Pala Barzana - Collalto 2

After 25 days, the parts arrived in the mail and I finished rebuilding the rear wheel last night.  I didn't want to wait till morning to try it, so at 9 PM I put on my bike shoes (no socks) and in my running shorts, rode up and down the main drag a couple times to try all the gears, the brakes, etc.  Worked like a charm.  Making it even nicer, the full moon was orange as it rose above the colline.

This morning I set out for the mountains to do a proper test.  I rode through Poffabro and up the easy climb to Pala Barzana (842 meters).  Then I headed down to Lago di Barcis, and up to Piancavallo (actually Collalto-1374 meters).  I had gotten a late start and it was quite hot and sunny on the ascent.  I also had brought only water instead of tea with honey and lite salt for electrolytes, which was a mistake (now I have a hangover).  Luckily above 1000 meters it clouded up and cooled off.  I was actually good and cold on the descent which felt great, but it was hot again down below.   The descent was an excellent opportunity to try out the wheel, and it performed flawlessly at +70 kph, lots of fast sweeping curves, hard braking, etc.  Couldn't be happier with it.



Below, the huge pit in the non-drive side cone.  The bearings must've felt like they were going through a crater when they rolled over that.