Two revelations today
 

1. The rear shift lever in a Campagnolo setup is supposed to be tapped like a staccato note on a piano. You're not supposed to gradually press on the lever; it won't shift cleanly that way.

All this time I've been "leaning in" with my finger against the lever, and then not removing my finger right away after the shift. Sometimes the result would be that I'd inadvertently push the derailleur halfway toward the next cog. Today I started "tapping," and I couldn't believe how crisp the shifting was. D'oh!

2. A blazing hot grill at the beginning of cooking will burn the skin of the chicken. All this time my customary modus operandi was to fire up the barbecue and close the lid for ten minutes prior to bringing out the chicken; my intention was to burn off the old grease and disinfect the grill with extreme heat. When I brought the meat out the temp gauge would say 800 degrees and the grill would be blazing hot. This would burn the skin of the chicken, and I always wondered why it didn't taste quite as good as I thought it should.

So today I started up the BBQ and this time, for a change, left the lid up. After a few minutes I scraped the old grease off the grill, and then got the chicken going. The result? Great success! The meat cooked perfectly, and it was tender and juicy. Perfect piri-piri!

1. Interesting point about the shifting. I currently use SRAM force and although it is a lot different than shimano (what I used to use) in the sense of how it physically shifts (double tap), it has it's own personality. Not to rough not to soft. Even tension on the lever while shifting is key (especially/mostly the FD), and most importantly proper release of the lever. Never used campy, but I know what you mean. Properly shifting is key to crisp shifts (unless i'm crazy) am I crazy?

2. I love charred chicken =p

Another option if cooking with skin and bone on is to first oven bake, then only grill the last 15 min.

Can't help with th campy's.

It really depends upon the group and the year. Campy wasted a lot of effort attempting to emulate Shimano's shifting and then gimping some groups' functionality and restoring it later in the latter half of the last decade. So some groups and years shift very different from others. Eleven speed, though, is better than anything ten speed.

You can't treat a bird like a steak.

Funny you say that. I previously had Centaur 9-speed from about 2003 or so, and it had multi-cog upshifting and downshifting for the back and trim for the front. I recall lots of people decrying the switch to single-cog-at-a-time upshifting and the lack of trim for the front derailleur for certain groups, but I just got a used Centaur 10-speed group circa 2007, and you know what? I like it. I don't have a problem with single-cog upshifting. It's so crisp and precise that I'm happy to tap the button several times in succession if need be. And the front derailleur is a joy to use, no trim is needed when you set it up properly.

But if eleven speed is really as good as you say, I may have to do an upgrade at some point.

I wasn't. Or maybe I sort of was, inadvertently. I had the fire on low when I put the chicken on, but the grill was already way too hot the way I was doing it. So now I'm doing it right.

By the way, that piri-piri recipe I linked to above is to die for. Marinate for 24 hours. You're mouth will explode in pure Portuguese pleasure.

1. The few times I've taken Campy out for spins was either 10 or 11 speed and I loved every minute of them. Unfortunately, I swap derailleurs, wheels, chains etc from bike to bike and so need everything to work so no campy for me.
2. Something I recently learned with chicken is that if you're cooking w/ BBQ sauce, don't put it on until the last few minutes or else the sugars will char and ruin the taste of the BBQ sauce. Also Raspberry Chipotle BBQ is incredible on wings and drumsticks.

Campy is great. It just is. Do the changeover gradually. Get a used group for one bike, then wait a while, then get a brand spanking new group (Ribblecycles.co.uk: they're the best) for a second bike. Before you know it, you've got Campy on all your bikes.

What do you want to switch components between bikes for anyway?

The secret to chicken is marinating. Do that and you're golden.

campy is for chickens

That's fowl. Don't be a cock.