My first order of business when I got back to Melbourne was to pick up my Cannondale. True to his word my man had a new cassette there waiting with the bike which I would describe as straight but a little sad. I didn’t stuff around as it was Saturday morning and I had made the call that I was going to race the following day, so I got straight into getting the thing set up. A good clean and things were looking OK. The original ksyrium’s were a little tatty, but they were straight and all spokes seemed OK. I wacked in my seat and post, and the stem and bars I had brought. New bar tape and some lube and we were starting to look OK. I had a pair of new GP4000s tyres to put on, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the rubino pro’s that were on it were almost brand new, so they will come back as training tyres.
Issues seemed to be limited to shagged brake pads and a rattly bidon cage bolt. It really also needs some new cables and a new headset, and I will do these next time I am back on the mainland. But she was looking OK. One drama was that I was sure that the Caad4’s that were threadless were 1 1/8th inch alloy steerer tubes, but mine is 1 inch steel, but a quick whip down to the local bike shop set me up with the right size spacers.
Pumped the tyres up and went for a spin. As expected it was nice and stiff. The original ksyrium ssl’s were pretty harsh and these combined with a stiff frame meant that she was a bit of a bone shaker over rough sections of road, but I don’t mind that. Took about three goes to get everything adjusted right, and a few practice sprints told me we were ready to go. First race for years the next morning.
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