Salem Takes Me Away...

  Sorry for the poorly-punned title, but we recently heard Christopher Cross on a 1970s "Yacht Rock" station while down at the shore.

   The temperature was climbing into the 80s as departure time neared for the South Jersey Salem Circuits ride, the third of the planned Cycle Tech Sojourns. Luckily the humidity wasn’t too oppressing, and there was a light breeze blowing through historic Hancock’s Bridge, though there was a question whether that was going to end up being a good thing as the day progressed!
   It never ceases to amaze me how light the traffic is along the eastern lobe of this figure-eight circuit, which followed the southern bank of Alloway Creek, crossed the stream at Quinton Township and eventually circled Alloway Creek before returning to our start/crossover point. Only eight cars passed (in either direction!) while riding that first 28-mile loop, and I suppose that traffic was light because it was a Sunday, but also because most cars are bypassing this area to the east to reach the shore points.
   I would say that if someone was looking for an on-road experience that most closely replicates the one you would have while riding on a traffic-separated trail, this would be it!

   The midpoint crossover back at Hancock's Bridge was greatly appreciated for refilling water bottles and using the nearby bathrooms. Several cycling groups were out on Sunday, and I'm sure we were all thankful that some high clouds rolled in just past noontime to keep the sun from beating down on us.

   The second lobe of the route headed along the north bank of Alloway Creek towards the south branch of the Salem River in Mannington Township. The circuit followed the river back to Salem, continued through the city within sight of the Delaware River then cut back across the fertile farm lands, returning to Hancock’s Bridge.

   The primary roads here are generally in excellent shape, with a generous shoulder on which to ride, and the secondary roads are in at least as good shape as those my crew regularly rides in Montgomery and Chester County. There usually is less salting and plowing of the South Jersey asphalt, as the surrounding bay and ocean keep the temperatures a bit milder during the winter.
   Again, my one complaint is the inconsistent use of street signs – the small roads are (almost) always marked at intersections, and the larger state roads very seldom have signs. Granted, it was somewhat my fault, but I was nearly taken out by a policeman as I slowly moved through an intersection to look down the crossing road to see if I could spy a highway sign to give me a clue which one I was passing over.

   The officer had to see my indecision but attempted to accelerate by me. He was being closely followed by a colleague and nearly got rear-ended when he had to abruptly hit the brake. I smiled sheepishly and waved a "sorry" at him. I guess my defense would have been (as they carted off my flattened body), “It’s hard to signal which direction you are turning, when you don’t know which direction you plan to turn!”
   The rest of the features along the route have been described in a past blog entry, so I don’t need to repeat everything, but the climb up Burden Hill – easily the longest of the day - was a real slap in the face after such relatively flat roads so far. It is not particular steep, just a long drag, but there was a strong headwind coming right down the road that ruined any chance of maintaining momentum as the incline started.

   A favorite part of the ride for me will always be Sinnickson Landing Road (above), which winds through the marshlands where the Salem River meets the Delaware. The twists in the road, as well as the tall grasses afford only brief glimpses of the Delaware to the right, which is probably a good thing, because the large chemical plants north of Delaware City dominate the opposite bank of the river.
   We’ll (unfortunately) be passing through that area in a few weeks during the Delaware Greenways Sojourn, but the visit will be very brief and there will be so many other pleasant views along the way that we can enjoy!

No (PA) Dutch Disappointment

   The second of our scheduled “Cycle Tech Sojourns” was to be held Saturday, this time in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country, but it was rained out. Because the prospective calendar was crowded with eight remaining rides, plus another event already postponed due to poor weather, the half dozen confirmed attendees agreed to try again Tuesday morning, since all involved were teacher-types with flexible schedules, now that the school year has come to a close.
   The forecast flip-flopped several times over the next few days, so despite the Monday evening outlook that things would be cleared up by the time we were to depart, I wasn’t surprised at all when my friend Matt called early Tuesday morning to tell me to look at the radar. A line of storms was passing through, but it appeared to have slowed down and would not be out of the area until noon. Rats, another postponement was in the cards!
   I’ll admit that I was already a bit sour, since two of my bikes were recently put out of commission. The carbon rims on my Cannondale had seen their final spin a couple of weeks ago, as the braking surface was starting to delaminate. I couldn’t be completely shocked, as I’ve had the bike for almost six years and have probably put 15,000 miles on them.
   What I didn’t see coming was a small stress crack at the front of the head tube on my Pinarello Prince – there was no impact or accident involved. It seems to be a shallow surface crack, but I don’t want to risk riding it until it is checked out by someone qualified, and the prospect of sinking a few hundred dollars into having it restored to appropriate condition doesn’t thrill me.
   A quick look into trying the ride some other day that week didn’t yield any positive results, as most of my friends still have young children, and other plans had been made. It then occurred to me that we might be able to squeeze the ride in later Tuesday afternoon. Two of the original companions had to back out, but the delayed departure opened up the opportunity for my neighbor Bob to join us. My mood improved dramatically as the clouds cleared, and we were treated to blue sky and reasonable temperatures when we started west on the Warwick to Ephrata Rail Trail.
   Just a mile or two down the trail, there were closure signs, as it appeared a tree had come down during the storm. Not being too positive where to detour around this section, and seeing a few cyclists coming through, we cautiously proceeded. We were scolded (and I suppose, rightly so) by a man driving a small front-end loader to clear the cut logs/branches out of the way. I apologized and told him we weren’t from the area, didn’t know an alternate route and that we wouldn’t be coming back through, but he didn’t really want to hear it.
   An amusing incident happened a short time later, when my friends Matt and Dan asked to stop for a “nature break”. A questionable looking fellow (my uncle would definitely had called him a “galoot”) with a bandana over his face, stopped to talk to us. He had a fishing rod tucked under his arm while he rode little circles nearby, asking if we collected racing bikes. I answered that I build and sell bicycles and that I own a number of vintage machines.
   He explained that he had a French bike and a Cannondale that was a couple thousand dollars, but it had been stolen recently. Bob and I expressed our sympathy about the theft, then I asked what brand the other bike was. He repeated “French”, and I asked if it had a brand name on the tubing. He looked puzzled and answered “Poojee, or something like that - like the car company?”
   I asked if it was Peugeot, and he answered, “Yep, that’s it,” then apologized that he didn’t have his teeth in and probably wouldn’t have pronounced it correctly anyway. He turned to ride away and told us that, if we knew anyone looking for a racing bike, to check with him. Dan pulled alongside of me shortly after this exchange and wondered if the guy had given a name or anything, and I told him, “Maybe he rides here often and figures we'd know where to find him.” I then added, “Yeah, if I know a person looking for a racing bike, I’m going to check with someone else?”
   The hard-packed clay and fine cinder of the trail is acceptable for using road bikes, though some short sections didn’t shed the recent rains too well. We just went a bit slowly through the larger puddles so we wouldn’t spray each other or get our bikes filthy.
   At the endpoint of the trail in Lititz, we headed down Front Street, which is lined with pretty little houses, most with very well-kept yards/gardens. We then pedaled through Lititz Springs Park and the campus of Warwick High School.
   Traffic unfortunately picked up as we circled Lancaster Airport and rode down Oregon Pike into Brownstown. We were much more to ourselves on the smaller roads that roughly follow the Conestoga River and Muddy Creek. Dan and I have ridden together this spring, and I know he is in decent shape, but as we climbed the pass through the hills to Denver, Matt was fading a bit, as he was trying to get back in condition after a battle with COVID.
   A couple years ago, Bob had a serious injury after colliding with one of the members of his regular cycling crew. Bob held a regular position in the rear of our mini-peloton, as he (understandably) no longer likes to ride alongside others. He told me later that he was perfectly fine taking that caboose spot, calling out cars coming from behind and having a visual of all of us in front.
   We had a couple minor disgruntled shouts from impatient drivers and a crazy teen in one of those “Fast and the Furious-mobiles”, who came up on us WAY too quickly, just as we had begun to make a turn. Most folks gave us plenty of room and gladly waved us through at intersections. We had a particularly pleasant meeting with a group of a dozen folks on horseback, who shouted out greetings. One woman yelled, in a thick German accent, “What a wonderful day for a bike ride!” I yelled back, “...or a horse ride!”
   When heading into the downtown Denver area, I mentioned to Dan how, when I was writing out directions, I kept mistakenly calling it “Dallas”. I told him that you would think it impossible for me to forget the name of a city founded by General William Larimer, and Dan said, “Maybe Dallas was founded by another Larimer.” Not being a fan of anything Texan, I replied, “It would have been a Corporal or Private Larimer!"

   I am getting a steady flow of repair work this spring, but still managed to complete the assembly of the Vicini bicycle. I'll say goodbye with some photos:

Spring Shopping Spree

   There have been periods of time when I am looking for new bicycle build projects and there just isn't anything to be found that is interesting and (most importantly) at an affordable price. For some strange reason the timing almost always seems to be that there are slim pickings just when I clear out my supply of finished bikes and have the budget to buy. The COVID-induced bicycle shortage made the situation worse, as folks became reluctant to get rid of the higher-quality bikes they had, because there certainly wasn't anything out there better to purchase!

   Lately I've had quite a few intriguing build prospects come my way through various sources - so many, in fact, that I have had to actually turn a few away. The availability of parts sure hasn't improved, and I'm a little concerned about what I am going to be able to do with all that I have collected. Perhaps I should look at the situation from the standpoint that, for the foreseeable future, I can focus all my attention on finding the parts to complete these projects, and I don't have to dedicate any time on looking for future builds.
   If there is anything below that really interests you, and you would like to reserve a bike project, don't hesitate to ask. I actually had someone purchase this Bianchi Brava bicycle before I had even completed the planned swapping of the (Shimano to Campagnolo) parts:

   While still on the subject of Bianchi, I purchased this 1997 Trofeo Superset 2 frame, assembled with Dedacciai tubing. I've mentioned before that I am picky about which Bianchi graphics are used, and I really like the metallic teal bold Italics on this 58 cm frame.

   I was contemplating the black headset, but it is a quality Tange product, and I happen to have a set of Italian 3t handlebars and stem in black, which would match up nicely. The rest will surely be Campagnolo.

   The other day I received a call from my friend Walter, who had previously asked me to list a couple of his custom Voodoo bicycles on my For Sale page. Unfortunately, his health issues are going to prevent him from doing much cycling in the future, and he has decided to sell off much of his collection.

   One item he had that really caught my attention was a 54 cm Lazzaretti frameset. Long-time readers may recall my visit to the Cicli Lazzaretti shop in Rome and its influence on my bicycle collection, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to build up one of their classic Columbus steel frames.

 

   Walter also had this wonderful 52cm Pinarello Catena Lusso frameset, very similar to the one Alexei Grewal rode to a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics. I would have loved to work on it myself, but I told him that, with all the bicycles in my assembly queue, I am getting budget-stretched and that he would probably get a better price for it on the open market. I offered to also put it on my For Sale page for extra exposure.

   The frame will need some replacement decals, and I can certainly give the buyer some guidance on some sources for those!

   I got my hands on another Pinarello frame, this time a new, old-stock 54cm Opera Cellini. In 1998, Fausto Pinarello created the Opera line in order to explore new materials and manufacturing techniques in a market dominated by carbon and titanium. While aluminum (in this case) may not be a "new" material, it has been overlooked in the last decade+ as what is still a reliable, durable and lightweight substance from which to manufacture bicycle frames.

   Finally, I found a 56cm Rossin frameset that resembles the ones built for my hero Claude Criquielion and his Hitachi team in 1987 - the base paint for those frames was an orange to yellow fade, and this one is red. Marco ("Marc") Rossin was the head frame builder at Colnago until 1974, when he established his own brand. He supplied bicycles to many top teams until selling off the company in 1992.

   I would really like to build this frame up with Mavic components as the Hitachi bicycles were, but those parts have become more and more difficult to find and the price to purchase them would probably drive the build budget past my comfort zone.

Be sure to check out the Cycle Tech Sojourns calendar, as more dates have been added - I would love to have you join us!