Video clip from Osowa-Rondo 2014/6

A video clip from the ride in last Sunday.

My new CX bicycle

I decided to try a cyclocross bike this season but I did not want to spend a lot of money on my 3rd bike so I bought an used frame at Allegro (sort of local Ebay) and plan to utilize unneeded bicycle parts. As usual, in the end, the bike price was considerably higher than planned.

The bike is equipped with a mixture of Campagnolo Centaur (Ergopowers, Rear Derailleurs and Crankset) and Veloce parts. Standard 53 chainring was replaced with 46 one (namely Spécialités T.A. Vento chainring bought here. Building Campagnolo equipped CX bike is not easy, particularly in Poland.

Timelapse video made with Coolpix S3000 compact camera run with gphoto2

Timelapse video made with RaspberryPi/RaspberryPi native camera

My bicycle tracks mapped with Google Fusion Tables (for 2013)

My bicycle tracks for 2013 (a few of them are not bicycle).

2013

Sunday october 13th 2013 at Osowa-Rondo

Bunch cycling from Osowa-Rondo to Banino...

Trip to Żarnowiec

Last Sunday I travelled by train to Wejherowo and the trip started here. There is a railway service in Trójmiasto similar to German S-Bahn or metro-like railway but not underground. The ticket fare (Sopot-Wejherowo) is less than 2 EUR and the ticket for bicycle is free.

From Wejherowo I cycled along 218 road toward Krokowa but halfway turned left to Tyłowo. I proceeded along Żarnowieckie lake via Kartoszyno and Lubkowo to Żarnowiec. In Kartoszyno a nuclear power plant was planned to be build but the project was abandoned. There are remains of the buildings of the plant erected (not particularly interesting in my opinion and the access to them is forbidden). Lubkowo and the nearby area on Żarnowieckie lake shore is a resort. There are hundreds of vacation homes built here---so many that an access to lake's shore is seriously limited:-( There is an old cisterian cloister and a church in Żarnowiec.

From Żarnowiec I proceeded along 213 road via Krokowa (There is a von Krokow family castle here but I did not visit it.) to Celbowo. BTW in a small village Zdrada one can turn to Mechowo to see Caves in Mechowo---a geological curiosity. Next I cycled a few kilometers along 216 road. In weekends usually there is a heavy traffic here as many people are trying to get to/from popular beach resorts Władysławowo, Jastarnia etc...

Finally I turned left to local road heading to Żelistrzewo (Don't try to pronounce this name :-) and approached Gdynia from the west, cycling via Mrzezino and Pierwoszyno. Again in weekends some clever people are trying to avoid traffic on 216 road and drive to Gdynia this way. Off season and during week days the roads here are rather empty...

The weather was fine, the traffic on the average was light. The road quality was fine as well without potholes etc... The total distance covered was 110 kms.

A KML track (with photos) is here:

Larger map

Road race in Gdynia

Large map

A road bicycle race was organized in Gdynia last Sunday. There were two races: one for UCI Elite licensees and one open ie no UCI license was required. The first race were attended by top Polish road cycling teams (with CCC Polsat Polkowice as the strongest and well known) and two Poles from OmegaPharma: Michał Gołaś and Michał Kwiatkowski. Gołaś and Kwiatkowski dominated the race: they broke away 80 kilometers from the finish line and the peleton was unable to catch them. Gołaś won the race BTW.

350 amateur riders with different skill levels took part in the other race. The winner was Baltazar Brukalski while Piotr Wadecki---once one of Polish most successful cyclists took the 2nd place (he won M40 category). The last rider achieved the finish line 2 and a half hour after the winner. BTW there was a limit of 25 kmph to be classified but finally it seems not to be enforced. The distance was 130 kms---pretty much as the route was hilly.

There are plans to held the race annually. Look here if you are interested (unfortunately the site is only in Polish)

My love for Campagnolo faded out

As a dedicated fan of Campagnolo I was really disappointed to realize that removing Power Torque cranks can be a real problem. I see no point of designing two incompatibly cranks but to get extra money from the customers.

If one has to deinstall PT cranks one has to use a tool which is ridiculously expensive (100--150 EUR). The bike shop which services my bike refused to buy it and I do not blame them. They service three Campagnolo bikes (two of them Ultra Torque).

Fortunately for me they managed to get a tool using their contacts with CCC cycling team. (BTW CCC do not ride Campagnolo any more but they did in the past).

The tool in question is depicted below (it is the cheapest tool as far as I know):

The tool is so uncomplicated that it seems not particularly difficult to make a homemade copy. That's why Campagnolo do not sell it on their own?