geometry.
The Long Haul Trucker has a braze-on fitting for every conceivable accessory, including several that Donna will never use unless she renounces her short distance, fast-twitch ways. It was a pleasure not to have to attach the mudguards with zip ties, though a spacer was needed behind the chainstay bridge to maintain a pleasing mudguard line.
I like to use good quality parts on these bikes (check out the spec on Donna's old GT Outpost, ferinstance), and this one seemed to justify some top shelf junque I have been saving- Ritchey WCS cantilevers, Nitto 185 bars, and Sugino Pro Dynamic cranks. A few minutes rummaging turned up an all-Suntour gear set- Sprint front derailler, XC Pro short cage rear, and a pair of Superbe Pro friction downtube shifters. The wheels, with Shimano dynohub and Lumotec light came from Donna's Specialized M2 commuter.

Currently, the Carradice Lowsaddle saddlebag sits on the rear mudguard, so a small rear rack will be required. I'm working on something similar to this Sycip rack in 8mm high tensile steel tube.

More photos here at the Wool Jersey Gallery.

Eroica Fashion

Intersection, seemingly a 'lifestyle magazine' for upmarket petrolheads, did a photo shoot at Eroica this year.
Photographer Nick Clements has an impressive portfolio of retro fashion photography, but I don't recall that anyone who actually rode the event looked this clean.

A confluence of fanboy obsessions

A couple of photos from Eric Clapton's Japanese tour blog show that his long standing passion for Cinellis is unabated.

Google turned up a couple of older photos of Clapton taking delivery of a new Cinelli from Antonio Colombo in 1987, and con Cinelli in Milano, October 1988.

Antonio Colombo shares Clapton's love of the blues- his stand at this year's Milan show had a non stop blues soundtrack, which caused me to linger long after I had lost interest in what was on display.

The Condor on the cover of the first edition of Richard's Bicycle Book is rumoured to have been Clapton's. After attacking the Condor with a 10" adjustable spanner and crushing the brake cables, I guess Richard didn't get an invite to feature any of Clapton's Cinellis in later editions.

Pokeno Ride & Swapmeet Report

A small event that deserves to get bigger.
Organised by Denne Parkinson & Craig Bush, who also run the
Pokeno Wheels and Heels in March.

From the Retro Gruppetto there was Peat Alexander, Kim Sinclair (Bianchi Specialissima), Daniel Rosser (Raleigh), Donna Wynd and me; plus Manukau Vets stalwarts Ed Austin (Raleigh 20), Ray Hancock (1963 Rudge) and Reg Hinton (Colian).

Probably the oldest bike was a pre-WW2 coaster braked device, riden by the grandson of the original owner. He had been planning to ride it around Taupo this year, but decided it might not go the distance. Despite a chainring that wobbled alarmingly from side to side, he got along at a good pace.

The swapmeet was a small affair, with only two tables of junque for sale. The biggest transaction of the day was probably Denne Parkinsons acquisition of an old tandem which had been offered on Trademe a few times recently.




Reg Hinton's Colian











Ray Hancock's 1963 Rudge

Pokeno Vintage Road and Sports Cycle Ride

December 3rd, 10am at Pokeno School

For more details and entry forms see the event website.

This should be a great event for the Retro Ride community.

As well as a short ride, there will be a swapmeet, and the opportunity to display your bikes.
Entry fee for the ride and swapmeet is $20, or a gold coin
donation if you only want to display bikes.

In the event of bad weather, the swapmeet will be held indoors. Trestle tables will be available.

My 15 minutes of low-grade fame

The evening before Eroica, Bob Freitas and I were interviewed by journalist from the French sports paper L'Equipe.
The article finally appeared on October 28, and Bob has kindly posted it here on the Wool Jersey gallery.
Since the journalist didn't speak any more English than Bob or I speak French, Michele Costantini translated, which added a random factor since his first language is Italian.
Bob, who I understand is a wholesaler of car parts is described as an 'industrialist'.

Click here for Guy Apple's translation of the article.

November Retro Ride report

Today we got off to a slow start, with a few Show & Tell items delaying our departure.
I had some Eroica memorabilia, and a copy of Owen Mulholland & Brett Hortons excellent 'Cycling's Golden Age', and Kim Sinclair showed a video of his recent trip to the USA with the Jazz Apple Cycling team.

Eight riders started, Peat Alexander, Rick Woodward (Bosomworth), Glenn Selwyn (Oxygen #3), Richard Oddy, Chris Tennent-Brown (Colnago Master), Vaughan Yarwood (early 90's Colnago Pimpmobile), Kim & me (the Echelon Spectra known as Team McCall).
CT-B peeled off at Manukau to return to his studies, and at Ardmore Peat announced that he was taking the flat and short route to the cafe. The rest of us continued on to Twilight Road where Kim, Rick and I indulged in few seconds of undignified behaviour before stopping, gasping, at the top to 'wait for Richard'.

Peat was waiting for us at the Italian Country Market, where the selection of snacks and nibbles improves with every visit.

On our return to Otahuhu we got fed for a second time at the launch of 21st Century Transport.
Bravely, Donna even fed us liquor, and I am pleased to say that no unruly behaviour resulted.

Hubris and pain in Coromandel

For the 363 days before last Thursday, it was my firm intention to ride my Cecil Walker in this year's edition of the K1. The previous weekend, I had even spent a few hours repairing some Eroica-induced wear & tear, and fitting a pair of fast wheels with Conti GP4000s.
Cecil is a solid, comfortable bike, and the 50/47/32 x 13-26 gearing would get me up hills easily, with plenty of close ratios for the flat sections.

Nothwithstanding the obvious commonsense of this plan, on Thursday evening I convinced myself that I could, indeed should, ride my Gillott.
Surely the hills of Coromandel could be ridden on a 41 x 24 gear?
Had I not recently ridden 135km Eroica, ride with as much elevation gain as K2?
And did I not ride up a steep and relentless 8km climb in my 47 x 26 a couple of days before?
It's just a fun ride, right?

What a dick.

The day started well enough, leaving Auckland early with Chris Money and Yaughan Yarwood. Driving over Kopu-Hikuai, we passed the first K4 riders, and arrived in Tairua in time for a second breakfast.
From the start, Vaughan and I made good time up Pumpkin Hill, and got ourselves into a functional bunch along the flats to Whitianga, but eventually got separated as I chased a split in the group and Vaughan, wisely, opted to stay where he was.
On the Kuaotunu climb I stopped to fill one of my bottles with water, in anticipation of the heat on climbs to follow, losing the shelter of the group which continued onwards.
As the course turned inland from Kuaotunu, we were riding into the wind over a series of three shortish but steep climbs. A few other riders were getting off to walk, but I still felt OK, passing riders on each climb. On the descent from the third climb I decided not to chase a group that rolled past me, then, as the road flattened out, realised that my overgeared climbing efforts had smashed my legs.
I spent a few k's trying to recover, noodling into the breeze in the 21, but at the bottom of the 380m Whangapoua climb decided that a rest was in order.
I sat by the road for a few minutes until Yarwood's arrival galvanised me into action.
Back on my bike, I figured that if I kept Vaughan in sight, I would certainly out-descend him into Coromandel. My legs had no confidence in the plan, and stopped turning a couple of minutes later. After a couple more attempts I decided that the agony would be less if walked.
Money passed me as I was strolling, and Darren Strahan stopped the Calibre Cycles van for a chat, so my ignominy could not be hidden.
At the '500m to Go' sign, I remounted. My legs were still mutinous, butI flogged them to the top like a third world despot . On the descent I attempted to emulate Sean Kelly in the 1992 Milan-San Remo , but as the road flattened my legs continued to rebel and I coasted to the finish, as the riders I had passed on the descent streamed past.

It's just a fun ride, right?

Velo Rendezvous 6, Day 2

Velo Rendezvous Frame Symposium is a grand name for a small but passionate Show & Tell session, held in a public park in Pasadena.
In past years the symposium was fronted by Brian Baylis and had a strong technical emphasis, but this year's front man Peter Johnson ran a looser ship, so that almost every bike in the park, from Chuck Schmidt's Peter Johnson or this Graftek, through to my battered Cecil Walker got it's 15minutes of fame.

John Waner's photos on the Wool Jersey Gallery tell the story beter than I can.

Velo Rendezvous 6, Day 1

On Thursday I flew from Milan to LA, via Amsterdam, again subjecting myself to KLM's dodgy food and cramped seating.

The next day, I submitted to another kind of punishment, joining Sean Smith, Davis Jensen and Randy Duggan for a ride up the Angeles Crest Highway.
In the course of an 85km ride, we climbed more than 2000m, the first 1500m in single unrelenting ascent.
We stopped at the Hidden Springs cafe for lunch, where the proprietor entertained us, and an assemblage of good ol' boys, with tales of his poker playing prowess.
The route sheet called for a detour up Mt Wilson, but none of us could muster the enthusiasm for another 2000 feet of climbing, though I suspect Sean would have been up for it despite the 42 x 18 low gear on his Specialized Allez.

Ketchup & Mustard in Lugano

Today I'm at the office of Ritchey International, in Lugano, Switzerland, lurking and catching up with emails and the blog.
I have been staying in Saronno in a small B & B owned by Sally & Lucio, parents of Riccardo Deliziosi from Ritchey, and he has brought me over to Switzerland for the day.

Today is meant to be the last day of good weather, and it is certainly warm, but it's also raining pretty hard.
This didn't stop us from taking a lap of Lake Lugano at lunchtime, Ricki on his titanium & carbon Ritchey Breakaway, and me on 'Ketchup & Mustard' a red & yellow bike that Tom Ritchey
brought to Europe in the eighties and left here to ride. It is now a well used bike-biz loaner.
For a lunchride, we covered some extra psychic distance- across the border into Italy, then back into Switzerland a fews k's later.

A long day with Trenitalia

Up with the birds this morning, for the 30km, mostly downhill ride from Radda to Poggibonsi, from whence I caught the train to Milan, via Pisa.
This is by no means the direct route, but the only one where I was able to take my bike on the train.
In total, I spent about 6 hours on trains, arriving in Milan mid-afternoon.

Once there, I allowed myself a side trip to the Vigorelli Velodrome, which was looking unloved; and to Masi's shop outside, where Alberto Masi was schmoozing with a couple of cronies.
I'm sure Alberto has a practised eye for penniless tyre kickers, because no one made any effort to fit me up with a new carbon fibre Masi while I was there.

L'Eroica Ride Report

This blog is a work in progress.
I'll add some more detail, and hopefully some photos, when I get home to Enzed.

Not one of my more organised days, what with getting to the van at 6:00 am and realising that I did not have my helmet. One of the guys from Blufreccia found it in the keeping of the hotel (I guess I had left it outside the previous day), and we headed down to Gaiole for the start.

The 135 & 200km rides start 'alla Francaise' as they say here, meaning that you start whenever you like between 5:30 and 7am. Lights are required to start before 6:30, so Courtney and I decide to start around 7am.
Before the start, bikes are checked, not for roadworthyness, but to sort out the ordinary, ie modern, from the 'heroic'. To be technically heroic requires toeclip pedals, exposed brake cables and frizione downtube or bar end shifters.
Each rider gets a carnet de passage, a route sheet which must be stamped at each checkpoint.

The first few kilometers are in the half dark, downhill on smooth tarmac, but the first turn brings a climb, followed by the first strada biancha. None of this is too taxing, and I feel we're making good progress. Matt & Aaron, brothers from San Francisco in the Blufreccia group, catch us, and we ride together until Courtney drops his bottle.

The first feed zone is at about 60kms. An official stands in the road exhorting riders to get their carnet de passage stamped, while a group of women in traditional Tuscan dress serve food, and brew coffee and cook bean soup over open fires.
In the next 30kms, the climbs seem to get longer and steeper, and the gravel gets deeper- I have a couple of heart-in-mouth moments on the descents, and have to give myself a talking to. Both Courtney and I puncture on one gravel section.

The second feedzone at Asciano comes after 91kms, and to this point we are averaging 20kph. We snarf down some traditional Tuscan bean soup and crostata di frutta, but eschew the red wine.
Straight out of the feed zone, the road climbs steeply, soon turning to gravel.
This section is the hardest, and the hottest, of the day, and I stop in the shade to take off my undershirt. Cecil's 32 x 26 low gear is a boon here, allowing me to clean all the climbs, while Courtney has to walk one steep pitch.
At the end of this section of strada biancha, I am well and truly cooked, and not looking forward to the last 40kms, but a third, unanticipated feed zone appears at 105kms, and I take the time to sit down in the shade and cool myself down. When we finally leave, the temperature seems to have dropped a bit, and we roll through the last 32kms, including two more sections of strada biancha relatively easily.
The last few kms are an easy climb back to Gaiole on smooth sealed road.
The scene at the finish is a jarring contrast to the bucolic calm of the ride- the finishing chute is crammed with wives and girlfriends, and a the a brass band plays in the town square. I get my carnet de passage stamped for the last time, and head for the showers.

An "I'm not worthy" moment

Valeriano Falsini.  Photo: Bob Freitas

The old gent that I met on Saturday morning is Valeriano Falsini, who was a team mate of Coppi's in 1951 & 1952. He is 78 years old.
Every January, he leads a ride to Coppi's birthplace at Castellania on the anniversary of Coppi's death.

On Saturday afternoon when we arrived at the Eroica registration/swapmeet/bike display, he was just inside the doorway of the hall, with his bike, photos from his racing days, and a book of his racing reminiscences.





Valeriano Falsini was not the only famous local boy in evidence.
A large display commemorated the achievements of sprinter Ferdinando Teruzzi, who won the Tandem Sprint at the 1948 Olympic Games.





The display and swapmeet spilled out of the hall into the yard outside, but the capacity of my saddlebag limited my acquisitions to a pair of souvenir wool shorts.
For those with greater load carrying capacity, there was no shortage of garb, racing memorabilia and high grade junque.

MORE PHOTOS at my Wool Jersey Gallery album.