..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
just to be awkward
a few years back, scottish ferry operator, caledonian macbrayne, offered a quite convincing reduction in fares for drivers of electric cars on passage to two of scotland's smaller, inland isles. their motives for so doing would take up too much irrelevant space, but suffice it to say one of those offers raised a curious anomaly. the island in question, though almost a part of the scottish central belt, were it not for the short stretch of intervening water, featured no vehicle charging point. in fact, after checking the good old interweb, i found the nearest to be at glasgow's braehead shopping centre, some 40 miles distant.
on this basis, it appears to have been a travel offer with little potential benefit to either calmac or prospective electric travellers.
on our recent visit to center parcs last year, the resort was populated by one or two electric vans, slogans on the sides claiming that these particular vehicles created no noxious pollution while going about their daily business. though undoubtedly a result of the carefully curated copywriters' art, factually those slogans were correct, aside from the vehicles' brake dust. however, in order that electric motors provide driver and passenger with the benefit of their technology, the electricity has to come from somewhere. that somewhere, ultimately has to be a power station of some description or, if recent statistics are to be believed, perhaps some means of renewable generation.
other than the latter, britain's power stations operate by means of gas, coal, oil or nuclear, all of which do, unfortunately, pollute the atmosphere. disposing of the fuel from the latter can be seen as an essentially environmentally clean process, but one that has to be safely maintained for a darned sight longer than you or i will be resident on this planet, a potentially lethal heritage that explains in part, why environmentalists are so anti-nuclear. that and the fact that we're talking billions of pounds by way of questionable taxpayers' investment.
it's a state of affairs that not only afflicts the motoring public, one that is likely to increase in coming years; the hydrogen powered vehicle (which produces only water from its combustion process) seems still to be some way off commercial acceptance, for, amongst other reasons, due to a total lack of any refueling infrastructure, a situation that is arguably only marginally less of a problem for electric car drivers. with the rise and rise of the electric bicycle, where that power comes from becomes every bit as important to the electric velocipedinist too.
i'm scarcely naive enough to think that anyone sets out on an electric bicycle journey long enough to require refueling somewhere along the way, though doubtless someone will attempt a round-the-world-trip on just such a bicycle sooner rather than later. in order to do so, they will probably need to stash spare batteries at strategic locations around the globe. but cycling's lessening greenery does not end on resorting to self-propulsion.
i have no idea whatsoever just how representative our sunday morning peloton is of cycling at large, but amongst our number, two are fully committed to electric gears. extrapolated across the country, to say nothing of the rest of the world, that would entail a sizeable number of you riding bicycles with switches rather than levers. though the batteries for such systems last for months rather than days or weeks, they'll still need charging at some point. having described in vague detail, shimano's syncro shift, whereby the front mech changes in relation to the choice of rear sprocket, it doesn't seem to stretch the imagination too far to think that at least one of the big three is currently working on fully automatic gear changing, with no rider input necessary.
whether you think this sounds like the coolest thing on planet earth, or the end of the world as we know it, matters little. whichever way it plans out, we're going to require more and more electricity. in the grand scheme of things, this might seem as of miniscule importance, but surely anything that minimises our insufferable level of smugness towards the rest of the travelling public, cannot be a good thing?
happy new year.
monday 1 january 2018
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a masterclass (of sorts)
brian eisenberg is an award-winning american jazz composer who recently released his second jazz orchestra recording entitled life changes. the musicians featured in this orchestra are amongst the finest session guys in north america if not the world, kept rhythmically in check by the incomparable vinnie colaiuta who has, in these recordings, pretty much excelled himself. video released by eisenberg himself on youtube has resulted in the world's drumming community frothing at the mouth over a particularly inspired two-bar fill at the beginning of a track entitled 'gift with purchase'.
i will refrain from dissecting the intricacies of this apparently unwritten drum fill, because i know most of you will be considerably less than interested, but for those with a pair of sticks resting on the arm of the chair, i'd suggest you go for a look-see.
aside from any other benefits that might be garnered from the millions of videos on youtube, the ability to find instructions on how to better oneself from those who either are demonstrably our betters (such as vinnie) or those who have the confidence and a go pro to figure that they are, is definitely one of its more helpful aspects. these more or less outweigh the vicissitudes of waaaay to many cat videos.
of course, it's not just the percussive arts that benefit in this way; the velocipedinal aspects of life are pretty well taken care of too. if, like me, you have need of discovering just where to place that wavy washer in a campagnolo bottom bracket cup, youtube can solve the problem in mere minutes. likewise, i have benefitted from lars van der haar demonstrating how to leap aboard a cyclocross bicycle without becoming a boy soprano in the process and the global cycling network series of videos are often worth their weight in pixels.
having undertaken this year's festive 500 challenge in order to redeem myself after last year's despondency of less than four hundred of the blighters, i was more than pleased to achieve the required distance with still two days remaining. while i should probably undertake a smidgeon of self-aggrandisement by omitting to point out that the speed of accomplishment was mostly to avoid the forecast galeforce winds over the weekend, sometimes i'm just too honest for my own good.
though the pedalling through adversity was entirely the result of my own mostly frozen efforts, i'd like to take this digressive opportunity to make mention of those who undoubtedly assisted in my crossing the finish line. from the campagnolo equipped ritchey logic bicycle that took me safely from kilometre one to kilometre 500, to the tubeless mavic yksion shod wheelsmith ascent wheelset that suffered the slings and arrows of islay's potholed roads with aplomb. naturally enough, through six days of rain, hail, wind and snow, winter clothing from rapha, endura, assos, mavic and showers pass greatly minimised the unavoidable discomfort of a series of 100 kilometre days in the saddle. rearward flashing visibility was taken care of by the inventive folks at portland design works and i really cannot move on without mentioning debbie's for much-needed sustenance and froth and the long-suffering mrs washingmachinepost and her excellent christmas cake.
i should perhaps also mention that strava knows nothing of my trials and tribulations.
the upshot of all this is the thought that perhaps i ought to join the ranks of the youtube masterclassers, selflessly providing the benefits of my acquired experience for those who perhaps dithered over whether to bother riding 500 kilometres over the christmas period in the first place, or those who struggled to get the dial past a lower number on the tape measure.
the big problem i foresee in accomplishing said masterclass is just how to best portray brute force and ignorance on a bicycle.
sunday 31 december 2017
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................caren hartley: one half of isen bicycles
it may be that there is a publication schedule for the world's magazines, but other than the majority appearing at my newsagents pretty much always on a thursday, if such a schedule exists, i've no idea what it is. i have a number of magazines on order, few of which are on subscription, because i like to support the existence of bricks and mortar. you just never know when you might need them. so when i popped in on thursday past to collect my daily newspaper and two home-made pancakes, the weight of the bag advertised that one of those monthly publications may have arrived.
it was, in fact, the latest copy of ed pickering's excellent procycling, the cover advertising to all his competitors, that simon yates explains inside just how he plans to take victory in next year's tour de france. he might well race to regret saying so.
however, open the cover and immediately inside is what those of us involved in printed media would refer to as a dps or double-page-spread. in this particular case, it advertised a specific carbon model from a well-known italian brand of bicycle. far from the diamond frame's ancestry of round metal tubes, this particular model displayed an almost entirely square down tube, married to some swoopingly curved seatstays and chainstays, the former apparently bolted in place about three-quarter way up the seat tube. at the front of the square top tube, towards its juncture with the sculpted head tube can be seen a black panel, featuring another couple of bolts flush with its top surface.
i am presuming this has some notional connection with the shimano electronic groupset with which it is fitted.
not having any expertise in carbon frame design, i've no idea if these apparently functional frame cross-sections offer any advantage over the steel tubing of yore, or whether they have been deemed necessary to provide carbon monocoque with the same properties as its metallic predecessor. it is nice to see later in the same publication a reynolds 531 cotton t-shirt; but then, that's probably me and not necessarily you.
despite the ubiquity of carbon fibre in the world of the velocipede, i need hardly remind you that there are still plenty of folks convinced of the joys of steel, happy to continue pushing the boundaries, so to speak, and provde a worthy alternative to resin-bonded plastic. caren hartley is one such individual, a young lady who has produced frames under the downtube moniker of hartley cycles, but has recently teamed up with matt mcdonough of talbot frameworks to offer prospective connoisseurs with frames under the isen badge.
unusually, ms hartley originall specialised in silverware, jewellery and sculpture, hardly the traditional background for someone keen to enter the world of bicycle building. does she, therefore, find that the bicycle frame embodies all or some of those interests?
"I think working in the design and art field for long time has developed and influenced my way of looking at things and analyzing them. This has given me a different approach to making bikes and also the concept of what I want my bikes to be: desirable, tactile and ultimately useful objects. So I think this continues to have an effect on the way I design bikes and the visual and practical decisions I make."
each material employed in the production of bicycle frames, tautologically requires a relevant expertise. carbon is predominantly concerned with carbon mat layup to provide strength where required and minimise weight where practicable, none of which are particularly relevant to joining steel tubes together. prior to the advent of tig welding, the latter was mostly achieved via fillet brazing or lugged construction, the more esoteric of which required silver brazing, surely a technique that would have played straight into the expert hands of caren hartley. which method of conjoining have caren and matt chosen?
"The Isen frames are tig welded, as this is the production method that we feel makes most sense for a production frame and it keeps the look of the bike clean and sleek."
isen are hardly alone in their choice of this method. the ritchey logic which has seen me through those 500 festive kilometres has felt the benefit of tungsten inert gas, as did the late lamented cielo cycles from portland, while former aficionados of fillet-brazing, shand cycles, have also recently opted for the welding torch.
while the iconic connecticut framebuilder, richard sachs, prefers his own company in the solitary act of constructing impeccable steel frames, not everyone harbours regular solitude in the course of their daily travail. as mentioned in my introduction, caren hartley was already etsablished as a builder of quality via her own hartley cycles, but leaving aside any considerations of potential loneliness on the shop floor, whay the collaboration with matthew?
"We had both been chatting to each other about wanting to make an off-the-peg bike within our own businesses, as a way to bring bikes to customers more quickly and in a refined build that we felt would well meet the needs of a lot of our customers. But we recognised the potential conflict this might cause with the bespoke part of our businesses and also the massive amount of work it would be if we wanted to do it properly. Creating Isen Workshop as a stand-alone brand was the perfect answer, as it meant we could combine our diverse skillsets and time, while creating a unique brand identity which fuses our own distinct house styles."
it's nice to have at least some mechanical skills when it comes to the bicycle, particularly living on the outer edge, where the concept of a local bike shop is an alien one. being able to figure out what's wrong and fix it comes in very handy from time to time. but after visiting several framebuilders in portland, oregon, i am more than well aware of my severe restrictions in this milieu. i can easily visualise stepping back to admire the construct hanging on the workstand and put the torch flame through one or other hose leading from the gas bottles.
a very short-lived career indeed.
i can, however, build a perfectly acceptable set of wheels; definitely not in the expert manner of the likes of derek mclay at wheelsmith or jude gerace at sugar wheelworks, but a decent attempt nonetheless. however, i see this as merely a notional gesture towards the mechanical and practical nature of the bicycle; definitely not a vocation or career. caren hartley, however, has the benefit of skill in silversmithing and sculpture, two aspects of an art college education that never made it past my reading of the syllabus. did her early metalwork experience lead caren to the bicycle, or was she already suitably obsessed in the early years?
"I was pretty late to cycling, but my love of it started when I moved to London to study Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art. Commuting, the gateway drug, gradually led me to road cycling at the weekends and wearing lycra, but it wasn't until a few years later when I wanted a career change, that the idea of making bikes came up.
"I had been doing a lot more riding and was enjoying getting to know the London cycling community as a way of putting off making career decisions. Building bespoke bikes was a pragmatic answer to how I could continue to make things and use the skills I had spent the last twelve years obtaining, but get out of the art industry in which I was no longer happy. That bikes were the perfect answer was more of a lucky coincidence than a grand plan!"
i can wholly sympathise with caren's view of the art industry, one that seems far more content with its insularity and navel-gazing, than it is with true dialectic progress. it could, no doubt, be argued that building bicycle frames from steel is hardly one identified with progress, particularly when there are individual, non-corporate builders experimenting with carbon. however, there is a sizeable number of the cognoscenti who still regard steel as having been blind-sided and usurped by the black stuff, when steel still has so much more to give, to say nothing of its testifiable longevity.
ask most of those building with steel where they see their future heading and you'll rarely garner a convincingly adventurous reply. after all, richard sachs has been building essentially the same beautiful bike from steel tubing for a considerable number of years and sees no real need to do otherwise. a full order book would seem to confirm his unshakeable faith. so, what are caren's cunning plans for the future?
"Aside from world domination?"
saturday 30 december 2017
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................festive faff
in these festive times of sitting by the central heating with a small cup of mulled espresso on the chairside table, a copy of the latest edition of rouleur on the armrest and enough lights on the house to encourage the daily loganair flight to land in the back garden, there really is little need to check the daily weather forecast. unless, of course, you have metaphorically or actually signed up for rapha's festive 500, intent on wearing out the garmin before sunday.
after last year's failed attempt (for perfectly legitimate reasons), i decided to take no chances; aside from christmas day's paltry 40 kilometres (once again, for perfectly legitimate reasons), i have undertaken to ride at least 100km on every day up till thursday. this entrepreneurial endeavour brought my total to 465 kilometres with still three days to go, the final 35km taken care of earlier today by way of riding the long way to debbie's for froth supping and a chunk of mrs washingmachinepost's excellent christmas cake.
having ridden over 160km each day during this year's hot chillee london-paris, tired, but still able to walk from the coach at the end of the day, i don't mind admitting that the daily festive 100 kilometre rides have left me feeling as if i'd been pummeled by one of those fellows from the world wrestling entertainment. in fact, i am tempted to adopt a james bond persona: shaken but not stirred.
the reason for such end of ride fatigue, aside from the distance and sub-zero temperatures can only be laid at the door of the island's road surfaces which, to place not too fine a point on it, are verging on the rudimentary. potholes have appeared that were not present when i began my festive attempt on christmas eve and the weather has not helped by filling most of them with lashings of rainwater. though i fully expected my legs to hurt (and they do), both arms and shoulders have expressed every bit as much pain and discomfort, entirely from being puggled about over such appalling road surfaces.
i do not contend that islay's roads are alone in their disfavour; i'm sure many of you have experienced similar iniquities in the process of accumulating your own festive kilometres. however, i have not undertaken a daily regime of 100km bike rides in order to impress you with my fortitude, nor indeed, to get them out of the way in order that i might concentrate on other things. for that weather forecast that i implied was left entirely to its own devices has been indicating galeforce windspeeds that might preclude safe and upright cycling. concerned that i might fail for a second year, i therefore made the effort to complete those 500 a smidgeon before the deadline.
but there is an altogether onerous aspect to cycling at this time of year, one that is rarely taken into account when considering hypothetical training plans: getting dressed.
at one time, a regular pair of bibtights would feature footloops to keep them in position when riding, allowing for relatively loose ankles and simplicity itself to pull on a pair of socks after the tights had been donned. on occasion, those loops would be replaced by ankle zips, making life every bit as simple. but those, it appears, were the halcyon days of yore. recently released pairs of bibtights from more than a single purveyor have proffered very tight hems at the ankle; attempting to wear a pair of socks once the tights were on, risked cutting off the blood supply to either or both feet, while seriously compressing those honed calf muscles. if, as am i, you're therefore in the habit of pulling on both socks before attempting to wear the bibtights, your immediate family will doubtless recognise the creaks, groans, huffs and puffs emanating from the bathroom in the early morning.
and if only it ended there.
due to both lowered temperatures and persistent rain and hail each day, i have regularly worn thermal overshoes. though these give the smooth impression of my feet having been wind-tunnel tested, they engender a major level of undesired faff when trying to get them on over cycling shoes that have yet to dry out from christmas eve. add all this together and i cannot deny that i feel as if i've ridden several dozen kilometres before the bicycle has even been rescued from the bikeshed.
there has to be an easier way to earn a living.
friday 29 december 2017
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................no, after you...
"sit down and practise as if you had all the time in the world to do so."
the above phrase, or something remarkably like it, was uttered by the legendary freddy gruber, drumming guru to the stars and neil peart. gruber passed away in october, six years ago. just as there are icons in the world of cycling, such as cyclocross legend, sven nys, who continues in retirement to keep as fit and competitive as he ever was, while mentoring youngsters such as the effervescent tom pidcock, gruber extended his teaching to take on already accomplished drummers and provide them with the skills to become even more skilful.
however, in point of fact i have deliberately quoted mr gruber, not for reasons of percussive diligence, but to misappropriate the latter part of his statement "... as if you had all the time in the world to do so." this became an annoyingly repetitive case in point during my accumulation of festive 500 kilometres on wednesday morning.
generally, i roughly plan out my daily parcours the night before, mentally calculating the kilometres my tyre tracks will amass prior to the obligatory stop at debbie's for a welcome lunch. unfortunately, come wednesday morning, a series of heavy hail showers obliterated the tarmac on one of the planned early sections and though it may not have become a slippery surface, i opted not to take the chance that it might be and headed in the opposite direction.
this amended route took me along the b8016, more commonly referred to amongst the local populace as 'the high road', at least in part because there is also a low road. the former is a single-track road frequented by passing places to not only allow overtaking, but also the safe passing of traffic travelling in opposite directions. ideally, the latter would operate on the honour system; whoever reaches a passing place first would pull in to allow those travelling in the opposite direction to continue on their way, relatively unhindered. i'm none too sure that it actually works quite as seamlessly as this with regard to motorised traffic, but i can tell you that it very rarely does if there's a bicycle involved.
my amended route took me along the high road eventually in both directions and not in a single case did anyone graciously pull in to let me past, despite many reaching a passing place well before yours truly. most, if not all, simply drove past such an inset to the roadway, obviously expecting me to be the bigger man. this, despite the fact that i was assailed on more than a single occasion by rather painful hail showers. it seems courtesy and sympathy are not considered part of the season to be jolly.
as if that, however, were not sufficient to raise one's considerable ire, freddy gruber's statement came back to haunt me on so many occasions via a situation that most of you who are also beset with passing places must surely have experienced. where the passing place is of sufficient length, it well behoves the reluctant cyclist to slow up considerably prior to pulling off the road and rolling slowly forward, in the fervent hope that the oncoming vehicle will pass and obviate the need to unclip and come to a halt. where cars or trucks have been kind enough to pull over for the sunday morning peloton, we inevitably speed up to minimise their time spent in a stationary position. unfortunately the majority of drivers appear to have adopted freddy's contention that they have "...all the time in the world."
considering how many modern motor cars are sold on the basis of their supposedly impressive 0-60 acceleration times, it's a shame that more motorists seem less than inclined to put it to the test.
yes, i'm well aware that in point of fact, the fall of darkness notwithstanding, it is i who probably have all the time in the world and ultimately, am merely playing on my bike; all dressed up and nowhere to go. but once, just once, it would be nice to be considered important enough to be in receipt of a smidgeon of courtesy from a member of the motoring public, either by way of pulling over to allow unfettered continutation of my festive perambulations, or speeding up sufficiently to remove the necessity to unclip.
maybe in the new year.
thursday 28 december 2017
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the technology divide
one member of the sunday morning peloton recently popped his colnago c60 back to the shop from whence it came, in order to receive its annual service. fitted with shimano's ultegra di2, he took advantage of this period on the workstand to have the battery upgraded, allowing him the new luxury of shimano's synchro shift, a feature that allows owners to programme the shifting, allegedly to their benefit. i'd be fibbing if it didn't relate that, in practise, it does seem quite impressive; when the chain reaches a pre-defined sprocket on the cassette, the front mech shifts from inner to outer all by itself.
obviously enough, when the chain heads in the opposite direction, the chain drops back onto the smaller ring without any user input.
though all three major component purveyors offer electronic versions of their standard groupsets, each of which offers differing features and benefits, i still consider those to be solutions looking for a problem. having completed over 250km (at the time of writing) in my attempt at this year's festive 500, all of which has been ridden on campagnolo's mechanical chorus groupset, i've not found it overly onerous to shift gear with minimal effort from my fingers. and i'm no spring chicken. the mighty dave-t is in his late seventies and got to the head of the peloton without any recourse to electrons.
synchro shift is not, however, the only recent technological development to have alighted upon the road-going bicycle over the past year or so. british cycling has now lifted its temporary ban on the use of disc-brakes in races, very much to the relief of many teams and manufacturers, but apparently too late for some to alter their bike order for the forthcoming season. once again, it would be hard to argue that these do not do precisely as advertised, though i would question whether such braking force, particularly on britain's roads, is ultimately necessary. a lack of disc rotors has scarcely held me back in my own velocipedinal meanderings.
with the ability of the world's cycle manufacturers to create bicycles weighing less than the uci's arbitrary minimum, adding heavier hydraulic discs and calipers is unlikely to give any of the world's grimpeurs cause for concern in either the alps or the pyrenees this coming summer. it does, however, mean that hard-working mechanics in team trucks and local bike stores have had need of honing their talents once again in the service of the great unwashed. while i recently had little difficulty and great joy assembling the chorus equipped ritchey logic bicycle, i fear that the same process would have been outwith my abilities, had there been electronics and hydraulics involved.
though i'd scarcely recommend that you spend your festive hours scanning through the last twelve months worth of washingmachineposts, i recall having made mention of several innovations that gave greater or lesser credence to the mantra "there's an app for that", from devices that promise to guide riders through the miasma that is the modern urban idiom, to bike locks that send a text message if anyone appears to be tampering with their integrity. it's a far cry from asking your wee brother to look after the bike, while you pop in to buy a bottle of ginger.
yet despite being in danger of getting snowed under with arguably progressive technological development, it is worth bearing in mind that there's still nothing to beat stuffing a very wet pair of cycling shoes with rolled-up newspaper to ensure dry and comfortable feet the following day. try doing that with your iphone or samsung galaxy.
wednesday 27 december 2017
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................credit where credit's due
at the very start of my festive 500 attempt for this year, aside from a desperate need to redeem myself after last year's missed target, i embraced every single aspect of velominati's rules#5 and #9. normally a master of the art of procrastination, awakening to dark skies which proceeded to dump large quantities of precipitation for the rest of the day, it would have been oh so easy to go back to bed. with seven more days of festivities to go, i'm sure i could have convinced myself and immediate family that i had the wherewithal to make up the lost time during the coming week.
however, the original plan had been to accumulate as many kilometres as possible on christmas eve, thus reducing the number needed on christmas day and concomitantly winning brownie points due my obvious sacrifice. remaining in bed for the morning of christmas eve would have undermined my cunning plan.
the mighty dave t has frequenty advised me that skin is waterproof, though by the time i had returned home on sunday afternoon, i figured i may have found a flaw in that earnest contention. but then again, where is the point in having a wardrobe full of state-of-the-art waterproofs and being afraid to venture out in a few drops of rain (that was an attempt at humour; there were a great deal more than a few drops over the course of a rainy and windy day)? however, in the course of sort of not getting (entirely) wet, i'm going to do something that i doubt i've done before; offered a reprise of a recent review.
with the exception of bicycles, groupsets and tyres, i rarely if ever revisit reviews, particularly those concerning apparel. if the garmentage has been of the waterproof variety, i will undoubtedly have waited until i have managed to get it suitably wet before offering my considered opinion. since so doing is generally the object of the exercise, it would seem a tad trite to once more point out the vercacity of its composure. however, in the light of my particularly dreich sunday kilometres, it seems only fair to apportion credit where credit is due.
given that the event under question was initiated by rapha in the winter of 2010, it seems only right and proper that at least day one is ridden clad in clothing from imperial works. thus, based entirely on saturday's forecast, i covered a long-sleeve shadow jersey with rapha's recently released classic rainjacket ii. this might seem like double-jeopardy, but there seemed little point in taking any unnecessary chances. while the lower limbs were clad in a pair of pro-team winter bibtights i did, in retrospect, wish i'd worn waterproof socks. the bibtights do offer a marvellous ability to remain warm when wet, but it really took less than a few minutes for the bibs to become totally waterlogged.
at the 76km point, i stopped off at debbie's for a much-needed luncheon, including a somewhat large slice of millionaire's shortbread. (purely for medicinal purposed, you understand). at this point, divesting myself of my outer garments, i was surprised and impressed to discover that the shadow jersey was pretty much bone dry. this would attest to the superb water resistance of the classic rainjacket, even better than suggested in my original review. the jacket has been washed several times since its arrival, a process that often reduces the efficacy of the waterproofing. apparently not in every case.
just in case you were thinking of ordering one in the new year.
i should also make mention of the reliability and functionality of campagnolo's chorus groupset which, despite spending the day under such a deluge and being shot-blasted by galeforce driven belgian toothpaste, yet again, never missed a shift, while the skeleton calipers continued to stop impeccably no matter how much crud made its way between rims and pads. and also to the wheelsmith ascent wheelset, which suffered the slings and arrows of endless potholes from start to finish with scarcely a whimper.
tuesday 26 december 2017
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