Long, Slow Road Back

   I know, it has been a few weeks since I've written anything, but not a whole lot has been going on. Sure, it is the usual slow part of the season for bicycle work, but I have also not been on the bike since my accident right before Christmas.

   I was experiencing tightness and occasional twinges of pain in my left hip, and I learned from past experience that is better to be completely healed, not push the exercise schedule and risk further injury. I had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor but had to delay everything a couple weeks when I was hit with COVID. Nearly three years avoiding the "plague" and BAM!

   Anyhow, I've finally been doing some physical therapy and took a little test hike the other day with good results. I plan on taking my first light ride tomorrow, since we're supposed to have some temps in the 60s and don't want to miss that opportunity to get out on the road. We'll see how that goes.

   In the meantime, I had been spending some time making some improvements to my shop. I was tired of carrying my laptop up and down the stairs when I wanted to watch a movie or sports event while working in the basement. My brother-in-law donated one of the monitors that he had set aside from the shore house when it was being renovated. I hooked up my father's old laptop with an HDMI cable for internet access.

   I realized last summer that a couple of my cycling jerseys had seen their last days of active service. Not only was the elastic in the pockets and waist starting to lose its life, but the materials really were outdated and noticeably uncomfortable to wear on warm days.

   The two jerseys had some personal and historic significance, so I didn't just want to throw them in the trash. One from the Lotto-Isoglass team from 1995, the same year greats like Andrei Tchmil were riding bicycles just like my Vitus 992. I found an autographed photo of Tchmil on eBay and included it inside the frame with the jersey.

   I have mentioned previously that I was a big fan of Thomas Voeckler, and the French champion jersey I own replicates the one he wore during the 2005 season with the Bouygues Telecom team. An added plus was that the team was riding Colnago bicycles at the time!

   I have had a couple customers bring in some tune-up jobs the past couple weeks, and a guy named Jason brought in his freshly-painted 1990s GT aero road frame to be built up. He had a box of parts ready-to-go, including an era-appropriate Shimano Dura-Ace groupset and a cool pair of Mavic Cosmic deep rim wheels.

   GT used to make fantastic products, particularly BMX bicycles, but much like Schwinn and Mongoose (ironically all now owned by the same Dutch conglomerate, Pon Holdings) have lost most of their prestige and are an off-the-shelf brand sold in sporting goods stores. This aluminum frame was wonderfully designed with airfoil tube shapes and internal cable routing.

   The build went fairly smoothly, except for a missing bottom bracket cable guide, for which it proved difficult to find a replacement, and the tricky internal cable routing through the carbon aero handlebars Jason had supplied.