Romancing The Daccordi

July 4th must mean summer is here in full effect. Today brought the third stage of the Tour de France with yellow jersey bearing Thor Hushovd leading out U.S. rider Tyler Farrar for his first tour stage victory ever. It was a sweet thing to behold, Farrar who lost his team mate Wouter this spring in a fatal crash during the Giro de Italia, a symbolic victory.
This year I've taken a seasonal job at a small bicycle shop in Exeter, NH making my commute to work from Kittery Point, Maine 20 +/- miles each way. Not a bad ride, combining 4 lane 55 mph route with quieter farm roads through Greenfields and Stratham. But still weak from being tossed off my routine by last year's crash on the Memorial Bridge (see Faceplant! entry), I've left the fixed gear hanging in the garage and instead reverted back to my beloved Daccordi bicycle, a mid-90's Columbus SLX steel beauty with the frame builder's initials stamped into the bottom bracket shell. The mish mash of Campagnolo 9 speed components I put on there in 1998 are still functioning nearly flawlessly. But the frame itself is getting pretty noodily in it's older age which leads to bicycle envy. In an effort to stave off the unhealthy fixation of consumerism that cycling often leads to, I opted to pour some long deserved love into the Daccordi. New Campagnolo cable set, bar tape, circa 2002 N.O.S. Chorus brake calipers, plus a complete break down and thorough scrubbing has her shining like it was 1995 all over again.