Well, today was the second time I rode my bike the 26 mile trip to work. Heaps better than the first. Just
because I was doing it
again. It seems that the more you ride your bike, the more you like riding your bike. It was raining when I woke up at 5, but I
kept saying to myself, there are very few perfect days to ride bike, and when one comes along, I'll probably have to take my truck to pick up something or other after work. Everyday I could come up with some pretty good reasons not to ride. Cold, windy, rainy, blah, blah blah. . So, again, Damn the
torpedoes, today, we ride.
I took my
Allez this morning and what a
difference it was. Friday when I rode I took my old
Bianchi that I found in the recycling yard. The issue with that bike, is that I haven't even cleaned the chain since I picked it up. I put on some bars, fenders and a rack, but
usually if I find a bike, I like to clean and re-pack the bottom bracket, headset, clean the chain everything. I do notice that the
Bianchi isn't up to top shape. Going from that to a
perfectly tuned race bike the difference is huge. 1 hour 45 minutes on the
Bianchi, 1 hour 26 minutes on the
Allez. The downside, my arse is much more happy on the
Bianchi. Oh well. I was ever so tempted to take the
fixie, but I'd like to get a few more commutes on a geared bike while studying my gear-changing
frequency. Just to make sure that I'm not going to end up walking half the way.
Again, I couldn't get over the hills. You don't really notice hills when you're driving. Especially with the cruise on and tunes
cranking.
Everyone at the office couldn't believe that I've
ridden my bike all that way. It's not all that far really. Maybe for a commute, but for a bike ride, no. My wife even said she was expecting a call asking her to come pick me up! I'm thinking that if I ride 3 days a week, 52 miles a day, that would get me into pretty good shape and be a huge boost to my marathon training. More than that, it's a blast.
Ride yer bike.
I'd been searching for some time to find a nice, decent quality steel frame road bike that actually fit me. 62cm frames aren't the most common in local classified ads. I was pretty much sure I wouldn't find anything decent and thought that if the desire to ride a fast, skinny tired road bike bit me that hard, I'd have to save up the pennies and buy a new one. Well, I found a great deal on a bike that had been spared from being placed out in the dumpster. The gent that I purchase the bike from didn't want to see the bike going to waste, but also wasn't really in a place where he needed another bike project. In the end, I got a sweet deal on it, and now, I've finally got a really nice steel frame road bike that fits.
The bike is a mid-late 80s Peugeot Sante. Made in France, with a Renolds 531P tubeset, nervex lugs and simplex drop outs. That 531 P says so much about this bike. One of the finer tubesets that you could build a bike with at the time.
This bicycle has such an amazing ride. Very aggressive in it's riding position, but the ride itself is smooth. The drive train is Shimano Sante, which was basically a limited edition Dura-Ace line commissioned for this frame. Pearlescent paint was a distinctive feature of the line. That and the special chain-ring bolts that were smooth on the outer side. The brakes are really impressive for their vintage, and after a re-build, the shifting is silky smooth. This bike never had many miles on it. The bio-pace chain rings are in excellent condition. It's pretty cool to have a bike this old, and be able to leave so much of the original hardware on it, without sacrificing performance.
I was thinking about painting the frame, but quite quickly kaiboshed that idea. Added some white tires and bar tape to keep in tune with the aesthetic of the components and paint.
Haven't logged too many miles on it yet, but that'll soon change. Going from the LHT, to this, I'm again amazed at how fast you can actually move under your own power. Skinny tired, go fast bikes are really something.
Cheers.
