Some men keep mistresses, the basement peloton keep their old bikes. Drove my wife to work and took advantage of the trip to take my old karbo zaccheria for a ride (my Kastle is attached to the tacx). Pumped the tires and poured some singer sewing machine oil over the chain and away

It felt pretty funny, it's a very difference bike from what I am riding now. The shifting is on the down the down tube. I bought the frame in the late 1990s but the components a mix of 1988 shimano 600 from a previous bike. The cranks are 180mm Dura Ace. It weighs around 9 kilos.

I figured I would do a flat warm up, but turning on to the main road was a cyclist going up, so I turned to follow him. A tractor over took me with a thick cloud of smoke. I sprinted past it, and then the cyclist. I raced the tractor to the next intersection, where I knew he would turn. It was there, two k into the hill before i noticed the cyclist was sitting on my wheel. I was riding 48x22 up the grade to alberobello. I haven't done that since I bought the compact. The long cranks promote mashing on the big gears. I mashed. I have seen the cyclist out riding on my way to work, so I know he trains. He was on a pretty hot bike and might have been amused by my shifting, the cobwebs and the mashing. Until I dropped him half way up that is.

The 180s cranks are cool. They are certainly too big for me, but really rock when you're out of the saddle in a big gear. Descending with a 53x12 was fun also, haven't done that it a while either.

I didn't have a computer or a HRM, but I did the 40k route in exactly 80 minutes (30kmh) with 450-500m vertical. Not too bad considering how little riding I have been doing.

sud