New Year, New Photos, New Projects, New Features

   Plenty to report since starting the holiday break, but I'll first mention my disappointment in not being able to stick with my intentions of staying in decent cycling condition, as the weather quickly turned brutally cold, and then we were hit with multiple snow and ice events. Not that I was sitting around and not exercising, I just wasn't taking the endurance-type rides needed to sustain the level of riding fitness I wanted.

   I can only deal with so much time on the indoor trainer (zzzzz...), but over the past few weeks I also did some hiking, played some hockey on a local pond and got in a few miles of cross-country skiing. Alas, when the weather finally broke, and I was able to get out on the road again, I found my legs feeling very sluggish.

   The cold weather also kept me out of my shop, as our basement felt like a giant walk-in freezer! I did bring a small table upstairs to do a bit of touch-up work on a beautiful Ciocc Designer 84 frameset I purchased just before Christmas.

   I plan on equipping this bike with the Dura-Ace component group that my generous friend Brendan gave me, and I have collected a few pieces, like handlebars, a seatpost and saddle to finish this build off fairly quickly once everything arrives in the mail.

   I also picked up a Pinarello Asolo frameset that was already stripped of its paint. I have some ideas for this project, but haven't finalized the plans. There are a couple Campagnolo groups on my shelves that would be great candidates for this Italian classic.

   The Colnago Super was completed over the holiday, and Greg was very disappointed to have to wait to take it out on the road. It was about fifteen degrees (and falling) outside when I dashed down to the local trail to snap some photos before he picked up the bike!

   I was also able to finally polish off the Coppi bicycle, and the howling wind that day forced me to take shelter around the back of the local library in order to keep the bike from blowing over while taking some pictures!

   The "Gioiello Giallo" (yellow jewel) is now listed on the For Sale page, if you are looking for a new, vintage ride!

   In the right-hand column is an added feature to my blog - Trail Tales - a widget that provides an alphabetical list of links to the articles detailing rides I've done around the country. I'd love to say everything goes smoothly when I'm out on my cycling adventures, but there is no doubt the stories wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting if that was actually the case!

   I will be updating the list several times this year, as I intend to explore some new areas, maybe even up into Canada this summer, but we'll see how those tentative plans go...