Raphael Geminiani

 Addio Geminiani

Geminiani (R) with Bobet in 1958 

Thanks "Chairman Bill"!

Raphael Geminiani left us for good back on July 5. Zio Lorenzo was sad to see so few tributes to Le Grand Fusil.

Was he the last of Fausto Coppi's gregari?

Here's a great tribute to the man written barely a year before his death.

RIP Geminiani

Piedmont Vacation 2024

 Piedmont Vacation 2024

We escaped the tourist crowds in Siracusa for a few weeks recently and enjoyed cycling (and eating and drinking) at our old CycleItalia HQ, Hotel Ariotto in the Monferrato hills, just an hour from the Milan/Malpensa airport.

First, our stuff is up there. The owners kindly let us store some bikes, clothing and equipment there even though we've stopped running Piedmont Cycling Resort. The cycling's still great, the food's still wonderful and the staff is still friendly. What's not to like?

Some of the Giro stuff is still there

Three weeks to enjoy most of the routes we've mapped over the years, visit many of our favorite eateries and even explore some new venues.

Like this one! "Hic e Nunc" (Latin for here and now) was created not too long ago but their grape vines have been growing a long, long time. We'd sampled their wines a time or two but only now did we find the time to visit...

..with our friends (and long-time CycleItalia clients) Don and Cindy.

Heather was there for the first week before heading off to Greece and then  back home to Siracusa for some academic projects, but not before we enjoyed a pranzo or two, this one at one of their favorites La Ca Nova.

We'll finish with a view of the Monferrato hills. It was a great vacation and we're already making plans to return next year!

Grazie Tutti!!!

MAHLE X35 Diary

 MAHLE X35 E-Bike Diary

Better late than never now that MAHLE's X35 is being replaced with X30, but X35-equipped bikes seem to be on close-out so if you're in the market?

Zio has seen plenty of video on this e-bike power system but most of 'em seem to be done by computer nerds who fret over how far they can ride on a single charge or how much power they provide. IMHO this range anxiety and power-envy are silly. Here's my non-computer nerd, long-time cyclist take on X35 after 3 weeks riding in the hills of Monferrato.

I thought this the perfect time to write-up my experience. Three great weeks riding my Bianchi E-Impulso Allroad (shown above with Heather's) over the exact same routes I've ridden for years on a classic steel bike with triple crankset. What better comparison can there be?

First let me point-out that unless you're old or have medical issues, riding these routes as I've done for 20+ years is the most fun with a standard road bike as long as you have low gears to get up the hills. I've ridden a triple crankset for longer than that, almost from the moment Campagnolo released their "Racing Triple" option.

But there's no cure for the common birthday as they say and in the Alps last year Heather was having way more fun on her e-gravel bike than I was having on my conventional one. I was hoping it was just the fat tires, low gears and disc brakes of the gravel bike when she was dropping me both going up and down, but it became clear I needed a bit of help too, so we added one just like hers to our stable for me. The state of the roads these days makes the gravel bike's fat, low-pressure tires and disc brakes nice to have even if you're not in the Alps.

 

Cracks that would swallow a 25 mm tire can be laughed-at when yours are 38 mm! We have no desire to ride on anything more challenging than a dirt/gravel road, but think gravel bikes can be a smart choice as long as they're not MTB's with drop handlebars.

This year was the time to play with it, so after swapping-out the awful OEM tires for some fat slicks and the silly wide/flared "gravel" handlebars for something more road-like the bike was ready-to-go. My idea was to ride the bike around with assist level set at 0 even though the bike is turned-on. This way I get the readings from my (optional) MAHLE "Pulsar" brain unit (that works with both X35 and X20 and I assume the new X30) and also have an easier way to select the assist levels vs toggling the master control button that's kind of hidden on the downtube on this bike.

So when I'd reach the start of a climb that used to have me shifting down to the "granny ring" I'd just call-up assist level 1. I'd still shift down to a reasonable gear but enjoyed what seemed like a gentle push in the back. We set the bike up to provide 30% of its available power at Level 1. You're still working and depending on the grade, sometimes working hard, but you know you're gonna make it, even if you have to crank-up the assist to a higher level. When you doubt it's doing much, just switch back to 0 and feel the difference. As some have said, it's like having a strong pro put his hand on your back and give you a gentle push as you keep pedaling.

Once the climb levels out, switch back to 0 and enjoy the ride pretty much the same as an "acoustic" bike, though maybe I'm doing a bit more work since the bike is heavier? These Bianchi gravel bikes are well over 30 lbs ready-to-ride though unless you pick 'em up you don't really notice. And on a steep climb where you WOULD notice, assist level 1 makes you forget about it quickly!

I soon found all the rides I used to enjoy just as much fun on this bike with the descents being even more fun, though MAHLE has nothing to do with that. But I feared no climb, even taking-on one with 12+% grades that I rarely did on my "acoustic" bikes. I used assist level 2 for part of it but was still working hard, just as I remembered from back-in-the-day, turning things back to 0 as the grade eased near the top and feeling like the tires had suddenly gone flat! I wondered if I would have even made it up this climb on a standard bike with my current age/fitness level?

Using the bike this way, depending on how much climbing we did, I was using assist a max of around 50% of the time. The 250w/h battery was fully-charged when we arrived and was charged once for 2 hours about halfway through the 3 weeks (around 600 kms covered in total) then charged again to bring it up to above 60% before it was stored away until next time.

Data from a fitness tracker showed I was getting a good workout - most rides showed around a 50/50 split between "Peak" and "Vigorous" heart rate levels so don't think this type of e-bike is little more than an electric moped. Ya gotta pedal 'em!

Do I wish I'd gotten one of these sooner? Not really, but I was really glad I had one for this 3 weeks and glad I now have one here in Sicily as well. Once you get into geezerhood and start to doubt just how far you might be able to ride or how steep a climb you can do, having the gentle assist of that "pro" to push you if you need it makes the difference between giving it a try vs staying on shorter/easier routes.

Having ridden almost 2000 kms on my MAHLE X20-equipped bike I can't say I can tell a lot of difference between it and X35. Reviewers say the power comes in more gently and the BB's torque sensor has something to do with that, but I can't say I can tell much difference. If I knew then what I know now another Bianchi like this one would have been just fine and saved me a lot of dough. 

Heather points out the gravel bike geometry makes for some slower and less responsive handling vs her Bianchi E-Aria (also with X35) road bike but Zio Lorenzo's kind of slower and less responsive these daze, so it's just fine with him, he had a blast on the twisty descents in Monferrato and never thought the bike wouldn't go where he wanted it.

We assume the new X30 system will be similar so if you're looking for an e-bike that feels like a normal bike when the motor's not working, MAHLE's a good choice based on our experience over the past couple of years with (now) four bikes with these systems.

Another plus for this system over some others is the ability to control the assist levels automatically via wireless connections to a heart-rate monitor for example. Heather's doc told her to keep her heart-rate under X so she sets the bike up to assist when/if her heart-rate nears this limit and forgets about it. She can ride as hard/fast as she likes with no worries!

PS-Just like Heather's bike last year, this one acted-up a bit at first. Asking for assist level 1 might not do anything but show "1" on the display screen, then go back to "0". Just like your laptop, turning it off and back on fixed it every time but who wants that at the bottom of a steep climb? Just like Heather's a visit to a dealer who sells MAHLE for a 10-minute "update" took care of the problem. Our bikes in Sicily have been trouble-free so far but we're checking around for a shop that can provide this service here, just-in-case.

Tour de France 2024

 Thoughts on LeTour 2024

The race is "done and dusted" as the Brits like to say so here are Zio Lorenzo's thoughts on Le Beeg Shew 2024.

When the guy you like wins it always is a great edition of LeTour, right? And when he's beaten it's one of the worst editions ever. No surprise there and that seems to be the case with this one - the fans of the pasty Dane thought it dull, dull, dull while Pogacar fans enjoyed their man's never-say-die, let's have fun, it's a race so the object is to win attitude.

First, chapeau to Jonas Vingegaard just for showing-up. Sure, Pogacar showed up short-of-form after a crash awhile back but it wasn't anything like the 2023 Tour champ's. Whether he really wanted to race or not, he was there...did he have a choice in a team where one GT winner went to another team, another was out with Covid while their other big star was also recovering from a crash? This guy never looks like he's having much fun, but maybe this year was worse as he really would have rather skipped it?

But he was there and some will say just as good as before based on various calculations/comparisons with previous performances, but Pogacar was simply better, despite all the residual fatigue he would supposedly suffer after winning the Giro d'Italia a month before. Nobody's won "the double" since Marco Pantani in 1998 and the conventional wisdom was you had be doped-to-the-gills to do it. Pogacar was supposed to collapse in the Tour's third week while Vingegaard would reach top form. So much for convention!

But even if "your guy" was beaten, how can you not admire the winner? Or the guy who won the green jersey? Or the guy who took home the polka-dot version? Or the guy who finally won a sprint to break the TdF stage win record held by Eddy Merckx? That would have likely all happened whether "your guy" won or lost, so what's not to like?

And what about the best young rider? This guy showed a lot of maturity for a change. Even his (IMHO well deserved) criticism of Visma's "lack of balls" was delivered in a manner that showed the kid is growing up. Zio predicted tantrums, crashes and ultimate withdrawal but Remco proved him wrong. Zio was also wrong about the green jersey. After last year he thought the "bad boys" of Alpecin had it wrapped up again. Ooops!

There was plenty of whining about the race not finishing on the Champs in Paris...seemingly from the same people who usually call the last day a bore-fest until the final few kilometers. Zio's take was it was the whining mostly from Cavendish fans, but the fans lining the race route in Nice on Sunday rivaled Paris based on TV images.

Despite the heat, there wasn't much moaning about "weather protocols" or other bleating from the rider's union prez, other than his declaration about the fan throwing potato chips. Nothing about the UCI's draconian sanctions for riders getting a kiss from their wife or watching their teammate win on the big screen...he's too busy for that I guess? Whatever happened to banning hookless wheel rims? But there were no big equipment failures, no life-threatening injuries and few big crashes this year, something else to be happy about. 

There also seemed to be fewer costumed idiots getting in the way...perhaps the policing was better? TV images did show cops shoving people out of the way or even swerving towards them on motos to clear a path for the racers so perhaps ASO has decided to crack down?

Chapeau to LeTour 2024 and Tadei Pogacar!!! We're going to Paris, can he win there too? He mentioned the World's in his post-race comments...if he wins the Olympic gold we might be shopping for airtix to Zurich!!!

Catching up with Tour de France

 Catching up - at LeTour de France

Long time, no blog, right? Zio Lorenzo left his laptop at home so no blogging until he returned from the north. We'll catch up over the next few days.

Bologna -this tower is leaning!

We wanted to see a race up the San Luca climb for years so why not when LeTour comes to town?

It was as epic as we thought!

W Magro!

Ben Healy's father was there to support his son. The kid's a real trier, whether his exploits end up working or not, they enliven most of the races. What would you be if you didn't try? A robot like that Danish guy?

We also ran into Dag Otto Lauritzen doing a TV spot. We couldn't get him to slow down for a photo, just a handshake after Zio called out "Hey Lauritzen! I remember when you were IN this race!" which had him cross the road and let Heather remind him of the daze in Santa Barbara, CA when he was up for a sprint and she agreed to take him on!

From here we rented a car and drove up to our old HQ in Piedmont for a few weeks of enjoying the hills of Monferrato. More on that soon.

Getting it Right Part ?

 More Fooling Around with new Gravel Bike

 Zio Lorenzo thought the 40 mm deep carbon "aero" wheels on his new bike were kind of a dumb idea but just like the whacky handlebar, he figured he'd ride with 'em awhile before making any changes. The front seemed much more sensitive to gusty winds at speed than his other bikes. Last time he rode (and hated) a deep section wheelset it was just 33 mm, but these 40 mm rims seemed just as bad, if not worse. Zio's sure the larger tire plays a role here too, but he likes the 38 mm slicks...a lot!

If you've followed the story of this bike you already know he ditched the wacky carbon bar for a standard type road bar (in aluminum) a few months back. Since the rear wheel is laced into a motorized hub, changing that would be a huge PITA, while the front wheel is the one gusty winds tend to mess with the most, so it got changed. You'll often see wheelsets sold with deeper "aero" sections on the rear vs the front just for this reason.

DTSWISS GR1600 is a wheelset with low profile rim in aluminum and Zio found a place that would sell just the front wheel at a reasonable price, so here it is. Zio Lorenzo couldn't find one that would accept the original 6-bolt brake rotor so he had to order a new centerlock rotor and lock ring as well. Grrr!

You can see (above) the overall section height (tire+rim) is now 62 mm vs

77 mm with the original wheel. How much the wind will notice this smaller surface area as it blows across the wheel on a fast, twisty descent remains to be seen, but Zio figures it's got to be an improvement, right? Check back for a report.

Update: A few rides in gusty winds suggests the front wheel gets blown around far less. Zio noted the other day a race where the winner appeared to be using a 33 mm wheel up front and a 50 mm in back, so his 26 mm - 40 mm combo is far from an original idea...but it works!

PS: Zio felt like he spent a lot of money on this bike but the other day noticed the Big-T was offering a slightly used, factory refurbished carbon gravel bike with Shimano GRX components and the Big-T's house-brand handlebar, stem, wheels, etc. for $6K while a new one will set you back $8K! And neither of 'em comes with a MAHLE X20 motor/battery! So his MV bike seems almost cheap in comparison, even with all the extra-cost part swapping.

MOTOGP 2024

 Magical Mugello

MOTOGP came to Tuscany's Mugello Circuit last weekend. After Zio's Monza F1 experience last year he wanted to visit another iconic racetrack, but just like then, he wasn't keen on going solo. He'd seen the track from the road outside a time or two during a Tuscany cycling vacation but wanted the sights, sounds and smells of the real thing.

He threw out a challenge to some friends months ago, daring 'em to fly over and join him. Only old moto pal Tom (seen above) stepped up, climbing on an ITA Airways plane in LA last week to fly to Rome. Zio flew up from Catania where they met and hopped on the fast train to Florence for the weekend.

Since it was just two of us we booked with a Dutch tour operator sporttravel.nl though there were a couple other Americans there too. 4-star lodging, bus transfers to/from the circuit and race tix in the Poggio Secco grandstand. What's not to like? Bedankt Jongens!

Lot's to like in fact, though neither of us cared much for the smoke bombs and constant racket when the racing machines were silent, but we're old so what can ya do?

American Joe Roberts scored a win in MOTO2 while the Ducati factory team went 1-2 in Sunday's main event. We found a decent pizza on Friday night and some pretty good Tuscan food on Saturday. Racetrack food was good too (this IS Italy after all!) and they said the crowd was the largest seen there since Valentino Rossi hung up his leathers.

But I for one will be content from this point to watch on free, over-the-air TV in the future. As they say "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!"

Thanks again to Tom for coming over (and wife Linda for letting him!)