All over the place - maybe I DO need therapy!

   The blog title makes reference to two things: the fact that this article is going to touch on many unrelated topics and a story I’ve mentioned a couple of times in my writing, when my son Carrick questioned my sanity after witnessing my return home with a van full of bicycles, some to keep and some to sell.
   A couple of years ago, I had commented in a blog post on my past bikes that I had owned only two road bikes from when I was age 14 until I turned 41, and in the ensuing twelve years I had owned twenty-two different bikes. I keep reiterating that I am not a collector, but maybe I should change that phrase to “I am not an accumulator”. I like to tweak my little stable of bicycles, when I find something else really interesting, when a feature of one of my bikes becomes particularly bothersome or if I just find a really logical reason for a change.
   I recognize that I’ve had the Bianchi Camaleonte for less than a year, but I had been putting it through its paces, especially during our recent Rochester trip. Mind you, it is quality machine, especially with the upgrades I made to the bike, but I bought it when the nationwide stock of Bianchi bikes was low, and in the struggle for finding something that was my size, I settled for a frame that was slightly larger than my perfect fit.
   The headtube is longer than I am used to, and I find myself wrestling the bike a bit through turns. A taller person’s center of gravity would be higher over the bike, and this would be no problem. A recent spin when borrowing Sue’s Colnago trail bike, which has a 53cm frame, confirmed my recent decision to look for a more appropriately-sized bike, as I thoroughly enjoyed whipping the bike around turns that evening on a winding unpaved trail ride.
   I’m going with a Bianchi Impulso Allroad, and I will probably keep the as-delivered Shimano GRX drivetrain/hydraulic brakes and just swap in the Cinelli stem/bars and the Mavic wheels that I had put on the Camaleonte. I’m hoping there is nothing complicated involved, but I’ll keep you posted.

   The timing of this decision was surprising, as I saw a rare Colnago Roger de Vlaeminck frame listed on eBay and starting thinking about how I could possibly fit it into my little collection. There were only 200 of these Columbus steel frames built as a tribute to the Belgian legend, who won all of cycling’s Monument races, including Paris-Roubaix a record four times! The original RDV frames were essentially a Colnago Master, with a paintjob similar to that of the blue Gios bicycles that he had ridden to so many victories, but the logos had “Roger de Vlaeminck” printed on them, instead of “Gios Torino”, and the head tube badge was actually an image of Roger’s head!

   The frame I eventually purchased had the top tube cable guides removed and put in a more modern location, below the top tube in a split housing/bare cable arrangement. The frame has had a custom paint job applied, kind of a yellow splash over a deep red, as well as the Colnago Master set of decals. It is believed this may have been done for a small pro team, as the frame also has the braze-on race number hanger. I plan to put in the card for #27, which de Vlaeminck wore during his last Roubaix win.

   As much as I enjoy my Colnago Extreme Power, I recognize that I have two other modern carbon bikes, and my real love is vintage bicycles. The drive train on the EP operated perfectly, so I am going to transfer nearly everything over to the RDV for a retro-modern look. The very modern 3T stem/bars and seatpost will stay on the EP, and I have a nice Campagnolo 9-speed Chorus group, as well as a great set of Ambrosio wheels to put on it for resale.

   Speaking of new bikes, some future blog articles will involve a proposed purchase of an E-bike for Sue, as I knew she’d like to go on some longer rides over more challenging terrain, without feeling completely wiped-out afterward. A little speed boost when needed would also allow her to join in on some of my favorite routes without feeling like she is holding me back.

   I sandwiched a pleasant trip to the shore for our annual family Seafood Fest, around a couple of very frustrating bicycle jobs. One involved a his-and-hers set of Schwinn bicycles, which required a whole lot of rust removal and polishing. It wasn’t hard work, just a lot of it, and these were 1970s Schwinns, not of the highest quality. They must have weighed 50 pounds each! I was fairly happy with the way they turned out, and, most importantly, so was the customer.

  

   The other job involved a repeat customer, Tom, who wanted to build up his mid-1980s, rose-colored Vitus 979 to modern standards. He had chosen some nice components, but unfortunately, he didn’t heed my early suggestion to check with me about compatibility. There were some frustrations for us both, but he eventually asked the right questions and was very patient with my answers. He had to buy correct parts and resell some of what he had originally purchased, but the build eventually came together.
   Interestingly, he ended up going with a blend of cyclocross and road parts, using a 10-speed drivetrain by Microshift, a company that usually takes a back seat to Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM, but puts out reliable, yet more affordable, parts. I had used a set of their 7-speed brake/shifters on a friend’s vintage Terry bicycle a couple of years ago, and really liked them.

   I’m still learning new things, and occasionally they are mind-numbing! A customer had dropped off a Schwinn bicycle with tires with rubber that had completely broken down. I could barely make out the size on the crumbling tan sidewalls, 26” x 1⅜”. This was a common size for vintage cruisers, and I knew from past experience that a local shop, Perkiomen Bicycles in Schwenksville, keeps them in stock.
   I purchased a pair and was shocked to find they weren’t even close to fitting! I looked at the old tires more closely and could barely make out the symbol “EA-3”. I did an internet search and found that these were tires/wheels that were common to old British 3-speed bicycles. Further research had me learning that 26-inch tires have several different ETRTO (European Tire and Rim Technical Organization) numbers, which designated the inside diameter of the tire, or more importantly, different rim diameters!
   The most common numbers are 559 for traditional mountain bike wheels, 597 for Schwinn “lightweights” and 590 for the dastardly British EA-3. I returned the Schwinn tires and ordered the appropriate tires, which Kenda still manufacturers. I felt kind of stupid the next day when someone brought in an old bicycle that required a new set of 597 tires, but she wanted all-black tires, instead of the tan wall versions I had taken back to the Perkiomen shop, so I was off the hook.

   I had been shaking off some of my work frustration by getting in some really nice rides with friends during a recent spell of mild temps and low humidity. Last Friday some of my regular crew proposed a 50-miler, and the logical destination was the beautiful Oley Valley, where the roads wind through rolling farmlands with relatively few cars for company! 

   My friend Mike and I had been planning all summer to head out to the Amish country, and we finally had our schedules mesh on Sunday. We were a bit disappointed that no one else had an empty calendar that day, but it was fantastic weather for mid-August, and we had a great time. We rewarded ourselves with an ice cream stop at the locally-famous Boehringer's Drive-In.

Official team photographer Matt Nice snapped this over-the
-shoulder image, with me (left) and the "Two Dans".

This would be common scenery during both rides!

Mike performed the photographer duties on this occasion.

   As the official start of the school year nears, and the struggle will begin for consistent participation from my usual cycling crew, I reflect on how much of a relief it was not to have planned so many events this year. Last summer was a weather nightmare, with postponements and resulting attendance issues. This year, I think only one of our Tuesday evening rides was cancelled because of storms!
   Wait a second, one other Tuesday ride was called off…because of smoke. I would have never seen that coming!

Muddy, Misty, Moist (Midway)

   During our second-to-last full day in Rochester, Sue asked if I had a route planned to ride the following afternoon. I told her that, I had pretty much visited everything that was on my own mental list, except for the El Camino Trail, which weaved through a more culturally diverse section of the city. Sue told me that I was to leave it to her to plan the day’s route, and I was also informed that I wasn’t allowed to question her choices of roads, if it seemed less direct than a course I might plot.
“I don’t want to ride the same streets we’ve been riding into the city,” which seemed like a reasonable decision, and she mentioned a thought of combining the cycling part with a bus ride, so that the mileage wouldn’t get out of hand. I had our “bicycles go inside the car when travelling” rule in mind when thinking of using the bus-front rack, and Sue ended up reconfiguring her route to sooth my apprehension.
   The weather again looked a bit unstable with a possibility of getting wet, but we had our “we won’t melt” attitude in place, and because of heavy overnight rains, we also had the “bikes/clothes/bodies will clean off” motto running through our heads when we reached El Camino. The stone dust surface was holding plenty of water, and many low spots were an inch or so deep.
   We were early into the ride, so gentle pedaling, to keep splash and a long ride with soaked socks out of the equation, seemed a wise idea. After a mile or so of weaving from dry patch to dry patch, we reached what seemed like the end of the trail, but we knew we hadn’t gone far enough. It seemed there was an alley to the left, and thinking it might be some sort of dogleg, we started to veer that way.
   “Nope, nope – it’s that way,” said an old lady who was sitting on a large rock near the sidewalk and pointing to the right. We thanked her and found the trail continuing about 50 yards to the right. However, because of the sloppy conditions, we decided to stick to the pavement on our way to Seneca Park.
   We entered at the zoo entrance on now-very-familiar St. Paul Street, and again stuck to the pavement as far as we could into the park grounds, before pedaling over mushy maintenance roads and some muddy single track into the woods. Sue voiced a bit of concern about whether we were on the right path, as there were no markings, but exclaimed proudly, “This is right where I wanted to be!” when we popped through a sketchy looking gate onto Seneca Park Avenue.
   Turning onto St. Joseph Street, it was hard to believe we were so close to the city in this hidden, very rural-looking neighborhood. We took on a challenging climb up Van Voorhis Avenue and reached once again the bridge over the Genesee River at Pattonwood Drive. Pattonwood actually becomes the Lake Ontario State Parkway, but we had to zigzag over to Latta Street to reach the entrance to its namesake trail.

   The sky had been getting a bit dark, and although it never poured, we did ride through a constant drizzle or misting the whole length of the LOSP Trail. We also never got soaked, but our moods were a bit sour, especially when the marking for the trail ended, and we mistakenly got onto a branch of the pavement that dumped us onto a limited access highway! Seeing a state policeman parked up ahead, we didn’t want to be questioned why we were riding somewhere we obviously didn’t belong (although there weren’t any signs telling us that, either), so we made a righthand turn across the shoulder, through the weeds onto a path paralleling a nearby housing development.
   We knew if we rode west, we would eventually intersect one of the roads we meant to be on, and sure enough, we were soon back on course to Braddock Bay. Sue’s intention was to ride the full length of Edgemere Drive on the narrow causeway between Lake Ontario and the handful of ponds that are located west of the community of Charlotte and Ontario Beach.
   The sun popped from behind the clouds, and we dried out completely as we passed a pretty neighborhood at Long Pond, where attractive shore houses lined a canal that connected the pond and lake. There was an unexpected short, steep climb just before reaching Charlotte, and I made an instant friend with a gentleman who had passed us going the other direction about ten minutes earlier.
   He said how much he liked my Bianchi, and I asked how many miles he was doing that day, since we had seen him before. He answered that it was his regular twenty-mile weekend circuit, and I wished him a good ride with a wave as he sped off down the gentle descent into town.
   Sue had planned a stop at another location that served what had become her favorite treat, Abbott's Frozen Custard. The chocolate with salted almonds was her go-to, and she managed to pair it with a different flavor "experiment" each visit.. Speaking of experiments, this last time I tried the pistachio-pineapple…eh, it was okay.
   We were back riding along Rochester Harbor and connected once again with the Genesee Riverway Trail, this time on a beautiful, curving bridge that swept out over the marshlands along the river, opposite a spot called Rattlesnake Point! Sue snapped a shot of me starting out across the bridge:

   We then made the grueling, long climb up out of Turning Point Park to Lake Street and laughed at the directional marker we had missed the other day. If I had some loppers, I would have cut away the branches that obstructed the sign from the view of northbound trail-goers!

   Crossing back over the river at Driving Park Avenue, we passed the massive Kodak Hawkeye Building that has been vacant since 2011. The visually striking edifice is said to be the one of the finest examples of “factory art deco” in the world, and it has a wonderful setting above the bridge and Lower Falls.

   Architecturally I was reminded of the Starrett-Lehigh Building (photo below) in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. I've passed the former Lehigh Valley Railroad warehouse several times when riding the Hudson River Greenway.

   The Hawkeye Building has an interesting history as a center for covert reconnaissance during the Cold War. A project there, known as Bridgehead, dealt with creating cameras that could withstand the rigors of a rocket launch and then take clear images from miles above the Earth. The images taken were on Kodak film that was parachuted back to Earth in capsules, picked out of the sky by retriever planes and whisked off to Rochester.
   As we pedaled through Park Avenue one last time, we had a good bit of fatigue in the legs and felt that we earned our planned dinner, courtesy of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (housed, of course, in the downtown Lehigh Valley Station). Some pulled pork, ribs, black beans and rice, coleslaw and a big pile of fries would go down nicely!

   I highly recommend Rochester for a getaway destination, especially to those who like to get around easily on two wheels instead of four. There’s plenty to do and see, all within a safe bike ride. I enjoyed looking into the history of the delightful city and its surroundings, and I can’t ask for more than cycling destinations that involve scenery and a background story!