New cockpit on the old bike.

Today, I fitted a new stem and bars to the Racelite. The fit has been wrong for a long time, the reach being far too long. I fitted a compact pair of bars which means less drop and reach.These actually came from two previous bikes – the Mustang and then the Kona Zing. That Mustang now has flared gravel style bars which I decided on after getting the cyclo-cross bikeAdded to that, the stem is 20mm shorter (and possibly slightly angled higher. The result is that the inner bars line up with the front hub.

The old bars were Cinelli 66/44s. . Anyway, in the same fixing things session, I put new Cinelli bars on the Zing just so it wasn’t standing there with brake levers hanging. It’s a shame really because the new bars look great. The Cinellis have an ovalised aero section on the tops which are probably more comfortable for the hands. The Racelite bars had a plastic channel for the gear cables. This time, I put the channel behind the bar which gives a similar effect. Aero is not that important to me, but the extra area to rest hands is the real bonus.

I don’t know what’s happening with the Zing yet but I’m told it is covered under the lifetime guarantee.

All the work this morning was justified on this 45km ride. I’m back in love with this bike. Not only is it more comfortable, but the front end feels lighter too. The shorter stem accounts for this as well as the shift in centre of gravity.

Bright sun, 22°C, brisk SW wind, humid and dry.

In school holidays and fully recuperated. I’m still nursing that ankle injury but the problem is all about stiffness now. The Achilles tendon sides have gone back to hollow (as normal). I’m wearing barefoot shoes most of the time now. They are working very well. Returning to running is still out of the question. Maybe in the new year….

Further, there is something I learnt from this injury; continue exercise when you have balanced recovery time with effort time. This applies to this week’s rides. The recovery time is there each day because I’m not in work. That’s how you can ride every day without degradation.