Baby It's Cold Outside, and I Can't Feel My Mistletoes

   Last night Sue and I got together with our friends Matt and Ryan to “Cycle with Santa”, although it was only in a symbolic sense, as St. Nick is simply too busy this time of year, and none of us wanted to lug around the weight of a full costume! I think we might have appreciated the warmth of his fur suit though, as the temperature was in the high thirties when we started and was dropping quickly. 

   With our bikes festooned (I like that word) with lights, we set off just after dinner to meet the guys at Matt’s house, about an 8-mile ride. The plan was to loop down the Perkiomen Trail from Schwenksville to Oaks, then link up with the Schuylkill Trail through Phoenixville to return to our home in Royersford – in total, about 30 miles for Sue and I. We could then grab something warm to drink and put the guys’ bikes in the back of our van to shuttle them back home.

   Well, it was a good plan...

   Along the ride there, I was nearly taken out by a raccoon the size of a Labrador retriever, and a few miles later two huge deer crossed the road just a couple of feet off my front wheel. Another pair of deer scampered out in front of me later on, and although the speed/weight/asphalt involved in those collisions had potential for a higher degree of pain, the most dangerous proved to be a rabbit on the trail that almost went under my wheels – only because I didn’t see or hear it coming and had no time to react at all. I’ll move on quickly from mentioning these incidents, as other than bursts of adrenaline, nothing really happened, and I’d rather not dwell on what could have!

   We were pleased to see that Matt and Ryan were in the spirit of the season by having both of their bikes decked with string lights. Ryan looked at his three companions and mentioned (correctly, as it turns out) that perhaps he was underdressed, then added that we should take a picture. Sue commented that our son Colin could take a photo when we reached Royersford – again, that was a good plan...

   The temperature had dropped about ten degrees since we had left from home, and I have to admit that, although my core temp was comfortable, my hands and feet were already a bit chilly, and any warmth that remained in them was gone completely when we finished the long descent from Matt’s house down to the Perkiomen Trail along its namesake creek. I’m usually hammering it by myself and get plenty warm, but it was clear early on that the more casual pace wasn’t going to work out well for my appendages.

   I wasn’t going to let it get to me, and the miles were passing fairly easily with plenty of lively conversation about our children and Christmas plans. When I started slapping my numb hands together and complained a bit, the others joked about what it might take for me to actually quit a ride. “Not gonna happen, folks!” I quickly offered.

   When we reached Collegeville (about halfway for the Larimer riders), I did consider stopping at the diner there to warm up, but everyone seemed okay, so I just plowed on. However, we weren’t really aware about how bad Ryan was suffering, and maybe our chatter had been keeping his mind off of the pain, too. Just before reaching the junction with the Schuylkill Trail, where there was another downhill section to increase the chill, he became noticeably quiet.

   There were still about ten miles to go, and whatever talk that still existed started turning to where we might be able to stop in Phoenixville to warm up. Unfortunately, it became evident that Ryan’s enthusiasm to continue beyond that point was very low. I knew that, as far as warming myself, it was only a matter of getting the heart rate going – just contending with the nasty hill over Phoenixville’s west side would do it – and I offered to dash home the last five miles to grab the “rescue van”.

   Sue definitely wanted to finish, so we left the guys to the comfortable foyer of Molly Maguire’s Pub and off we went. Strangely we both had issues with our bike lamps on the last very dark stretch of trail towards Spring City and wondered if it was so cold that our LEDs had actually frozen, but we negotiated our way safely home.

   As I pulled up in front of the pub, it was obvious Ryan had thawed out, as I was greeted with a big smile and a wave. He and Matt expressed disappointment in not being able to finish as they loaded their bike in the back of our Honda Odyssey. When we reached Schwenksville, and I turned into Matt’s driveway, Ryan joked about being “shamed by his elder” on this ride (I have about twelve years on him) - perhaps he should feel worse about being shamed by an elder girl!

The only bike-with-lights shot we ended up getting...mine. 

   I’m going to take a few weeks off from writing, with the coming of the holidays, but I’ll be back mid-January with photos of progress and hopefully finished projects. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

More Trials...and Errors

   I was finally able to put the finishing touches on the Bianchi Ti Mega Record, but not before a seller tested my patience by sending a mismatched set of cranks. Turns out he had a Chorus crankset also for sale and had mistakenly sent me a non-drive crank arm from that set instead. Luckily, he had not yet shipped my Record counterpart to someone else, so I just had to wait a few days to make the switch.

   Since the chainring side was more of a requirement, as far as assembly, I had the whole bike put together by the time the other crank arrived. It was pretty bleak outside, and a bit colder than most of my prior photo sessions, but I was eager to take some shots:

   The Coppi bicycle is almost complete as well, but unfortunately an experiment with its set-up turned out to be a failure. I had heard that vintage Campagnolo rear derailleurs don’t operate properly with more modern Ergo brake/shift levers. I (temporarily) ignored this, as I have a particular fondness for the Campagnolo Triomphe derailleur, and hoped to achieve a compatible blend with a set of 8-speed Mirage shift levers.

   Well, it turns out the rumors were correct – it doesn’t work. The standard parallelogram design of the vintage derailleur with a single spring-loaded pivot made much longer shifts (more cable was pulled) than that of the modern dropped/slanted parallelogram. I single click of the modern lever would move the chain about 1½ cog spaces with the Triomphe derailleur. I wasn’t too upset with the obvious solution, as the downtube Triomphe shifter assembly is beautiful, particularly now that I have given the parts a good polish:

   Despite my concession to the downtube shifters, this Coppi project was intended to have a more modern turn on a vintage bike, and if nothing else, I preferred to keep the cables out of the rider’s face. I purchased a set of Campagnolo Athena brake levers with aero routing (under the bar tape), and I only need to find a replacement set of hoods to go with them.

   Progress on the Colnago Super has come more quickly than expected, and that project would be finished if I was not waiting on a high-quality Ambrosio/Campagnolo wheelset to be shipped from Italy. I have been spending time in the shop more regularly, now that the temps have dropped to uncomfortable levels and some snow has been falling. I have been rotating bikes through regularly, doing a bit here and there on all the projects hanging in the rafters.

   After about a week of soaking in PB Blaster, I was able to loosen the stem from the Gios-Torino steering tube. However, to achieve the upward and twisting force needed to completely free the part, I had to recruit the more youthful brawn of my brother-in-law Jay. I have an old, cheap wheel that I install in the fork for such operations, and I anchored it down with my feet and knees, while Jay wrestled the handlebars back and forth, up and out...YES!

   I wasn’t convinced this was going work, and unlike when I had problems with the Pinarello Treviso and was able to keep the rare stem by cutting off the cheap fork to remove it, this time I wanted the fancy Gios fork and was thinking I might have to sacrifice the stem. It was a nice enough Cinelli stem though, and I was glad to be able to keep both parts.

   I’m getting a real sense of the challenge I am going to face finding affordable Campagnolo Super Record components, especially the Gios engraved chainring, as many eBay auctions have gone up and out of the reach of my budget over the past couple of weeks. Patience and a little luck will be key!

   With all of the bicycle builds currently in progress, I haven’t been really looking to take on anything new, but I ran across a Pinarello Asolo frameset, totally stripped of paint, for just a couple hundred bucks! I am thinking of a second attempt at the gioiello giallo. I think the finish on the Coppi frameset is attractive, but not quite the cromovelato effect I was going for.

   This is going to be a long-term project, particularly because painting outdoors won’t come until the spring, but I plan to use, instead of the Metalcast sparkly metallic base, the chrome-like paint I had applied to the lugs of the Motobécane frameset a few years ago, then use the yellow Metalcast tint over the top of that. Maybe the Ergo shifters will find a proper use on that bicycle, but we’ll see...