TDF - Stages 1 and 2, and Training

TDF: Can't believe it but, their OLN is broadcasting the TDF in HIGH DEF!!! Now this is really living in luxury! Makes the racing way more vivid and intense...

Stage 1 - I thought Cancellara would win...and he did by a big margin. LA did really good coming in 10th? He should get better as the race goes on...so who knows what will happen on the Astana team. Could it be another Hinault (Armstrong) vs Lemond (Contador) soap opera type of TDF???

Stage 2 - What a fabulous finish for Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro of BBOX Bouygues Telecom - who came in 5th place sprinting against best in the world!!! I hope this wasn't just a one time flash and I hope he can contend in all the future sprints. Cavendish, as usual, was just too fast for anyone pulling out a 2 or 3 bike win...I think the only way you beat him is to jump first, and force Cavendish to come around your top speed.

4th of July Weekend Training - I'm hoping I didn't over do it.....got in 2.5 on Friday, 3.5 on Saturday, and 2.5 today...not bad considering how cr@ppy my pulled groin muscles feel. I even did 4 loops of Aliamanu on Friday, the first medium hard climbing I've done in probably 2 months or so. On Saturday I did about 2 hours in the CRAZY crazy 4th of July trafic with the T-man. And today, wanting to just take it easy, I rode my old school Bridgestone - which is always retro fun!

But, what WASN'T fun, was using some large leaves (as gloves) to work out a kink in the B-stone's non-DuraAce chain under Nimitz Highway! On a bike you don't ride often, don't ever buy anything else BUT DA, unless you want your chain to rust and kink...

New Shoes - Vittoria Unique

Got these new ultra light shoes on order:

I've been riding around on my RB-1 with my old Time Impact pedals and TBT Time shoes and, I think I like the stiffer shoes better than my current plastic soled Sidi Genius Megas. The TBT Times are old school "pro" shoes and even before carbon soles, the TBTs were known for being one of the best. But, the pedals and shoes do weigh a ton...

These new carbon soled Vittorias are super light (400g per pair) and they look good...I just hope their wide enough for my feet. If not, it's back to Performance and maybe on to the Sidi 6.6 Carbon Megas, or, maybe the carbon soled Shimano's in their wide size...
http://www.vittoria-shoes.com/schedaProdotto.aspx?imgBig=3&ID_prodotto=83&ID_pagina=3

Caught in the Rain...AGAIN!

Saturday: Thank goodness for fenders. Got 2 hours into my afternoon ride on my RB-1 with my Race Blade fenders on, then...got REALLY dumped on in McCully. Rode on the sidewalk from McCully to the State Capital then threw in the towel. Had to get a ride back home from my dad.

While waiting a the capital, an asian tourist from the mainland, who knew abouty bikes and could appreciate a cult classic like the RB-1, said that the Bridgestone was super cool "rocking fenders." Oh Yeah!!!

3 Hour Ride...

Took the Bridgestone on a very gusty 3 hour ride today...and, the stretch with the 100 stem might be a tad too far...may need to find a 90 on Ebay...we'll see.

Also, am getting some problems with my aero lever on the right side...during the ride it must have slipped down about 1cm or so. Could be that's why it felt too far, especially at the end of the ride.

But whatever...cause everytime I see that stem on the bike...I feel good :-)

Even More RB-1 Upgrades - Cinelli Italian Style...

Added these to my RB-1 today...Cinelli 1R Stem and Cinelli 63 Bar.

With that iconic winged "C" on the front...back in the day, there was nothing more racy and beautiful than having a sleek, soft polished and Italian, Cinelli 1R stem on your bike...it screamed...PRO! Although, I don't think anyone around here was really a pro, all the fast guys AND the pros rode these stems and bars. It was the standard!


The 1R used a slightly bigger 26.4mm diameter bar, not like the 26.0 standard today. Cinelli 26.4mm bars, also pretty much the standard, came in various bends: "64" Giro d' Italia shallow drop, "65" Criterium bend (had one of these "sprinter" bends on my bike for many years), "66" Campion del Mondo "Merckx" deep bend, and the bars I have here (actually my brother's) "63" Campion del Mondo medium drop bend. http://www.43bikes.com/cinelli-bars-stems.html

Thank goodness (again), I didn't dump these as they were just laying around for many years. Since I started upgrading the Bridgestone, I put the Cinelli combo on and off the bike several times over the last couple of weeks...deciding that the stretch was just too long, 100 vs 80. Plus that, this old-school set up ADDS about 125g to the bike, cancelling out lots of the gains I made going to the Dura Ace drive train stuff! But still, even though its heavier, I just couldn't get my mind off knowing how sweeeeettt it would look. So today, I decided to just put it on and went for 1-1/2 ride...and holy smokes...I COULD RIDE IT!!!!! (today anyway...)


At first, I was going to use my lighter Deda 215 with this super nice, retro Nitto 26.0 Pearl stem the D-man let me borrow, to get rid of that clunky, but functional, front loading Profile stem. But now...after riding with and seeing how the Cinelli components look...there's no turning back!!! I really really hope I can get comfortable with the longer stretch...a 3 hour ride is on tap soon.

One thing for sure...Cinelli is pure Italian Style!!! It just takes it to the next level...too bad we all have to use that clunky threadless stuff now...