A new Bike?

I like Audrey, actually who am I kidding, I love her.  Vertically compliant yet latterly stiff and all that.  But there is one problem with her, as classic as she is, she can't fully compete in the modern races, especially crits.  So I have been looking, and well maybe I found something...

Gear Ratios

Audrey, is an older bike, a classic, but an older bike.  She has downtube shifters controlling a 12 speed transmission.  The gearing of the bike was set-up prior to cadence became the holy grail of cycling.  So I knew I was pushing some big gears, but not how big.  When I competed at the Boulevard road race I was a little jealous of everyone spinning up the hills and when I mentioned it to Chuck he told me, once again, that he could give me some more low end.  But for some reason I am resisting.

Now I have actually counted the teeth on my gears and I am running a 52 / 42 up front and a 13-21 in the back.  What does that mean?  I don't know, but I hope I am not destroying my knees.

Who is Audrey?

Audrey is my 1985 Bianchi Nuova Racing bike.  It was given to me by my father-in-law by way of my wife for my 31st birthday.  We had recently moved from San Francisco down to San Diego and I had started to ride my Bridgestone 500 to work.  What started out as a way to start getting in shape quickly became an obsession.  I started talking about getting a new bike for my weekend rides, but when I heard about my father-in-law having an "Italian Steed" in his storage I was intrigued.  For the next month I kept on dropping the hint that I wanted her, and finally, on my birthday I did.  A little bit of TLC and the generous help from Chuck at Pacific Coast Cyclery she was up and running.

How far will I take her?  I don't know.  I rode her at my first road race and did 80 miles on her last weekend....