Two Wrenches Better Than One?

   I’ve been questioning some of the tactics used by my current favorite pro Alejandro Valverde and his Movistar cycling team the past few years. Too many times they’ve been positioned poorly during lulls in a race and been caught up in crashes, or they have been driving the pace on hills in order to shed the teammates of their opponents, only to be burned out when the finish line nears, leaving Valverde exposed with no one to help.

   This morning I was able to enjoy seeing the Spanish star use amazing patience to win La Flèche Wallone, one of pro cycling’s Spring Classics contested in Belgium’s Ardennes region. Yes, he did use his teammates to set a tough pace, but the last climb up to the finish line was relatively short and steep, the kind of terrain on which Valverde excels. He wisely let some of the favorites jostle for position and launch attacks that proved way too early and then jumped with an explosive kick over the last couple hundred meters to break clear.

   This has been a very busy week down in the shop, and I’ve had some company with Carrick doing most of the work on his bike, with patient direction of course. I had been making fairly quick work collecting parts, and I told him when we were in a bit of a lull with schoolwork, we could get busy with assembly.

   We took a trip out to Bikesport to purchase some cables and housings, and this morning the wheels arrived, so we thought we were all set. The project was flying along until we realized the brake caliper arms would not extend far enough for the pads to make contact with the wheel rims. This frame had a cyclocross setup, which allows more clearance for wider, knobby tires, but also requires calipers with a longer “reach”.

   We were not so happy that BikePedia.com, which I use often as guide for appropriate parts, didn’t point out this little glitch, and we were especially disappointed to have to wait on a new brakeset to arrive. The picture below shows how far our build went to this point, not being able to wrap the bars with the brake cables going under the bar tape. We hadn’t put the cross tires on the rims yet, since we had just checked the clearance, but we had used the bare wheel with the cassette installed to size the chain properly.

   I was finally able to pick up the Pinarello Prince from my new airbrushing connection, and Bruce was a little embarrassed that he had hung it up in his storage room and forgotten about it. I assured him it wasn’t a problem, and reminded him that if the first guy who worked on this would have listened to me and taken his time, I wouldn’t have had to pushed the project this far! I was certainly glad to have met Bruce, because he did a fantastic job - I wish I had gone directly to him!

   This evening I applied the vinyl decals, and I think it looks fantastic. I’ll have to take the bike over to show Bruce when I’m finished putting it all together.

   I also started stripping paint off of the Pinarello Treviso last weekend. Some of the areas where the chemical was fighting through the decals and paint, as well as some spots where the paint was thicker, will need a second round of application. I used an environmentally friendly paint stripper and was a little skeptical about its effectiveness, but not anymore - and you can’t beat not having to worry about knocking yourself out with toxic fumes!

   I'm a bit disappointed to have a really busy schedule for the next few days that will keep me from finishing work on any of the bikes, but it's nice to see some progress.