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.

Vintage Bianchi sighting

This morning I passed an Italian geezer, 70 years old if he was a day, on an early 50s Bianchi that could have belonged to Fausto Coppi.
We were climbing towards Gaiole on the road from Montevarchi, probably a 300m climb.
While I was twiddling in 32 x 21, he was in about 46 x 21, leaving the 24 sprocket in reserve.
Click HERE for video

I was on the road by 9am today, planning to ride up to Greve on some backroads, then back to Radda on the main road.
The ride started out downhill for a few kms, and cold- for the first time while I have been here. Both the topography and my body temperature soon reversed as the descent turned into a 3km, 15% climb. At the top I turned right instead of left as planned, which I only discovered when I had descended about 300m altitude and found myself in Castelnuovo del Sabbioni rather than on the road to Greve. I decided that this was no bad thing, since I would be back in Radda for lunch.

The Eroica program starts this afternoon, with a vintage bike display in the Gaiole gym, and a dinner. I will be surprised if I do not have a couple of hundred more bike photos before the day is out.

Tomorrow I'm doing the 135km ride with Courtney Johnson, a fit looking specimen from Minnesota. He's riding a very tidy Richard Sachs, with a truly manly 41 x 24 low gear.

Radda in Chianti

On Thursday I rode up to Radda from Siena and installed myself in a hotel here, with the intention of getting in a couple of rides on or around the Eroica course. I stopped in Gaiole, where Eroica starts and finishes, before climbing another 350m towards Radda.

Yesterday's ride was a goody- I rode down to Gaiole and found the CR list gang (Bob Freitas, Mike Schmidt, Jamie Swan, Guy Apple, Courtney & Jennifer Johnson) lurking in the square. We headed (I thought) onto the first part of the Eroica course, but decided we were lost after about 10km ( all uphill). Went down an interesting looking white road to Starda, a dot on the map with a restaurant. Ate, drank the house red, then went back the way we came.
Stopped in Gaiole for a beer, then headed up to Radda the hard way, which climbs to over 600m. I think about 60km in all, but with more altitude gained than the K1 ride.

Decided on a rest day today (Friday)- had a mid-morning nap, gave Cecil a clean, then headed down to Gaiole for lunch.
None of the CR gang who are staying there were evident (most have wives who must be placated with shopping trips etc), so headed back up to Radda with a stomach full of spaghetti, beer & gelato.

When I got back to the hotel, Andy Hampsten's tour company was unloading a vanload of clients, so Cecil no longer has the garage to himself, and is looking scruffy but staunch next to the array of Colnagos, Hampstens, Merckxs, and one very cool Masi Gran Criterium. The influence of Grant Petersen is everywhere- Brooks saddles, flat pedals, even a Bleriot, Rivendell's's new 650B wheeled bike, with single chainring and huge rear sprocket.

Tomorrow, the official Eroica program begins, but I might try for an early ride up to Greve (about 50-60k round trip if I don't get too lost).

Another day in Siena

I decided to spend another day here, mainly because I feel like I need a rest.
Yesterday I forgot to eat lunch when I arrived, and although I didn't actually blow up, I wasn't thinking too clearly either.
Todays mission is to eat, rest, then eat some more.



















Went to the local Biciclettaria this morning to get Cecil's freewheel off. The mechanic led me out back and pointed me to the vise, and left me to it.
On the way out I noticed a beautiful old frame with Campagnolo Cambio Corsa shifter, which was apparently built by the papa of the woman who seems to run the shop. There was also a neat Tomassini in the workstand.