CC!

Way back when, back in another life, I had this five speed Schwinn cruiser that I used to ride around Kailua.
This was back in the beach cruiser craze, when the bars were wide and had that foamy stuff all over it.
Of course I needed some gears, living on a hill and all.
I don't think I ever rode farther than a couple of miles, like to the store and back, and that beach cruiser never saw the beach.
As a matter of fact, I don't know happened to it, I think my grandmother maybe gave it away.
Seeing as how I hardly rode it.
I did ride it though.
One thing I remember is going to the bike shop, and staring through the glass display case at all the nice shiny European stuff that for my budget back then was out of my league expensive.
I knew what that stuff was, for back in the seventh grade, I had a white Sears Free Spirit ten speed that I used to ride to McDonalds, the kind of ten speed with the drop bars turned upside down.
Yes, I was one of those.
The original hipsters.
Boy, I'd ride over to the bike shop and steam up the glass!
The Suntour stuff on the Free Spirit seemed spartan compared to what was in that glass case.
Of course I'm talking about Campagnolo:



Boy, back then that alloy stuff gleamed like jewels!
Jewels I could not afford, or even think about owning.
Campagnolo, the stuff dreams are made of.
Still.
I admit it.
I am Campagnolo Crazy.
Crazy I tell you!
Mad!
Off the deep end!
Lights on nobody's home!
Or something.
Well nowadays, we got SRAM and Shimano, I've had both, not the top stuff, but the middling stuff, enough to satisfy a curiosity.
I have to say, there's not much difference between the stuff, I mean there is, just not enough for me to distinguish them apart.
I'll admit too, even the Campagnolo Mirage on the Bianchi is no revolution compared the 105 equipped bike I had before.
Except that it is Campagnolo.
It's like I still cannot believe I own a Campagnolo equipped bicycle!
I mean it's like a dream come true!
Let's face it, dreams coming true are few and far between.
When I see that Campagnolo script, I get a huge warm fuzzy all over!
The stuff in my brain starts making me all happy! happy! and my eyeballs get all glazed over.
I may even drool.
I'm not sure.
Cause I'm Campagnolo Crazy (CC)!
How crazy?
I got this scrap of cable housing I look at every night:



I cannot bring myself to throw away the plastic wrappers it came in:



Check it out dude! I gots me some Campy!
On the brain.
Which, if you have been following along at home, is not good.
For me or my wallet.
Any reasonable person would see right away that Campagnolo is all about status, bragging rights, one uppance, ego boosting self gratification.
Well, I ain't reasonable.
Campagnolo had always been so far atop the mountain, unattainable, that now that I'm here, I'm not letting go.
Okay, I don't have my greedy hands around it yet.
Still deciding between ten and eleven speed don't you know.
The harder I grasp at this compulsion, the more I see how illogical it is.
Kinda like Super Record.
On the other hand, if I could afford it, Super Record it would be!
Maybe I need someone to talk me down.
Get me off the ledge.
I need a one eight hundred hot line.
I'm crazy I tell you!
Campagnolo Crazy!