Catching up with Spring

 Catching up with Spring

An entire month without a post! Ooops! Heather's colleague Rafa came to visit for a few days before they headed off to Greece to hobknob with fellow philosophical wizards. Zio Lorenzo keeps his old Super Gravel Monster here in-case anyone wants to enjoy some cycling.

So Zio's on-his-own for the week, so he'll go and check out the Viva Mexico Festival. We don't get Mexican food here so this might be some tasty fun?

Zio's recovering from the latest medical intervention, a second ablation (the first one they said was for atrial flutter, the second for atrial fibrillation) but still on the bike for 1-2 hours 3-4 times a week. We're signed up for a self-guided vacation in Tuscany, in May riding the entire route of l'Eroica over 5 days. The crazies get up before sunrise and do the whole thing in one day while we'll not be heroes, especially because we'll ride our e-gravel bikes.

Europe has changed to summer time this weekend. This doesn't mean much when you're retired but it does mean warm temps are coming - March came in "like a lion" but it's not going out "like a lamb" as knickers and long sleeves are still the go-to for cycling here. Brrrrr!

Meanwhile Ol' Zio has decided to give up alcohol 100%  WTF? Yep, after reading enough about how alcohol in any amount is often a trigger for A-Fib and after two ablations why not? One reason not is that in any civilized country a glass (or two) of vino, or maybe a beer seems right with lunch or dinner. Living in a land where really good wine can be had for just a few euros per liter makes it even a better idea.

Just the ritual part of sipping an "adult beverage" is a hard habit to break. Zio was never a drinker to get schnocked so the 0 alcohol part was easy - but finding something that tastes worth drinking was not!

He tried a lot of 0 alcohol bottles, red, white, bubbly and rose. Sadly, the Italian and Spanish wines were not worth drinking. Plenty of half-empty bottles were just poured down the drain until he ordered some wine from South Africa. AGHHHH! Living in the land of wine but having to drink "wine" shipped from South Africa? Somehow these people can make something that tastes like wine. Not GOOD wine but wine. Good enough to enjoy with a meal, though it's not something you're going to savor after dinner.

When it comes to bubbly this stuff is pretty decent. Same as beer Zio's getting to where he can't tell the difference, so no complaints there! A glass of this is just fine or works well making a "spritz" type drink by adding ice and a Crodino.

So far no return of A-Fib though he's still taking a beta-blocker. Italian docs don't see alcohol as a big deal but Zio thinks it's culture more than medical reality and with these alcohol-free substitutes (he's even BYOB at a few restaurants since they don't bother with 0 alcohol in most cases) he's not feeling deprived. CIN-CIN!

Milano-Cortina 2026

 Olympic Games Milano-Cortina 2026

We enjoyed the second week of the Games, flying to Verona from Catania. Here's a group of un-chronological photos from our adventure:

First venue was Predazzo where we saw some cross-country skiing.

These are the snow chains we had to BUY. We asked the rental car staff for them, explaining we were going to the mountains, but they said the car had "snow socks" so we stupidly headed off to Predazzo without proper chains.

We eventually made it to Cortina, Queen of the Dolomites after a pretty much all day drive from Predazzo through a blizzard. We were very happy we bought the chains, even though we thought the chances of getting the rental car company to pay us back for them was remote*.

We saw some bobsled racing, including being there when a couple of the 4-man sleds turned over!

Everyone wanted a plush version of this mascot!!!

The Olympic Flame in Cortina. Heather poses in her torch-relay suit.

More mascot-ing

And other poses...

We went to Verona for the closing ceremonies. The athletes came in on the red carpet.

More promo photos. The big corporate sponsors would do pretty much anything to get your email address!

Cortina was great! We've been there many times in the summer but this was the first time with snow. Oddly for a ski resort they seemed to have a tough time clearing the roads. We needed the tire chains to get anywhere and the valet folks who parked our car were REALLY happy to see tire chains when we handed over the car keys. By the time we left the roads were clean and they kindly removed the chains for us!

More mascot-ing!

This was the curve where the bobsleds turned over! They look fast on TV but when you're 20 feet away you really see how fast they're going.

We enjoyed walking around Verona on Sunday before the closing ceremonies.

Heather got a lot of favorable comments on her sweater!

Predazzo was our first venue.

Overnight, before our planned drive from Predazzo to Cortina, it snowed. A lot. The "snow socks" that came with the rental car weren't going to be much good in this kind of snow, so we bought a set of chains and the nice folks even mounted 'em for us! 

We've ridden bicycles over most of these passes back-in-the-day, but never had seen them like this!

At times it was a real blizzard!

Verona was our last stop. We returned the car to the airport and took a taxi into the congested city center. A lot of the roads were pedestrian and bicycle only so we were even more glad we ditched the car! It was easy to get a cab ride back to the airport for our flight home on Monday.

More promo photos

Verona has a nice museum with lots of Roman-era artifacts.

Including this theater.

Overall we had a great time. We enjoyed some foods we hadn't sampled in years, the hospitality of our lodging hosts was excellent and everyone was in a good mood. Just what you expect (or hope for) when the world's largest peace festival comes to your country. We're looking forward to Los Angeles in 2028!!!

* We got a message a few days later (after a couple of email exchanges complete with photos of the snowy mountains) that they would reimburse us for the tire chains!

Chain Lube update

 

More data on chain lube and wear. If you read THIS post, you'll know Zio experimented with this cheap gear oil as an alternative to Mobil 1's synthetic version - one that's performed well over the decades.

This one performed very poorly. Used on a brand-new Shimano 11 speed chain, OEM supplied with Zio's Bianchi E-Impulso Allroad, chain wear exceeded .3 mm measured with KMC's digital checker after ONLY 2000 kilometers!

Compare this with Heather's identical bike and chain, lubed with mostly Finish Line green but the last 2000 kilometers with this same cheap gear oil, showing the same wear after 6000 kilometers, when both chains replaced, well before KMC's "smiley face" limit of .4 mm. Zio likes to replace 'em before they wear the cogsets to the point a new chain skips.

Repsol's cheap 75/90 w automotive gear oil is not very good as a bicycle chain lube, especially when compared to Mobil 1's synthetic version. Sure, it's 1/3 the price but far inferior when it comes to performance.

With the new chains come new chances for experimentation - maybe exclusively Finish Line green (a lube "Friction Fiction" refuses to test) on one with Mobil 1 synthetic on the other? Both bikes get used on the same rides at the same time so this would be a very direct comparison.

Meanwhile, Heather's Bianchi E-Aria road bike has almost 6K kilometers on it now. OEM chain lubed with Finish Line green to start with the last few thousand on Mobil 1. Wear is still well under KMC's smiley-face limit of .4 mm, average readings being .25 mm. Zio will change it when it gets to around .3 mm, same as the gravel bikes. Makes one wonder what "Friction Fiction" is afraid of...why won't he test this lube?

More Heart Fun

 More Heart Fun

Regular readers might remember some posts about this early last year. The saga continues as it seems they fixed Zio's issues with A-Flutter but once off the rate/rhythm control medicine he had A-Fib, complete with the symptoms illustrated above.

Now what? After the regular cardio doc saw the ECG read-out he was on the phone to the electrophysiologist who'd done the ablation. WTF? was easily translated from Italian! A visit to the EP was quickly arranged and ol' Zio was back in the hospital last week for a try at getting rid of the short-circuits causing A-Fib. Interestingly, after the A-Fib showed up, Zio went alcohol-free, just to see if that would have any effect. Cause/effect are hard to prove but the old-fart had no symptoms once real booze was out of his diet.

Zero alcohol beers and wines might be a good subject for a future post, but with these results ol' Zio started wondering if he should just call it good? But he was still on the anti-coagulant medicine and the EP said while they were in there doing the ablation they'd install a blocking device that should eliminate the need for anything more than a baby aspirin in the future. Too good to pass up, right?

One week later he's hoping that's right. Post-op rate/rhythm medicine is still being dialed-in but it looks OK for the old-fart to head north to watch some of the Olympic Games in a few weeks. How soon he can get back on the sporty bikes remains to be seen but he's hoping a visit with EP tomorrow will get an OK.

If YOU have any symptoms like these, get checked out! A-Fib itself won't kill you but a blood clot (something the blocking device reduces the chances of) caused by A-Fib might, so don't mess around. Too much fun on bicycles enlarges the heart and makes it prone to short-circuits that cause A-Fib. For more information read "The Haywire Heart" 

Be careful!

 Two Wheeled Life Part 13

So, what do you do now that you're retired? Is a question we're often asked.

We ride bicycles around our home in Sicily.

I have a nice, permanent (though small) shop space again.

We have a very good Neopolitan pizzeria.

Most Italian motorists are OK and there are signs to remind them.

We have a tiny house on a quiet street.

We have time for old bike rallies...

..and time to visit museums...

..and time to visit famous race tracks.

Some nice e-bikes to play with now that we're old.

Some time to watch MOTOGP...

..and time to see LeTour..

..and time to spend with friends.

Time to see the Olympic Games..

..and great weather to cycle in.

Time to see the Giro and..

...more time with friends..

..and even more time with friends.

Time to ride on ETNA..

and time for Heather to carry the torch!

I'm reminded of Heather's late father who once said while talking about his retirement - "I don't know how I ever found time to work!"

In addition, Heather runs academic conferences here. It's a nice gig - she invites scholars from around the world to join her here to discuss philosophical and sporting topics while she gets to sleep in her own bed each night. Why go to conferences when you can create your own?

For the future, there's the Winter Olympic Games coming up. We're hoping to ride the entire length of the EROICA route in Tuscany and there's a ride around Lake Garda we want to do as well. The football World Cup is coming soon, then there's the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. Life is good!