Commutes and a new ride
by admin on Dec.18, 2011, under Uncategorized
Two commutes on the day one. One day I rode back with Rick. Errm, we went quite quickly….racing…as it were. Rick’s very quick now. I reckon I can only hold him off if it gets hilly.
The last ride of the week was on my new cyclocross bike. A second hand (but still in pristine condition), Cannondale CAAD CX 105. Chap who I bought it off didn’t like it and sold it after riding it a few times.
It’s errm interesting. What didn’t help was the very icy conditions but still, lets try to be objective.
It’s *very* long. In fact, it’s too long. Even with the seat right the way forwards and the bars raised a bit I felt hugely stretched out. Might need a shorter stem.
Rides great though. It has Campag Veloce levers on it which aren’t to my taste at all I’m afraid. The plastic shift down lever feels cheap and flimsy and I keep pushing the brake lever by mistake. The shift up lever is very easy to hit by accident, it’s be a real pain in the bum in a race. I found myself not changing gears because I didn’t want the faff. Bummer on that one.
Finally the tyres.
Cyclocross? Really? For where? The sahara? Waste of fricking time for anywhere where water falls from the sky. Who do I sue?
Might try and find the odd race in the new year, see how well I do. I can always blame the gears if I do badly.
48 miles to go to my target. I was hoping to nail that today but it was too icy and I lost interest by the time it looked acceptable. Looking out the window it looks too icy now for a commute but I’m on holiday in two days for two weeks. Should be able to put 48 miles behind me no problem. That’s just one road ride.
December 18th, 2011 on 10:45 pm
Campagnolo levers are superb. Much better than that Shimano rubbish
December 20th, 2011 on 10:39 am
Sorry John but is to big for you, if buying an off the peg frame, always go by top tube length along an imaginary horizontal line (mines 22.5in with 100mm stem) I think you should sell it for what you paid and lookk for one thats a better fit, it you see one online in in a shop and see if you can sit on one first
December 20th, 2011 on 10:42 am
ps putting a very short stem on will make the stering very twitchy and will be a pain to ride
December 20th, 2011 on 2:45 pm
The seat is too low in those pictures, I’ve raised it since then. I’ll try it a couple more times yet before I decide what to do but thanks for tha dvice.