With clouds in the western sky, yesterday's sunset was beautiful. I was hiking in Diablo Foothills Regional Park when the sky lit up with beautiful shades of orange and pink. This area is home to the amazing China Wall rock formation, which stretches across two large hills. Rock outcroppings such as the one in this photo are common in the park.
After what seems like ages, beloved Patrizia has finally returned to me. This is my personal Bella Ciao bicycle that has undergone many customisations and served as the "Superba" prototype guineapig. Having spent months in various states of disassembly, she then endured a long stay at the rack-maker's workshop - all without a word of complaint. And now she is back, her slender curves enticing me with promises of a romantic Indian summer.
I am also reunited with the wonderful Ideale saddle I'd acquired in a trade some time ago. I had installed it on a vintage mixte I owned at the time, but after that bicycle was sold the saddle lived in my closet for over a year, waiting for the right moment to re-emerge. It looks and feels quite at home here.
Ideale was a French saddle manufacturer and the Model 6 is a wide, short-nosed women's saddle that was made some time in the '70s. Although some have drawn parallels between the vintage Ideale and contemporary Berthoud saddles, in my opinion they are nothing alike and Berthoud is not an Ideale remake.
Finally, I am reunited with the wooden grips I began to experiment with a few months back. I've decided to keep them on this bike, and they have been surprisingly comfortable. I thought that I might get blisters on my hands, but it hasn't happened. I am also happy to report that they haven't cracked or distorted despite plenty of humidity and temperature changes over the summer. I am not going to finish them with any kind of sealant, because I'd like to see what happens to them in the winter. Vintage collectors who are experienced with wooden grips have told me that if the grips are made "in the right way" they should not need any sealant and will be fine as they are. We'll see. While I'd be reluctant to recommend these for mainstream use, personally I love them.
Riding this particular bicycle always makes me realise how weird my tastes are. Responses to it have included "Ew, that colour!", "How can you ride with those things on the handlebars?" and "Is that a woman's army bike??" - all of which I've found oddly gratifying. Looking with fondness at her wooden grips, pukey powdercoat, trigger shifter and mottled 40 year old saddle makes me want to put my arm around Patrizia: "Looks like it's just you and me, babe."
In a recent post I wrote that, when roadcycling, I've come to prefer carrying just the bare minimum that fits in my jersey pockets instead of a full-fledged saddlebag or handlebar bag - as the latter I inevitably tend to overpack, ending up with a 30lb+ bike before I know it. However, I neglected to mention an object that is so small and unobtrusive that I basically think of it as part of the bike and forget it is even there: my saddle wedge tool pack.
Inside the tiny bag is a folding allen tool, a spare inner tube, 2 tire irons and an air cartridge - just enough to take care of one flat tire and any mechanical problem that can be fixed with a 1.5mm-6mm hex wrench.
So why carry tools if I can't use them? Because that way, others can help. When cycling alone, it would not be the end of the world to take a taxi home if my bike breaks down. But when cycling with another person, my mechanical malfunction can ruin their day as well. Last week I met up with another cyclist for a ride, and en route I noticed with horror that my front brake caliper had gotten misaligned, so that the left brake pad was rubbing the rim. I was unable to fix it myself, but I had the allen tool in my saddle wedge and my riding partner (who was not carrying her own tools that day) fixed it in 2 minutes. Having that tool pack made all the difference between doing the ride vs both of us having to go home. 
The Phend-Fisher families gathered for a reunion in Elkhart County, Indiana almost annually from 1909 until 1943. Usually held at Nappanee, the events of the day were recorded in an old ledger book. Spelling has been retained as it was in the original though some punctuation and paragraph breaks have been added. To view all articles in this series click on the "Phend-Fisher Reunion Ledger" label at the bottom of this post.
