From bike sharrows to shoofly pie.

It took a rainy day after Memorial Day to realize that I had a handful of photos that never made their way into a post over here. 

Last month, the owners of Proteus Bicycles in College Park, MD decided to play hookie on a sunny Friday and drive up to the land of shoofly pie and Amish buggies in order to test ride the latest Bianchi Infinito bikes. Laurie and Jeff have been super busy the past two seasons since taking on ownership of the shop; so given a chance to get away to ride some new bikes, I didn't have to ask twice.

Jeff rode the Ultegra Di2 Infinito. Quite the anomaly from his daily commuter. He is very active in the DC commuting world and you can follow along with Jeff at his Greenbelt Patch blog.... here!  We traveled pretty much the same route I did with the Bikenetic guys, earlier that month.

 Laurie, rode the 50cm Infinito Ultegra and was pretty excited by the speed and fluidity of the bike. Her daily rider is a Bianchi Zurigo which got the ball rolling for her love of the brand. She bought it back when Jill and Yo owned the bike shop. Such a great customer-to-owner story that she and Jeff share. 

A self portrait of Laurie and me. Next time out, Jeff swears he's bringing his Go-Pro camera to document the beauty of the Lancaster farm lands. I think he just wants to copy the design of the scooters he saw the Amish running around on that day. Ha!

Never the less, you guys are always welcomed up here!

#mockorangebikes @bianchibicycles demo

Demo time with the Sempre Pro and Infinito bikes!

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2013 Infinito Test Ride, get one now!

Arrhh, I'm slipping on my posts as we enter Spring of 2013. I made a mental note to post more but this month's bike demos have been keeping a wrench in my palm and shop visits, a steering wheel in my hand instead of time at the keyboard.

That being said, I've been working on getting more cyclists out to shop's for a bike demo or two. Or to at least bring a shop to me, along with any available employees, to ride the bikes through the farmlands near my house. 

Some shops are closed on Mondays and one of those is Bikenetic in Falls Church, VA. I phoned the owner, Jan (yahn) and ask if he wants to drive a couple of hours to central PA and ride the new batch of Infinito bikes I had just received for the season. Without hesitation he accepted and invited his service manager Brian and sales associate Jeremy.

Jan in yellow shoes!

It's funny how you get used to receiving riders (consumers) to test your bikes; set them up, swap out pedals and send them off. I sort of forgot that the three guys in my garage are 'shop ready' and upon dropping all their gear in my garage, grabbed some tools and immediately started installing their pedals and adjusting saddle height for themselves. That made my work easy!

Paceline, love the kits.

We rolled out on the blue bird day, slight winds out of the northwest, just cool enough for a long sleeve jersey. As we spin through the first 30 minutes of the ride, I could see the guys getting comfortable immediately. Corning a bit quicker, jumping for the top of the hills a bit sooner, all of this before we started the on-bike discussion about the how and why of the 2013 Infinito Ultegra. 

Bikenetic has sold a handful of Infinito bikes in the past 12 months, they know the product range very well and how to explain the use of this bike to the average rider without barfing macho data on the customer's shoes. Even still, there's still one missing detail... riding it, to experience it. 

Smooth, fast, steady, well balanced, were the words Jan, Brian and Jeremy used to describe the bikes they were operating. In a head wind and cross winds, the bike was "stable; you didn't fight the front wheel as much as you would on the B4P bikes". Much of this Jan realized because he owns a B4P Mono-Q from 2009. Jan likes the quickness of the B4P (Sempre) geometry but was very pleased by the refined ride the Infinito exhibited; along with the way Bianchi K-VID and B.A.T smoothed out the choppy, Amish buggy-gauged asphalt we traveled.

(l-r) Brian, Jan, Jeremy

At about 25 miles, we pulled back into the driveway, parked bikes and grabbed some lunch. 

More questions came from the guys over lunch as we gnawed on some pesto tortellini salad. Jan put it well by stating that, reading about the bike and listening to my clinics is fine but experiencing the 'real world application' is where it's at. 

Thanks guys!

From Spain to Italy, no visa required.

The cycling community is terrific. Of course, it is because I believe my own hype on what we have here in Lancaster County in the way of the routes we pedal and the number of people who ride bicycles for fitness and recreation. 

Aside from that, I met a guy at a race back in 2012 who is a mutual friend of a guy I know who's the nephew of an ex-business owner with whom I worked for back in the day. Lost yet? Maybe. 

Long story short, we exchanged smiles and high fives on the curb last year, as we watched the race go by. He found me on Twitter, then Facebook booked a ride as soon as family time permitted then BOOM, our list of cycling friends went '+1'.

As we clicked off the miles, talked about work, family, politics, and other absurdities of life, he slowly grew in love with my celeste Bianchi I've been riding on the road this winter. Eventually, Monty made the decision to get himself one in the fall of 2013. 

After much discussion of which Bianchi would be the proper tool for his job, the Infinito was decided upon. This guy is a diesel, can roll on the power, stomp over a climb, and pace-line really well. That's what the Infinito likes to do; stiff enough for the 'over the top of the hill-jump out of the saddle', stable in crosswinds when taking a pull at the front of the group and mellow out the bad pavement on those farm roads we wander onto time and time again.

A few weeks ago, as I powered down the Garmin from a ride, I received a text from a cyclist who is getting divorced and needs to get rid of some gear. One of the items is a 53cm Infinito frameset. Knowing this guy and how he takes care of these bikes, the frame has to be in great shape. I pass the news onto Monty and he makes the connection and retrieves the frame later that week. 

The frame shows up at my house, a box of Ultegra 6700 bits, and his high mileage Spanish branded road bike so I could transfer the measurements over to the Infinito during the build.

I have to confess, I've been around many Infinito bikes. They're very nice but I have never built one from the frame up. Having built up my Oltre last year puts the benchmark up there for bike builds in terms of frame quality, fit, and finish. Naturally, you compare all bike assemblies from there onward; like you'd compare the giddiness of your first kiss to all the rest in life. I want an Infinito now. 

To buy a bike from a shop, go through the sales process, have it fitted properly to you, and then rack in the miles seems like 95% of the deal is done. When you have the opportunity to build up a bike you enjoy, from the frame on up, the love goes deeper; that extra 5% in my opinion. For those not able to build up their bike from the parts box on up, that ok, I'm being a bit over passionate. 

The bike is done almost done, Monty has been by to see in my garage, the love affair has started already and I can't wait to join him on his first ride.

Correct tool for the job- Bianchi Infinito & Impulso on the 2012 Rapha Festive 500.

Winter time, base miles- Rapha throws out their Festive 500 to cyclists willing to take challenge of clocking in and doing 500 miles from 12/23 to 12/31.

Long miles in the saddle and a short time to do such. Keeping comfortable while on the bike can be acheived with a little help of the Bianchi Infinito and Impulso . This goal is reached by a taller head tube length and longer than B4P wheelbase, K-VID Tech in the fork and seat stays, and finally a relaxed head tube angle for reduced shoulder/ neck strain during those long miles.





 Check out these two guys as they work on chipping away at the 500 mile mark during their mapped out Rapha Festive 500, from Canada to California.

I joke with my wife that I'm proficient with self portraits due to my monkey arms. Looks like Gary Cruz has me beat with his monopod and had a good time putting in the miles.

Nice edit Gary!

@granfondocycles Infinito ride on a fall day.

This afternoon I received a Happy Monday text from Gran Fondo Cycles located in Nashville, TN. They're closed on Mondays and use that day for stretching out the legs on their Bianchi Infinito bikes.

Tackling cobbles or the group ride.

Biketopia in Knoxville, TN has done well with the Infinito since its launch in 2010 and with the excellent race coverage of Vacansoleil during the spring classics, they're ready again for another great selling season. And a Sempre tucked in on the end for good measure.

Frame strength comes from Nano-tech construction and K-VID utilization adds to the durability and wheel adhesion of the Infinito when the road surface becomes ugly.

Let's not forget the Impulso (below photo) which was a personal choice of Stijn Devolder during Roubaix. Some guys have a soft heart for a firm, fast frame.

This frame shares the geometry of the Infinito only a slightly shorter head tube yet it's taller than the Sempre head tube. There is also ample tire clearance for those looking for a supple ride over chip seal roads or when the pavement ends.

The Impulso's oversized 35mm seat tube and Triple Hydroformed frame serves up the right balance of 'hip steering', up front-communicative steering and front end strength at the head tube. Thats something you need when pounding the cobbled roads during the Spring Classics.

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