Beautiful and amazing...

I've been trying to put in some miles lately, but now I'm resting the bones.

Every ride I go over 20 miles, I get the feeling like a knife is 'resting' in my right knee (patella). Not sure why, I've never had knee problems; but I know that 'rest' is the best medicine.

I have a 5-day trip of road-bike riding in Florida coming up next week, so I have to make sure it's not an issue for then, otherwise I'll be mostly left behind while my 15 other buddies are out on the road having a blast!

I hope the snow melts fast for you, Stygg!

 

Best place to ride a place guys?Personally it's stanley park in Vancouver....

 

Many years ago in undergraduate university I was in my mid-20 yrs old. Someone stole my bicycle, so to exercise, I began running. Eventually, I ran 3 miles every other day, going faster each time, running the same indoor track counterclockwise. My right hip began to ache, but I figured the muscles were just realigning or something and sat in the hot tub to alleviate the pain. After a while I had to stop running as even walking was painful. It took over 3 months to recover from my self abuse. A word to the wise. ;-)

 

Vamcouver

 

Beautiful In central Ohio.
Don't have the good rims today, they are getting re-glued.

 

Today was 70 in NYC, short sleeves, fast riding on the Tarmac.

Day before yesterday I decided to take it a bit slower and explore on the Diverge:

 

Hey - this thread is 22 pages now! I do not believe I have told the story about Macke and his Conago yet?

Max “Macke” Ljungqvist was a very strong sprinter and placed first or top three in many races in the early to mid 70ies – here in Sweden. He was so talented that he was “the most promising new star” as one magazine wrote. He rode a Swedish made Monark but soon he switched to a Colnago Super.

I met him in a peculiar way. Both being regulars at a local Stockholm pub in the 90-ies we met many times and he was such a nice guy. Really. You meet a lot of people but sometimes you meet someone that is extra. Macke was one of those.

At some point when out on my training ride I rode by the pub and outside in the sunshine sat Macke and his wife. “Are you a racer” he asked. I told him “no – just a training guy but I train a lot”.

The next time we met at the pub we got to talk and now about bicycling and bikes. He started out with – “I have a couple of old race bikes”. I was sort of into old race bikes as a collector already back then but usually when someone said they had something it turned out to be an old clunker with drop bars.

- I used to be a racer.”
- Uhmm
- I went down on training camp to Italy with the national team members.
- What!
- I got my Colnago Super made for me at Colnago.

Now he had got my attention..! And it was all very casually told. Then he continued:

- I have got two
- What - when was this?
- In 1972-4
- God – that is a dream bike for me!

In Sweden top of the line racing bicycles has never been a big thing. Not many sold – and finding a couple of early 70-ies Colnagos here was as likely as seeing two white ravens.

- You can have one of them.
- What!
- It is a little damaged but you get it for free.

It turned out he had ordered a Colnago Super in Monark color and riding for the Monark team he was going to have Monark decals put on here in Sweden. Before that was done he crashed it and damaged the fork. That bike was ordered and built in 1972. He then got another one built in 1973-4 but now he could chose what color he wanted, riding for another team/club, and he got a purple one.

That one is the one shown here. The picture is taken by his wife after his passing. He left us way to early a couple of years ago - doing it while bicycling. He had told me earlier that he was thinking of getting back in the saddle and asked me if I could fix up the old Colnago. Just re-grease the bearings and some new brake blocks, wires etc. Of course I could! It also needed new rims and those are on in the picture. Re-using his hubs. While I was fixing up his bike he told me stories of every nick and ding this frame had. And as a sprinter there were many. It was like war stories. It was wonderful.

Then we lost contact for many years (I stopped pub: ing) but I heard he had bought a modern bike and was training hard. It was going well – he was fast again. He went on training camps on Majorca etc. One day though he just stopped in his tracks and fell. His heart gave up.

In memory of Max “Macke” Ljungqvist I write this post. A good guy.

 

That's a great story and a shame he went like that, at least he was doing what he loved i guess. These guys were tough as nails back in the day. No carbon, and no super compact chainrings etc !

Did you ever get the spare that you mentioned? The purple one still looks like a flying machine!

I'm doing L'Eroica in June on my dads Duckett Superlight. It's the bike he had in the early '60s and rode all over Europe on as a teenager. I'm used to a full carbon weighing under 7kgs with 22 gears. This will be a taste of what these boys did back in the day.

Here is the bike in question.... untouched from the 60s, just the way we like things here . (I am adding an extra chainring though!)

 

Yes, I did, but unfortunately it is lost since years. It had damage that needed attention in form of brazing of a couple of new main tubes. I wanted to save the frame and restore it to its former glory - and was prepared to pay a good sum for it. Thru contacts it was sent to Eddy Merckx in Belgium. They in their turn sent it to a famous framebuilder in Italy (name withheld). He had it for a while and did not get round to do the job (long build list). He then got seriously sick and in the aftermath the frame was lost. Investigations were made but no luck. I consider it lost forever.

Your dads bike looks very nice and good luck in/with your L´Eroica!

 

Beautiful day to ride a bike here, gentle breeze and mild spring sunshine. Unfortunately decided it was time to face the facts that my cycling days are over.
Listed the trusty steed for sale with mixed emotions, best is to look back at many happy memories over many years.
Upside at least I can keep an eye on you boys

 

Say it ain't so! What ails you, bud?

 

Not easy to admit but a combination of old age and several parts wearing out

 

Sorry to hear. No chance of some parts upgrades?

 

One of my favourite sub-interests when it comes to bikes. Wheelbuilding.

Nothing really super special - but today I built these 36 spoke, three cross, wheels. Old Mavic rims, Mavic 550RD hubs, DT competition spokes and DT aluminium nipples. Ringlé Ti stix. A 90ies wheelset that will go on my Geliano 115S. A Merckx MX Leader get to show them here though. Tan wall tires will be the choice for shoes.

A nice Sunday...

 

Love those hubs. I still ride some. Perfect match to that amazing "apex of steel" Merckx. I've gone with 3 cross and 36h and stick to steel bikes exclusively, the roads are rough and my weight is too much for anything else haha!

 

A snap taken of the Tour de Suisse many years ago, sure many will recognise the great man

 

M. Indurain?

 

Sorry to hear that, sir.

What will you do for exercise?

 

Well if my good lady has her way as she usually does another Beagle to keep me occupied, time will tell.