Fake Booze

 Fake Booze

Fake booze? Yep, you read that right. Zio Lorenzo finds himself living in the land of great wines and he can no longer enjoy them. He made a choice after A-Fib. It was booze or cycling, since they say alcohol is a huge trigger for A-Fib. But he missed the "adult beverage" part of meals as well as the aperitivo in the evenings. Ice tea just doesn't cut it!

So it was time to explore the ever-growing 0 alcohol drink selections. Beer was easy, there are hundreds of those now and after a month or two Zio could no longer even tell the difference. But wine's a different animal. He tried all the offerings from Sicily first, then spread to all over Italy, with zero positive results. Most of 'em were like fruit punch, especially the reds.

But fear not if you're in the same situation or just want to reduce/eliminate alcohol from your diet. Heather still imbibes and Zio enjoys selecting wines for her...he can still sniff 'em after all!

After trying most of 'em Zio ended up with wines from Thomson & Scott. He thought their claims were hyperbolic but he decided to try their wines since there's a local importer with fast shipping. The verdict? Whites are pretty easy, as are sparklers like the one below from Mionetto. But reds are a challenge, most of 'em taste like something, but it's NOT wine! Zio really hates the idea of drinking wines in Sicily that are imported from South Africa, but it's not his fault nobody else seems to have figured this out, right?

The red tastes like wine, something that Zio can't say about the others he's tried. Not GOOD wine, but wine just the same - think of the quality level you get with most wines-by-the-glass. "Inoffensive" was the description Zio's late father-in-law used to use. Zio took a bottle of the white to a seafood ristorante here in Sicily and shared a taste with a hidebound wine-snob who took a break from his "that's not wine" mantra (it IS wine, the alcohol is just removed) and declared it acceptable. The snob's wife has A-Fib but refused even a taste - go figure.

Mionetto now offers a fake version of Aperol so Zio has some of that coming to see if he can make a decent spritz*. Fingers crossed!

CIN-CIN!

*Update - Mionetto's "Aperitivo" isn't much like Aperol

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!

Inflation - the good kind!

 CYCPLUS e-pump

OK, Zio hears ya - "WTF? How lazy do you have to be to use one of these?"

Lazy (or not) isn't the point. What IS the point is the difficulty of mounting a frame pump (one YOU have to pump) onto modern bicycles. Our e-gravel bikes didn't offer much of a way to carry a full-sized frame pump (though Zio later managed to squeeze one in on his) so it was a Silca Tattico mini-pump or nothing.

With gravel tires of 38 mm, it takes some pumping even with a frame pump (let alone a mini) to get up to working pressure, so this gizmo looked interesting when Zio saw it here. Thanks Pez!

It inflated tires just fine in the shop, though on-the-road test waits for the next flat. Zio had some concerns about how charged-up the thing would stay in the seat pack, but today pulled it out and turned it on...seemed like it would have pumped up several tires before he got tired of the racket and shut it off. Recharged in 15 minutes and went back in the seat pack. Seems like it'll stay ready-to-go in-between recharging the e-bike battery so when it's time for that, it's time to recharge CYCPLUS.

Pez has the details if you want one for yourself or maybe under the holiday tree?

Update: This thing works great, both on-road and in-shop. Ever had one of those slow leaks..the kind you say "I'll pump it up once or twice and make it home"? 3-4 stops to get enough inflation to get home without ruining tire/rim...no problem!

not-so easyJet

 

Well, sort of I guess? Flying from Catania to anywhere doesn't yield a lot of choices despite it being an "International" airport so we flew on easyJet "a British multinational low-cost airline group that operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries" to and from Paris for the Olympic Games.

They're far from a favorite but sometimes you just have to bite-the-bullet as they say. So we did, with nothing to complain about getting to Paris.

Getting back to Catania proved to be more of a challenge. Just as we're getting close to Sicily the captain comes on the PA system to tell us landing will be delayed due to weather issues. A flight we were on years ago was diverted to the nearby military airport due to an eruption on Etna so we didn't think much about it.

UNTIL they came back on the PA and said we were instead landing in Palermo! Yep, the other side of the island from Catania. The implication was that we'd then fly back to Catania when the weather cleared but Zio Lorenzo never thought that was gonna happen. The outgoing flight from there with this plane would simply be cancelled and chaos would ensue until planes and crews were repositioned and normal schedules resumed.

After sitting on the ground in the plane for half-an-hour Heather got a message from the easyJet "app" confirming what we thought, basically "You're on your own in Palermo, sorry." But they implied reasonable expense getting to Catania would be reimbursed.

So we started checking for rental cars...none were available. Hotels seemed booked-up too, probably because ours wasn't the only flight diverted and it's the middle of vacation season in Italy? Once inside the airport we made a dash to SicilybyCar first, scoring one of the last cars they had that could be dropped-off in Siracusa, a gas-guzzling SUV with automatic transmission and leather seats.

So at least the almost 300 kilometers/3 hours to get home would be comfortable, though of course we were already out-of-pocket for the $100 taxi ride home from Catania, but at this point we just wanted to get home!

$50 refilled the tank on the outskirts of Siracusa and we eventually found a place to park the thing and walk the rest of the way home, stopping for a pizza at our favorite place. Showered and in-bed before midnight!

Will easyJet reimburse ANY of this? We've since received more communications describing how they WON'T pay for rental cars or taxi service - I guess they expected us to sit for 4+ hours in a bus or train to Catania? I'd point out if time wasn't important we could have taken a train to/from Paris in the first place. We bought airplane tickets to save that time but now it's just fine to sit for hours on a bus or train?

 We sent them receipts anyway but are not holding our breath, though we'll have to bite our tongues sooner rather than later and fly this airline again in the future (as much as we'd rather not) since there's not much choice. We'll hope the weather cooperates in the future so we don't end up "on our own" in Palermo again.

Kind of makes Zio's snarky "sleazyJet" moniker not so snarky?

Paris Olympic Games 2024

 Olympic Games 2024

We retired to Italy in reasonable financial condition, especially with the low-cost-of-living in Sicily combined with low-cost healthcare, so instead of buying that Ferrari, we'll spend some dough on fun things-to-do.

Like the Olympic Games!!!

We flew up to Paris for the weekend of the cycling road races, the men on Saturday, the women on Sunday. Once at our hotel near La Madeleine in the City of Light we got around using shared e-bikes. (More on that in a later post) so off we went to see the start.

Once they got going, so did we - over to the hill of Montmarte

And lunch! The hill was packed with people despite the racers not due to arrive here until after 4 PM. Meanwhile, we'd enjoy a roast chicken lunch with a view of the course out the window, though sadly the owner closed the place down and kicked us out (through the window!) into the throng around 4 PM. Oh well, the food was great anyway and cheap by Parisian standards!

This was the scene once we were shoved into the crowd. But the racers passed there 3 times so can you really complain? Some folks had been camped-out here since 7 AM!

Sunday's women's race called for a new plan - meet up with Marion Clignet, an old racing pal of Heather's and hang around with her international entourage for the day, hoping to scam a way into the grandstands to see the finish and the rest of the race on the big-screen. This worked out very well as the photos show, complete with a stop at the New Zealand Olympic House for some drinks and snacks mid-race. Thanks to JoAnne for that, another Olympic cyclist whose last name I forget.

After hiking (no e-bikes this time!) back to the finish area Marion escorted us past the throngs and into the grandstands to seats next to the press box. Pretty sweet, eh? Merci Marion!!!

Paris did a great job helping people get around on bicycles!

Monday night we had tix for the stadium and pole vault final among other events.

Including the world-record set by Armand Duplantis Despite having already won the gold medal he kept jumping until he set a new world record, encouraged by the silver and bronze medal winners. THAT's the Olympic Spirit!!!

Next up, track cycling. We moved to a (rather dumpy as it turned-out) hotel near the velodrome for a morning session of track racing. The track was fast, world records falling a gauche et droite as the French would say.

Records fell, helped by the heat in the indoor velodrome. It was HOT! But once inside they'd let you out to cool off without a bunch of security checks so it wasn't too bad. So "not bad" that we scored tix for the next day's morning and afternoon sessions! So we saw Kristen Faulkner win two gold medals!!!

The Brits were out-in-force. Seems to be a thing for the relatives of riders from those islands to wear t-shirts proclaiming their relationships. Regular blog readers might remember Ben Healy's dad at the Tour de France.

We had good seats for all of the sessions. There are only around 3000 of 'em so they're all pretty good.

Some fans really get into it!

Back home in Sicily we reflect on another great experience with the Olympic Spirit as we enjoy the final events on TV. Chapeau to Paris and all the volunteers and spectators. Milano-Torino 2026? We won't even have to leave Italy!!!!

Gravel bikes - why?

 Why Ride a Gravel Bike?

I mean why ride a gravel bike on the ROAD? While they make perfect sense for gravel roads you'll read varying opinions on whether they're any good for riding on asphalt roads. Here's Zio Lorenzo's take:

Perhaps the first thing you should consider is the quality of your local roads. "Champagne asphalt" as in smooth pavement with few potholes or cracks? Not a lot of junk on the edges where the cars rarely drive? A classic road bike with 28/30 mm tires might be just fine on those, but reading THIS might change your mind.

If you believe that (and I do) you might want to experiment as I did awhile back with "SuperMonsterGravel" shown above. I wanted something to play with on the unpaved rail trail that runs along the sea near our house so I made my own gravel bike out of an ancient MTB. The handlebar/stem position isn't perfect due to the MTB's looong top tube but I recently put this bike back "on the trail" rather than get my new e-gravel bike dirty every time Heather wants to take her e-gravel bike out on the dusty trail. It's still fun to ride.

Fooling around with this bike further convinced me the "wider isn't slower" argument had merits after being passed on "SMG" by a guy on a high-zoot, full-carbon roadracing bike with I'd guess 25/28 mm tires. I cranked it up a bit to see if I could keep the gap from opening up despite riding this ancient MTB with 50+mm tires at 40 psi. The results backed up the claims about wider tires, so a "real" gravel bike was next.

Now if roadRACING is your thing vs JRA, you can stop here. Nobody's gonna claim you're gonna have an advantage in any roadrace except maybe Strade Bianche and even there the pros ride their regular roadracing bicycles with maybe some 32 mm tires squeezed-in. They also have a follow-car with spare wheels and bikes just behind them at all times.

But for JRA, Zio Lorenzo's convinced a gravel bike is better. But perhaps only if you make it fit and feel like that roadracing bike. You can read elsewhere on this blog about all the things he changed on his but #1 was the TIRES! Even if your high-end gravel bike comes with top-quality, high TPI tires they're gonna have knobs on 'em...something totally useless on pavement and honestly not much good anywhere else unless you're on a soft enough surface for rubber knobs to dig-in and increase grip. Swap the knobbies out for some high-TPI fat slicks and feel the difference!

Next you might think about gearing. Since most gravel bikes are 1X lots of folks seem to think the gear range isn't sufficient. Again, if you are RACING on the roads it's probably not, but 40 X 11 will get me going 60+ kph though these days I can't hold that speed for long, so why do I need any more gear? Going faster downhill means I tuck-in rather than pedal anyway. Same on the bottom end, 40 X 42 isn't far-off from the old triple 30 X 32 I used to use to climb the Passo Stelvio or Mortirolo and not having to fool around with shifting in the front is nice.

Finally there's the added weight. 10 kg seems to be about average, so you're dragging around more than someone on a 6.8 kg World Tour level machine but how many are riding those these days? Classic steel road bikes from back-in-the-day weighed around 10 kg and they didn't seem to slow the likes of Merckx or Gimondi down much, so for JRA Zio's betting you won't even notice until/unless you put it on a scale.

On less-than-perfect roads 38 mm slicks with 40 psi in them let you look where you're going rather than always riding with one eye looking down to avoid cracks, potholes, etc. The usually stiffer gravel bike frame's possible harshness on the road is mitigated nicely by these same tires. All this assumes you opt for a gravel bike more on the "racy" side rather than a MTB with drop bars which seem to be popping up now that gravel is getting segmented into fast vs gnarly terrain. 

Zio's take is MTB's are still available for a reason but a more "racy" gravel-bike is the best toy for JRAing on anything short of perfect asphalt...and where does one find THAT these days?

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 a slightly used one just like hers to our stable for me. The state of 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! While we have no desire to ride on anything more challenging than a dirt/gravel road, we think gravel bikes can be a smart choice as long as they're not slack-angled/long chainstay MTB's with drop handlebars.

This year was finally Zio's chance to play with his (though he'd been playing with his MAHLE X20-equipped gravel bike for a few months in Sicily) 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. The idea was to ride the bike around with assist level set at 0 even though the bike was turned-on. This way I get the readings from the (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/if 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 you are 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 assist 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 I 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 proved I was getting a good workout - most rides showed 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? Yes, for the Alps last year! I was really glad I had one for this 3 weeks and glad I 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. 

Since this was posted Zio rode up a long Alpine climb with average grade of just under 10%, using 100% of the assist available since his cardio doc insisted he keep his heart rate under a certain level. One hour and around 10 kilometers later the battery was dead after starting around 85% charged.

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 used or new Bianchi like this one would have been just fine and saved me a lot of dough*. I've seen prices under $3K for new ones recently - my guess is close-outs on X35 bikes now that X30 is out?

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 himself, so it's just fine with him, he had a blast on the twisty descents in Monferrato and never felt 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 then 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.

* I've ordered a Bianchi E-Impulso for Sicily too now so we'll have a matched pair both in Piedmont and Sicily!

MV Lucky Explorer E-gravel bike - First Impressions

 MV's e-gravel bike- First Impressions

The bike (finally) arrived! Zio quickly got it ready to ride, swapping out tires, bolting on water bottle cages, etc.

You can see how small the rear hub motor is - total system weight is 3.2 kg, (around 7 lbs) making this bike about the same weight as his un-motorized ancient MTB turned into SuperMonsterGravel.

Control button on the top tube with Homer Simpson as Superman just below. This bike also has tiny buttons near the brake hoods to shift assist-levels up or down rather than pushing the top tube button.

A nice surprise! Zio has a Torelli 20th Anniversary bike that's #70/100 so "Homer" is in good company.

Another nice surprise - Made-in-Italy, though Zio doesn't know who actually makes the frames for MV. The bikes are assembled and shipped from Varese, MVAgusta's home from the start. MV comes from Meccanica Verghera and the founder Giovanni Agusta.

Zio bought this bike not really needing an e-bike right away, but more as a way to get used to playing with one before it WILL be needed. He thinks of it as sort of an electronic "granny ring" on a triple crank...always there but nobody says ya gotta use it...at least if the bike is fun to ride without the e-assist.

This one is! Ready-to-ride it's under 30 lbs and with the motor off or in the 0 assist mode, rides just like a normal bike. Zio's put 100 kms on it so far and really likes the fat 38 mm Rene Herse slicks he mounted to replace the 45 mm gravel tires it came with. The 50+ mm slicks on SuperGravelMonster are great while Heather likes the 38's on her Bianchi gravel bike. We don't plan to ride the kind of gravel that requires knobby tires,

So far Zio's only cranked the motor up (Level 1 assist) one time - going into a stiff headwind on the bike trail. Otherwise he's ridden it "acoustically" and is pretty happy with how it goes, stops and turns. You can watch a good review of the Campagnolo EKAR component group HERE. Zio's not doing any video, who wants to look at or listen to him?

MAHLE's X20 assist system has some reviews online though since the MV's not sold in the USA, this one about it on another brand of bike still applies.

The bike itself? Zio bought this despite the branding. MVAgusta is great but the reference is to the Dakar factory motorcycles based on the Cagiva Elephant, which were sponsored by the cigarette brand Lucky Strike in the 1990s. Why? He wanted Campagnolo EKAR and MAHLE X20 and this was pretty much the only choice. He'll cover-up the logos and maybe slap-on some MVAgusta stickers eventually.

The frame geometry charts suggested this wouldn't be a slow-steering "desert sled" despite the name and riding it is proof. Frame sizing was a challenge as Zio seems to be smack-dab in-between both MV's and Bianchi's size ranges. He's almost too tall for the S size and too short for M, but just like the Bianchi, settled on M. 50 cm center-to-center on the seat tube is good while the top tube measures 53 cm. A rather short 8 cm stem connects to the carbon handlebar with all the hoses/cables routed internally.

All this means the fit is OK. The size S would for sure require a longer stem and with hoses/cables routed internally would have been a real pain to swap-out. As-is the M's a little short and upright while the bars are a bit wide but once he rewrapped the tape to cover more of the tops (and stuck some foam padding into the curiously depressed sections) things seem OK.

A straight top tube means a frame pump will fit! WOOHOO! Bottle cages are mounted low, another plus. Seatpost is round with an alloy clamp, both big plus factors in Zio's mind. Frame-build quality looks good too, I wonder who actually makes them?

What doesn't he like? The flat paint finish isn't a plus but what can ya do...it's the rage these days. We've already covered the logo issues. For this kind of money Zio wishes they'd plugged the bazillion threaded holes in the frame/fork (so you can bolt-on bikepacking stuff) with some snap-in things to keep dirt out of the threads and water out of the frame and sprung for better quality inner tubes than the rather thick CS ones. But they probably figure buyers are gonna yank 'em out and go tubeless with the no-name carbon tubeless-ready rims anyway? The 40 mm rims are deeper than Zio would like but they don't seem too bad in cross-winds so far.

100 kms over 3 rides and Zio's pretty happy. He can see this being his "do it all" bike even without the motor assist. He splurged for a MAHLE head-unit rather than slapping-on a Cateye cyclometer. This reads the bike's stats along with the usual speed, distance, etc. and includes a "range" feature - how far you can ride on the current battery charge?

With the assist level at 0 but the bike turned ON, the range numbers actually go backwards - as in higher rather than lower. A 2 hour ride today used 1% of the battery while the range-counter topped-out at 999 kms. On his first ride, when he switched to level 1 the range dropped to under 400 before he switched back to 0.

Next up, a ride with a real climb, one where Heather usually has to wait for him on her MAHLE X35 powered bike programmed to assist when her heart rate reaches a preset level. Will Level 1 be enough? If not, there's 2 or 3!

LeTour 2023

 Thoughts on LeTour 2023

Photo copied from here.

Zio waited awhile for this post. Watching highlights on Italian TV finally got him going on it.

Najlepsa hvala (many thanks) to Tadej Pogacar! (in white above) Without him how dull would this edition of Le Grand Boucle have been? A boring Danish cyborg (in yellow above) would have wiped-the-floor with everyone, especially as two contenders crashed out on the first day. At least UAE attacked and tried to make a race out of it while J-V mostly defended. We'll probably never know what caused Pogacar to blow-up on Stage 17 but that was the end of what was at least an interesting two-way battle. 

BRAVO to Giulio Ciccone (in polka dots above) first Italian king of the mountains at LeTour since Claudio Chiappucci in 1992.

Well done to Jasper Philipsen though while nobody really wanted to see another Tashkent Terror or Cannonball out there you still proved you were the fastest with or without your famous lead-out man.

Not so well done to Tour security. Francophones love to criticize the Giro d'Italia for what they claim is poor crowd control but when was the last time an attack by a contender was thwarted by crowds narrowing the road or riders knocked off by spectators like we saw this year at LeTour?

Not so well done either to the equipment suppliers, especially the neutral support team that couldn't get Nils Politt a bike he could ride!! How many chains did we see break or somehow malfunction? The marketing-mavens tell us modern 12-speed electronic drivetrains are accurate, efficient and foolproof, but....

Zio had his usual anger at the TV director who too often seemed to miss a move while showing us a way-too-long scenery shot. Zio wonders if the "picture breakup" critics of Italian RAI TV go on about (RAI's director used to default to a fixed camera view of the finish when this happened) happens to EMG just as often but the director switches over to scenery shots rather than a static image from the finish to hide it?

Congratulations Jonas Vingegaard on another TdF win. It's not your fault you don't have much panache. If it wasn't for cycling you'd be working in that fish market where no panache is required either.

Vive LeTour!

Plastic, electric OK, but hydraulic?

 Be careful who you buy from!

"Fausto" (shown above) has been a challenge, mostly due to issues with the brakes. We found a handlebar Heather likes along with the right-length stem. We've purchased a few other Bianchi bikes including two Rubino Spillo shopping bikes along with two E-Impulso Allroads, one in Piedmont and the other here in Sicily. The e-bikes were bought on-line from an authorized dealer. Other than some fiddling with the brake calipers to get them centered so they'd stop rubbing, they've been just fine.

We can't say the same about "Fausto" however. We tried to get an E-Aria from the same source but he had none but we found a slightly used one at another Bianchi dealer, Centro del Ciclismo in Pavia. They were listed on the Bianchi website so we assumed they'd be OK. What a mistake!

The bike arrived within a week of payment though the battery charger was not in the box. The seller swore up-and-down he'd packed it in the box but there was no evidence the box had been tampered with so we think he just forgot. We're still trying to get him to send it. Luckily the same charger for the other bike works but what if we didn't have another MAHLE X35 bike to borrow a charger from?

But worse, this bike's brakes were seriously screwed-up. The Shimano GRX brakes on the others have been just fine but this one with Ultegra had one problem after another! First, the rear brake simply didn't work, as in there was no stopping power but there WAS a lot of gawdawful noise. Zio Lorenzo found a fluid leak at the lever which explained why there was no braking power, then found the seals in the caliper blown out, which would explain the noise - from contaminated pads/rotor.

Zio hoped to go to his grave without ever having to delve into the world of bicycle hydraulics though he has plenty of experience with motorcycle brakes back-in-the-day. No luck, so various parts/tools were ordered.

The fluid leak at the lever seemed to be due to (how did that happen?) the hose connection not being secured properly. Luckily a few turns of a wrench seemed to take care of that, but the leak at the caliper turned out to be a stuck piston which then blew out the seals, despite having a bleed-block in place when the lever was actuated to test the now-secured hose connection.

New rear brake caliper + bleed kit + tools to cut the hose and install new fittings + new brake rotors and pads were ordered as the claims are contaminated rotors/pads can't be restored - they must be replaced. It turned out the rotors were mismatched with the rear having been replaced for some reason with a Made-in-Japan one vs the OEM Made-in-China rotor up front.

Another interesting discovery was the rear brake hardware. See that little black bracket under the caliper? The screw holding the front of that onto the frame was too short, meaning only a few threads engaged and they stripped out when things went back together. The dealer blamed all of this on Bianchi, claiming supply-chain issues meant they were building bikes with whatever parts they could source! He also said the brake noise would go away if she just kept riding. 

The bikes we got from the other Bianchi dealer, which would likely have been assembled during the same period were just fine. Hmmmm, seems like somebody who didn't know (or care?) what they were doing screwed-around with the brakes on this slightly-used bike before we got it and we find it hard to believe it was Bianchi.

Despite all this the rear brake is now centered with no leaks and no noise but WITH decent stopping power. What about the front? New rotor and pads but it drags and makes noise. GGRRrrrr! Piston seems stuck in this one too, did a leak cause contamination and noise? Just-in-case, a new caliper was ordered but in the meantime what can we do?

Cleaning the pistons to free them up seemed to work as did cleaning the pads and sanding the brand-new rotor's braking surface. No drag, no noise and it even stops now! Short test-rides are one thing, but will it work out on the road?

The dealer finally responded about the missing battery charger. He claimed he bought one for us, but now he wants us to pay for it! He never indicated the bike price didn't include the charger, how would you use the bike without one? Where's the one that came with the bike? These things sell for more than $100 online!

Perhaps the folks at Bianchi might want to have a talk with the shop owner - Alberto Riboni in Pavia? 0382 53904 is the phone number.

Zio has to admit being frustrated with this project. He prides himself on being a mechanic, someone able to figure out what the problem is, then fix it vs just throwing new parts in until the problem is solved one way or another. Back in his moto daze he used to joke about "parts-changers" with a vast arsenal of spares they could just keep changing until the problem went away. In his book they weren't very good mechanics.

But above you see more parts - this time aftermarket rotors and brake pads along with a jug of brake fluid and some shims. Shims, you ask? Swapping out brake rotors (all genuine Shimano so far) revealed not all of 'em meet the same specs. WTF? One brake rotor would end up slightly off-center between the brake pads while another would line up just fine. Zio at one point had a rotor that was noise-free installed but it dragged on one side vs another that sat squarely in the middle but squawked like mad!

So he bought a bag o'shims just-in-case he needs to reinstall the rotor that is quiet but a bit off vs the one that's centered. Sanding that one seemed (so far) to stop the noise but more just-in-case/parts-changer he now has two sets of new rotors on-hand (both genuine Shimano and aftermarket) along with brake pads (genuine and aftermarket) to match and the shims to make sure they sit exactly right in relation to the caliper.

Once the roads are dry/clean enough to take "Fausto" out for a real ride Zio will know what's next. He's hoping becoming a "parts-changer" is not it!

*Update: Zio eventually unstuck the piston in the front brake caliper and found a rotor that would sit centered between the brake pads. After bleeding the front brake both are fairly quiet and stop OK. Bianchi's customer service people responded to our complaints about the dealer and said they would look into them. 

A few days later we got a message from the dealer saying he had a charger for us and would send it. So far...nothing**. 

**Almost one year later - still nothing. We've since bought another charger at our own expense so f--k you Riboni! We noted this crook's no longer listed as a Bianchi dealer on their store-locator, so there's some justice in the world! Meanwhile, the bike works just fine with most of the spare parts collecting dust....for now.