Reaching goals

I’ve always love cycling. It gave me a sense of freedom and help me get into shape. At one point in my life, about the time I started blogging, I was quite sick. Cycling became out of reach. Even walking or driving were made near impossible. Between vertigo attacks a few times a week and the lack of energy on top of the recovery time from the vertigos and other health issues made things hard to live through.

As soon as I was able to start getting better I started cycling again. I started out with my hybrid Eclipse. A big bike but it got the job done. Then came along the Miele Alba Lx, which had a broken rim. Then I was lucky to find my Bianchi Squadra in a pile of garbage. It was stock with 12 hard gears on it. At that point I had met Dan at Café Roubaix and his cycling club gave me the chance to be a part of a group. It didn’t took long before I knew I had to get a better bike (the drive train was not in great condition) but I cycled along by myself to improve my strength. When you don’t feel good a 20km ride seems so far and so hard. The area is hilly and it made things quite challenging. But I didn’t give up.

Bianchi Squadra with old drive train

 

I remember one day where my car broke down and I had to go to work. I took my Bianchi determined to not missed work. I cycled the 23km to my job and came back. I remember clearly how hard the ride back was after a day of physical work. But I didn’t give up.

Bianchi at work

 

Then I found my second road bike in 2012 (I think). A 1988 Fiori Piquante with 14 hard gears. The 2 extra gears and the much better drive train made it possible to achieve a little bit more with a bit of more ease. Still it was an hard bike to ride but it made me stronger. I rode the Fiori for a full season with a bike club. Do I have to mention that I was always the last one when we started? Practice makes perfect they say. Well, with time and dedication I improved my average speed and I soon found myself in the middle of the pack. At that point I was also commuting to and from work with my Eclipse hybrid. You can read about the first time I climbed the big hill with it.

Fiore Piquante

Then the Dedacciai came along in 2014 and I made sure I could climb anything on that one. It took me about 2 years to build it, buying piece by piece. I have been riding this carbon bike for 2 years now.  I made lots of improvements to my riding and my strength with this one. I also started riding with the Cafe Roubaix team once more. I started at the back of the pack. The 50kms rides were still hard and I wasn’t very fast on the climbs. The group was very encouraging and help me to keep going. I rode my bikes as much as I can. For the most part, all I was able to to do was 20km during the week as I was still too tired to do anything else. Strength came back and my pace improved. By October 2016, I could go 85 or so km.

Dedacciai Nerissimo

This year have been a great one. So much progress have been made. My team mates are noticing it. It still feel unreal that I can keep the front at times and lead for much longer period of time. Today another goal was checked off my list. I’ve achieved my goal to cycle 600 km this month. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t without pain. I suffered at times but I made a point of always keeping a smile and remembering where I came from. I am also very grateful to have friends that encourage me through this journey. I’m not sure what is the next step but I think I foresee some cyclo touring. For now, I know the Dedacciai needs a bit of an update on the drive train and a new set of custom wheels is on the way.

Goal!

 

Small goals and patience made this journey possible. It seems like it was yesterday that I wasn’t able to get out of bed and was barely able to walk. Now, I can cycle 100 km and still have the energy to do other things. I still have my struggles with vertigos and other things but not near as much as they use to be. Cycling and bicycles have always helped me getting through things and I’m grateful I still have that passion burning inside me, pushing me further and further into bigger goals. Never give up!

 

All of my bikes mentioned above are still in service. The Bianchi as now gotten a retro fit to get rid of the malfunctioning parts and is now used on club rides and commutes. Steel is real!

Retrofitted Bianchi

Rapha 100 woman ride

On July 23rd, I had the pleasure to lead the Rapha 100km ride sponsored by the Café Roubaix Bicycle Studio. With the influence of Liz (who set up pretty much everything to have our ride registered with Rapha) and the help of other team members of the Café Roubaix Bicycle Studio, we, a group of dedicated woman, took part in this great challenge to ride our first 100 km on our bicycles. This ride was done through Rapha Woman 100 challenge which is an international ride. Woman around the globe rode their 100km on the same day. The ride was opened to any woman that wanted to attend. We were 4 of our current team and we met a 5th rider which is now a part of our team. The route we established was not that easy as out neck of the woods is filled with hills, but riding with these fierce and strong woman was a treat.

I can’t say enough how proud of my team mates I am. They are brave women that are strong and that do not give up without putting a fight. They pushed themselves hard and they achieved something big through this ride. I know the last 10-15 km were hard on them and I tried my best to cheer them up and encourage them as best as I can. It was hard for me too, it was also my first 100 km, but knowing that they were there, giving all they have, gave me that strength I needed to help them go through these hard last kms because I knew they could make it.

My wonderful team mates have been working hard training for months to get where they are today and achieve this big ride. It seems like yesterday that I led this group of woman out on their first group ride with our beginner group rider program. I can’t believe the amount of progress they made in such short period of time. To be honest, I’m amazed by their dedication. Week after week they showed up for the Tuesday ride. They motivated me to show up too and ride with them.  I owe them more than they think. I’m proud to be a part of this group.

Team Café Roubaix is a group of dedicated cycling lovers and they are always ready to jump in to help make things possible. We had the support of 3 vehicles at our disposition for anything we needed. Our men member (Jeff with his dog Reese, Ally and his son Benjamin and dog Brody, and Jerold and his son Sidney) on the support team carried everything we may have needed from food to spare parts and lots of moral support too. We even had a 4iii innovations vehicle following us to insure our safety on the road. The best way to feel safe while riding and not having to think about anything else but our bikes and the road. Let’s not forget Dan and Rita (and and their daughters Danica and Leah) from Café Roubaix Bicycle Studio that hosted this even for us and that welcomed us with some bubbly and lots of food. They made this event something big that I will remember forever.

You can see our route segment 1 and Segment 2. I had a little issue with my Garmin VivoActive watch from a fault of mine so I have the ride in two segments. A silly side note about our route. I was once called a mountain goat by a team member for my love of climbing. I’m nowhere near fast or anything special but I have a thing for hills. When I saw the rolling hills coming through our ride, that kept me motivated.

Congratulations to Stacey, Linda, Lizzy and Halyna for completing this challenging hilly 100kms ride. It was a pleasure to ride with you all.

This ride was made possible by the dedication of passionate people that donated their time and efforts for us.

Note: I can’t remember who took all of these wonderful pictures. The credits go to Ally McLean and Jeff Simpson. Thanks you!

 

 

Building the Single Speed

I always liked fixed gears bikes. They are so “rad”! It was time for me to have my very own. Buying one already made remove all the fun to build your own. Since I love dismantling bikes it was a good lesson to actually build something for once. So there I was looking for a frame my size I could use for this purpose.

I was looking for a older frame that had beautiful classic lines and not too many decals or colors so I could make it sleek looking. I didn’t had far to go to find it. I already had a sad looking 12 speed silver with black accents Norco Monterrey sitting in my pile with a crappy drivetrain that was rusty and in bad shape but the frame was in very good condition. I then stripped the Norco apart to leave just the bare frame. It was relatively easy to do. Most of older frame gets seized parts on them and they are very hard to remove. I didn’t even had to use the torch on this guy. Once all the parts were removed I hung the frame and fork in my shower stall in the basement and cleaned it all up with Dawn dish soap. I find that soap to be very good for that purpose. Then it was left to dry.

I then had to pick my color scheme. I debated for days until I re-discovered an old dusty rose suede Turbo saddle while looking for parts. I knew I wanted to stick with that color. I also found a vintage Nitto black quill to go along. Then I payed a visit to my friend at Cafe Roubaix in Cochrane (www.caferoubaix.ca) and he showed me a nice set of Suzue classic deep dish aluminum wheel he got. That was love at first sight! Those wheels have a 10 speeds freewheel. I had to get a spacer kit to convert to a single speed. He also showed me a few options for square taper cranks that were available. Pake makes those great single speed cranks and they made the one I like in a dusty rose color. A perfect fit for my Turbo saddle. I ordered the parts and took my new set of wheels home. My build was going very well.

One week end I decided to pay a visit to my friends at Good Life Community Bike Shop (www.goodlifebikes.ca) in Calgary. If you don’t know these guys and you love vintage or rad bikes, they are the ones to go see. I like to go there to find odd ball parts for my bike builds. That day I left with a set of Soma track bars and a matching dusty rose seat post. That was a lucky day.

I started assembling the bike together and I realized I needed some brakes. I picked a set of cross bike brakes to go on the flat portion of the bar. They fit very well and are not too bulky looking.

The build was a process. The thing with building a older frame with new parts is that things don’t always fit. They often don’t fit. You got to use some tinkering to make things work but they can work.

So here I am with the my single speed bike that I can’t call a fixie because its got brakes and a freewheel. I like it anyways.

 

A ridding milestone

With the nice weather we have been blessed with lately how is it possible to not ride? I decided last Sunday I was going to ride in to work on Tuesday. It’s about 12km from home to work. The weather was nice, not too windy but a little cold. The ride was nice and I made it in 30 minutes like expected.

I rode my 2004 Eclipse hybrid. I like it’s stability that allow me to carry lots of stuff on the rear rack. I recently had to change the cassette and the chain so I picked a cassette better geared for the terrain I have to face around Cochrane, AB. This area is well known for it’s great hill. I went from the original 11-28 cassette that was perfect for the Ottawa region to a 11-34 mega range which is better suited for the climbs we have around here. I was lucky to have lots of B screw on my current derailleur to permit the Mega Range cassette. Otherwise I would have had to change the derailleur to accommodate it. I also added a set of fenders to it so I can ride on wet terrain. I don’t usually like being wet while ridding. Today, it helped with the gravel that’s still on the road this time of the year.

As the day went by I almost chickened out and took a ride with one of my co-workers. Having being freezing at work all day almost made me go the easy way. I’ve been trying to achieve bigger goals lately to set me on the right path. The big one for today was to ride back home through the Glen Eagles alternate climb to avoid the “crazy” Cochrane Hill. Glen Eagles is an easier way to get back home on a slower incline with some flats but it runs longer than the actual hill. You have to ride the Hill for a few hundred meters to access the Glen Eagles route. I was committed to the alternate route when I decided that it wasn’t too bad and that I should try it. I was actually curious to find out about how much easier the new cassette was going to make it. My commuter’s weight must have been around 50 pounds with the saddles bags on. I shifted between the 34 and the 26 cogs. I have a triple at the front where the lowest must be in the 28 teeth range. I made it to the top with much more ease than I thought. That gear ration on my bike is great and quite effective. I made it home through the other hills with no problems.

The Cochrane Hill is a known hill by the cyclists that use it for training. It’s 3.5 km long, around 700 meters of elevation for a 7% incline. Beautiful and scary at the same time.

I had this hill in my 2016 ridding goal. The original plan was that I made it up with my 17 pounds carbon fiber road bike by June. Well, I guess I need to find another goal since I’ve already beat up my all the parameter of that one. I’m proud of myself for this achievement. I rode the alternate route twice prior to tonight hill climb. Once in the summer of 2014 and the next one in the summer of 2015. The first time was quite hard but the second year I had more millage under my belt so it was easier. I can even remember telling myself that I should have tried the actual hill. Tonight was the night I guess. I made it!

Full Carbon saddle

A while back I was asked if I’d like to test a full carbon saddle prototype. I thought it would be fun to see how my butt would hurt on one of those. That was going to be a nice experiment. We have been blessed with beautiful days lately so I’ve put the prototype on my vintage 1988 Fiori Piquante and off I went for a ride. I have to specified that I had a 20km ride in the morning and that my behind was already a little sore. I was honestly expecting pain, lots of it from the lack of padding. There’s no padding whatsoever on this thing. To my surprise it was absolutely wonderful. No pain no sore points, nothing after a 45 minute ride. Usually, I can feel it after 30 minutes of riding and the days following the ride. I’m hooked! I want one when it’s going out on the market.

I was against the idea that a saddle with no padding could possibly comfortable. This one was. It does feel strange at first but you get used to it quick. I totally forgot about it after a while. A must try, a must have. The saddle I tested weight just a little over 100g. I have yet to go try it for a longer ride.

Bicycle comparaison

A thing I have been wanting to do since a while is to show the difference between 2 bicycles of the same brand. When I say difference I mean quality difference. This might help to be able to shop with more confidence and get a better value for your money. Yesterday I happened to pick up another Bianchi road bike. I already had my Bianchi Squadra road and my Bianchi Ocelot “mountain”. Now having 2 roadie of the reputed italian maker I was able to bring this comparison to life.

Our rivals are a  white 1980’s Bianchi with no model name and a pink Bianchi Squadra from the early 1990’s. The white bike is a level entry and the pink a mid quality one.

They both have 12 speeds and steel frame. The only notable difference is that the white one is on 27″ wheels and the pink one on 700c wheels. This will not affect the comparison.  First I’m looking at is the lug work. Some bikes are very basic where some others are more elaborate. The basic ones do not mean it’s of lesser quality. In this case they are pretty similar.

There’s some slight differences but they might just be because of the age difference.

Then let’s look at the headsets.

The white bike’s headset is made of chrome plated steel. They tend to peal with time and pit. I couldn’t identify the brand of it. Those type of headset are common on 10″ speeds bike of the period. On the pink one the chrome is nice and polished and made differently. We can read Ofmega on it which is a Bianchi home brand for their components.

Now the brakes.

Both bikes feature a side pull caliper brake made by Dia-Compe. The white one got the 500 series and the pink the 5000 series. The 5000 is of better quality. The 500 got a mat finish to its metal it also doesn’t offer a “release” lever to make it easier when you remove the wheel. The quality of the brake pads is also different. The white one’s got average quality ones where the pink one’s got a longer breaking surface and better quality surface which makes it easier to stop your bike. This is a little detail as break pads are inexpensive to replace for better or lesser quality.

Let’s have a look at the derailleurs.

The white bike is equipped with Suntour AR which is quite bottom of the line. I’m not saying they are not good but they are less expensive. The pink one is equipped with a Bianchi Premier rear and a Bianchi Ofmega front. Both bikes have similar looking derailleurs but the difference might be the quality of the material. Perhaps the Bianchi derailleurs might be lighter in weight than the Suntours.

The cranks and chainrings.

The white bike chain rings and crank arms are Custom-A brand. The rings have a kind of chain guard and are made of a metal blend. The rings can’t be removed. The pink one got the Bianchi home brand. The rings re made of good steel and can be changed if needed. The arms are made of aluminum (I believe).

The brake levers.

First thing I notice is the hoods present on the pink one and none on the white. It’s basically just the metal. There’s worst! The Dia-Compe levers are good but the fact that they don’t have hoods to ride on makes it less comfortable and eliminate a riding position. On the pink bike the levers are Shimano 105 which is a good starter lever. The hoods are made of flexible rubber that are comfortable to ride in. The rubber hoods can’t be put on the Dia-Compe as the levers model is not made to accommodate it.

The wheels.

The 2 first pictures belong to the white bike and the last one to the pink (both wheels are the same). On the first picture we can read Ambrosio which is a good name to have on wheels. They are made of hardened metal (maybe alloy) and are quite durable. To find this on a 27″ wheel is great. The front wheel on the other hand is a basic chromed 27″ steel. They are easier to bend and require more straightening than the Ambrosio wheel. In this case the Ambrosio was fairly straight and the chromed one wobbly to the point where I’m not sure I can bring it back. The pink bike’s got nice Ambrosio Elite Durex. A good quality wheel made of alloy. I’ve owned and rode this bike for a while and they don’t seem to want to go out of true. Quite durable. Both Ambrosio wheels are made in Italy which is a good sign of quality. The chrome one is probably a china one.

The quills or stems.

Here both quills have a similar shape both are also made of alloy. The difference lay in the finish the quality of the material. The white bike quill doesn’t show any brand but still seems to be of an ok quality. On the pink bike you can read Cinelli and you can note the nice satin finish. Knowing Cinelli it’s a brand you can trust. This quill is a 2013 one bought to replace the old Nito (another good brand) that had some previous owner issues.

The bars

The white bike got a KUSUKI (Japan) brand drop bars. The drop is qualified of “vintage” and is made of chromed steel. Not a bad bar but can be heavy. The pink one got a Deda Elementi Piege (Italian) alloy bar with a ergo drop. Again this bar date from 2013 as I needed a wider bar. Note that both the quills and bars are replaceable. In my case I had to invest about $100 to replace the ones that were not fitting me right.

And the last part is a comparison between the two bikes head badges.

They are the same, only the color change. Some brands have different badges depending on the quality. A good example would be Sekine.

More things you can note to find out about a bike’s quality.
The decals for the Columbus tubing is good to see. Note that sometimes the Colombus decals can be located on the frame, on the fork or both. On the fork means only the fork is Columbus steel, on the frame read the label to know if it’s only the middle frame (top tube, down tube and seat tube) or the whole frame set. There’s also many levels of Colombus tubing quality. It can be confusing but either way Columbus steel is good. Look for the bird.
For an example the pink bike got a nice fork and a lesser quality for the frame (Tri-Tubi).

Some undesirable things in my opinion would be rust where it can cause problems long term. I’m thinking about the seat post area. You don’t want it to snap one day. Rust is not desirable anyways. It shows a bike that have been in the elements and not well maintained. You can check the chain and other components for signs. A bike that is not well maintain will have the tendency to break often and will cost you more money on the long run than a little bit more expensive bike that have been babied.

I hope this post was informative.

Cheers!

A recent find

Just before the leaves started falling I found a nice BMX bike. I have to say that I’m not a BMX fan. I do not collect them and usually they are just a good pretext for stripping or resale. This one didn’t made any difference but it was yellow and blue which are my favorite colors. So the little guy got picked up with other two wheeler friends that were meant to be crushed. Once at home I started scrubbing it to see it how much I could get out of it. Paint was in descent shape, decals good and everything was working. Good I thought. I removed the old dried out tires and outfitted it with new ones. Then I had a crush on it. I couldn’t help it but to try and ride it. Then my lips started stretching. What was it… a smile!? That was it I fell in love with a BMX. Impossible! Never say never they say.

Here’s my boy a 1980’s Venture GT series Free Style.

Venture GT Series

Another thing I really liked about this bike was the grips.

Star grips

Beat up

Apparently if you can put things together you can find ways to make something  go a few more miles. This time I have the case of a Falcon Sherpa bicycle I brought home today. It was a few weeks I was seeing it standing with other bicycles in dire need of repair or beyond repair. This guy stood in the same place for weeks. Almost no parts were disappearing of it.

The Falcon Sherpa

This bike was made in England. I believe from the 80’s. The tubing seems to be decent (804) forks included. This bike as been badly neglected and have more than one owie. First thing is all the grime caked on the rear derailleur, free wheel, rear hub and chainring. Then the right side pedal have been replaced by a hook rod some washer and nut, the left crank is of an earlier bike and doesn’t fit so it wiggles, last the left pedal is now one from a older road bike. This is a sad looking bike.

Grime on the free wheel

 

Grime on the rear hub

 

Grime on the chainring

Ill fitting crank arm and wrong pedal

Rod pedal

I don’t know much about that brand of bikes. I’ve made a quick research on the web which led to nothing. If someone knows about the English Falcons please leave a comment.

 

 

 

 

King of the pile

I’m building a pile of scrap frames and other parts in my yard which are going to be recycled at the end of the summer. Now I’m at the point where the pile is quite high. After stripping a Raleigh Record mixed frame I brought it to the pile and it ended up staying up right on top of it. As if it was surveying a kingdom.

King or Queen of the pile

 

The pile

I don’t know how long this pile is going to stay like this but it’s sure getting bigger by the day.

Books: The Bicycle Wheel

Another book I liked from my library system. This one was located at the Viking Municipal Library. The author, Jobst Brandt is an engineer graduate from the Stanford University.  He’s also well known of the cycling community both as a technical expert but also as a rider. This book is from 1988 and published through Avocet.

This book is about the bicycle wheel. Surprise! It’s not about the brands but how they are made. It’s about understanding the laws of physics that apply to a wheel while riding. It’s about understanding the differences and making the right choices for our type of riding. There’s a lot of very well made illustrations and the the descriptions are easy to understand.

The last section is about wheel building. I will be building a set of wheels for one of my bikes very soon and I enjoyed that part. Its well made like the rest of the book and I’ve learned a few things I’m glad I now know before my wheels are being started.

This book would be good for anyone curious about wheels, someone building wheels or just anyone interested in cycling. That’s another book on my “to order” list. This one even have a priority note.

The Bicycle Wheel

Inside the book

In my library copy of the book some had taped good to have information charts at the end of the book. Things like spoke sizing chart, tire/rim compatibility and frame sizing conversion. I will most likely copy those and stick them on my shoppe cabinets.

Charts

Happy reading!