CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[Hell Razor5543]

Here is a link to "Abandoned Engineering", if you are interested, Jim;

https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/aban ... gineering/

With a link to "Impossible Engineering";

https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/impo ... gineering/

while the film we discussed was "They Shall Not Grow Old" (second one on the following link);

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode

[Fake Concern]

Jim thanks for the gear set up advice. I’d already looked at most of what you suggest and not found anything. The rear mech seems to have sorted out now and I think you may have had the answer, I think an outer cable had got caught up and was letting go every now and then. The front one is more of a mystery as the stops, angle, cable and distance from the chainring all look perfect to me. Also it only does it two or three times in a ride. I would be interested in your set up guide if you should happen to PM it to me!
So the bike is a Bianchi Infinito, which is the top endurance racing frame in the line up used by Lotto Jumbo in the cobbles of the major tours. It is meant to be (& is) really comfortable and good at cancelling out road vibrations. It has a strange spec as apparently Bianchi UK sold out of the lower range Intenso bikes early in 2018 so specced the Infinito frame in a similar way to give them a bike in that (lower) price bracket. It is Campagnolo Potenza mix, so had Potenza gear mechs, cassette, chain brakes & levers with FSA Gossamer chainset & BB. Seat post, stem & bars are Bianchi’s own Reparto Corsa aluminium and a Selle San Marco saddle. Some pretty poor Fulcrum wheels and Vittoria Rubino tyres finished off the kit.
I had the shop upgrade the wheels to a more appropriate Campagnolo Zonda with the previously mentioned Pirelli P Zero Velo All Season 28mm (what a mouthful!) tyres and had decent Shimano SPD pedals fitted (I have SPD on all my bikes except the Brompton). The price in the end was a fair bit less than price of a bare Infinito frame set so I was very pleased.
Having spoken to several people including you about disc brakes, I decided I could do without even if they are the future! Mostly I will be only using the bike in the dry and anyway modern rim brakes are so good I can’t see what discs could offer apart from the ability to lock the wheels momentarily sooner!
So it does ride really well and even though it’s meant to be a best bike I’ve already ridden it through a flood of sea water several inches deep and a huge muddy puddle about 50 feet long outside a building site!
Glad to hear you are driving and getting on well with it and also (as my daughter told me I am) living retirement to the max!

To reply to Gibbo, I love derailleur gears despite an engineer telling me it’s not amazing that they work so well, rather it’s amazing they work at all! I had Sturmey Archer gears on my Brompton, but by that time they only made a 3 speed version so Brompton fitted a two speed derailleur to make it a six speed bike. (By the way my youngest daughter has one of those rings through the septum of her nose and, yes I hate it!)

TLDR: here's my new bike...

[CitroJim]

Wow! That's a truly lovely bike Fake The very stuff of dreams there and I just love the Bianchi blue I know it has a special name but it escapes me right now...

Odd about the chain coming off... I've had it happen only once so far... Maybe lucky but yes, spot-on about it's amazing derailleurs work at all! The front one is the hardest worked of all and the most difficult to set up well... When you see what it has to do it is quite a feat of engineering...

So too are the 11 and 12-speed rears... The tolerances are so tight now and it's little wonder a high-end groupset costs thousands of pounds...

More on 'Biscuitgate'...

The perpetrator even left a selfie at the scene

Work of a guiltily party

Anyone recognise him?

I'll not be about today.. Off cycling with my club to this location

https://www.cafe-ventoux.cc/

That's a good 100 mile ride and it looks like the weather will be kind to us...

[Stickyfinger]

HobNobbed by a Walrus !

Normally they leave Sardines

[Paul-R]

https://www.cafe-ventoux.cc/

If I walk down the garden where I am in France ATM I can see the real Mont Ventoux.

[myglaren]

Jimmy Edwards

[Gibbo2286]

Dick Strawbridge.

[CitroJim]

Jimmy Edwards

Close but no coconut!!!

[CitroJim]

HobNobbed by a Walrus !

Normally they leave Sardines

Sardines would have been very acceptable!

https://www.cafe-ventoux.cc/

If I walk down the garden where I am in France ATM I can see the real Mont Ventoux.

I so want to ride the real one Paul In fact I want to ride it three times in a day by the three different routes to the top and then I can join a very exclusive club

Dick Strawbridge.

No, a much happier looking fellow than that... Anyway, none of those are embers of this forum

I'd have thought the guilty party would have revealed himself by now - he has on facebook...

Had an awesome day yesterday riding 100 miles to Cafe Ventoux near Leicester The weather was just perfect, the scenery was breathtaking and I rode in great company with a very fine group of friends...

It was n ot an easy ride at all... We did it at an average of 13mph and that involved well over 5,000ft of climbing up some rather juicy hills. North Northamptonshire and Leicestershire are achingly beautiful parts of the UK but are far from flat Luckily, I' a mountain goat on a bike and love hills - the steeper and longer the better...

Cafe Ventoux was great and served up some great scones I needed two for that ride...

Own Work

A few pictures... The Chopper and Fiat 500 were real treats to see

Own Work

BCG Facebook

Own Work

Own Work

[CitroJim]

I'm glad yesterday is over. It was mainly spent undergoing a series of cognitive and memory tests... It was bloody hard work too

I know a little more now and the news is not too bad... I'm like a computer with very little RAM memory - slow and not very responsive with hardly any working memory This all leads to significant cognitive impairments...

My hard disk (long-term memory) is OK although retrieval speed is slow though...

From a driving point of view, although I'm not legally banned I'm advised to restrict driving as far as possible to short, essential journeys only at quiet times and on quiet roads due to my lack of effective short-term memory, cognitive impairment, short attention span and rapid mental exhaustion - all of which makes it very hard for me to process the mass of information needed to safely drive at a reasonable speed. Bang goes my plans to slowly resume driving

Luckily, no such restrictions apply to running and cycling

I may get worse over time and I'm now under monitoring with an MRI Scan to come soon...

Just in case it does get worse, and I feel it may well do as it certainly has over the lat two years, I will continue to live every day to the full, only even more so

I have no intention of wasting even a minute from now on

[Paul-R]

Flip Jim, that's quite a list. Glad you're being positive though.

[white exec]

That's a very brave and positive take on it Jim, and not without your usual dash of humour!
We'll do our best here to keep your CPU running at a sensible level.
You're doing the right thing in doing things you enjoy, with friends, and a lot of cake.

[Hell Razor5543]

Jim, try adding chocolate to your diet. If what I heard some years ago is correct, there is an enzyme in chocolate that can slow down the decay of brain cells by up to 10%.

[CitroJim]

Thanks all

That's a very brave and positive take on it Jim, and not without your usual dash of humour!

It's the only way Chris No good moping around and saying 'oh, woe is me...' There's a life out there to be lived

And boy, do I try to live it

Jim, try adding chocolate to your diet. If what I heard some years ago is correct, there is an enzyme in chocolate that can slow down the decay of brain cells by up to 10%.

Ahh, now maybe that was why it was recommended that I eat some of the over 70% plain stuff every day!

And I love it too...

Now, does a bit of pavlova have any cognitive health benefits?

This is what I enjoyed at our bike ride cafe stop today at a very interesting place called Emmaus at Carlton

Own Work - not baked by me though!

It was utterly delicious - a real poem on a plate...

The place has gone all Halloween too

BCG Facebook

[Mandrake]

Now, does a bit of pavlova have any cognitive health benefits?

This is what I enjoyed at our bike ride cafe stop today at a very interesting place called Emmaus at Carlton

It was utterly delicious - a real poem on a plate...

I'm getting a sugar headache just looking at that plate Jim.

Unfortunately no, pavlova is all sugar and thus does not afford any health benefits like chocolate.