The Lounge of Terrestrial Wheelmen

[overpowered]

Yeah, saw it a mile off and you can see that I'm braking well in advance, so it wasn't even close. Made the whole thing look pretty benign really ...Yep. You took control of your own safety. That's kind of the whole point about the safety stuff I'm advocating. Some people seem to think I'm a jerk for advocating that bicyclists ride in certain ways but I'm always, always, ALWAYS trying to advocate bicyclists taking control of their own safety, as you did.

[Yw-slayer]

Well, everyone should, it's a bit like defensive driving but without having (and is therefore even more important than when you have) a large, heavy metal cage around you.

[Blerpa]

Why are you pedaling on the wrong side of the road? Genuine question.

[overpowered]

I don't think anyone here does that.

G'day lives in Australia. They drive and ride on the left side of the road there, just like they do in the U.K.

Riding against traffic is one of the most dangerous things that I commonly see bicyclists doing.

[Blerpa]

EDIT: Ok, I understood now.
So, he was on the right side of the road, same as other vehicles.

EDIT 2: Actually from the video, the car engages the intersection before G'Day, so, at least in the way we see things here, it did nothing wrong since at that point it had right of way.
Still, obviously dangerous as it did not slow down a bit at all.

And if this seems dangerous to you, do not come to use a bycycle in southern and central Europe ^_^'

[George]

Even though I know those are Australian videos, I still get confused at times, like around thirty seconds into that video. The driver is looking right at G'day! Oh, wait...that's not the driver, is it?

[G'day Mate]

... in the way we see things here, it did nothing wrong since at that point it had right of way.

Wow, really? So no matter what's coming, you can just turn in front of it as long as you get there first? I suppose that means everyone approaches intersections more carefully.

[overpowered]

In most places, the rule is that traffic turning across the path of oncoming other traffic has to yield.

[overpowered]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Edge-205-/321764755193?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aeaac86f9
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Edge-305-and-Cadence-Meter-/181755255696?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a51751b90
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Edge-305-w-GSC-10-Cadence-Speed-and-Heart-Rate-Strap-Excellent-Cond-/201358112520?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ee1e0f708

[G'day Mate]

Eep ...

The Invisible Cyclist: one in five cyclists unseen by motorists (http://www.nrspp.org.au/News/Details/978)

http://www.nrspp.org.au/Pool/Images/direct-line-research.jpg

[Dicknose]

EDIT 2: Actually from the video, the car engages the intersection before G'Day, so, at least in the way we see things here, it did nothing wrong since at that point it had right of way.

Right of way is not about who enters the intersection first.
If you have to "give way" (which a turning vehicle does) then its your responsibility to do so without risking an accident.

Now - if it was a round-about, then it is different!
The rules are to give way to vehicles already in the round-about.
(first in wins)

[overpowered]

Eep ...

The Invisible Cyclist: one in five cyclists unseen by motorists (http://www.nrspp.org.au/News/Details/978)

It would be interesting if they could do this with lane controlling bicyclists vs. edge riding bicyclists.

[Blerpa]

In most places, the rule is that traffic turning across the path of oncoming other traffic has to yield.

In here whoever engages first intersection or roundabout (in this last case it is like dogma) has right of way... common sense (*TO ME*) also predicts it is stupid and dangerous to stop suddenly in the middle of a intersection/roundabout to make way to a vehicle (car, van, truck, bike, motorbike - does not matter) that is coming inside that spot after you already got in.
I'll try to be more precise: you lose your right of way if you haven't crossed the intersection line and the other vehicle already has.
I hope to have been as clear as possible how it works in here.

Dicknose: NOT IN HERE. In OZ? It seems it is the way you both say, I've no problem believing all of you :)

In any case, always approach intersections, crossroads and roundabouts slowing down and keeping eyes open in every direction, whatever vehicle you are driving/riding.
That is pretty paramount whatever the road rules are, we can all agree about that.
In a car you get hit and maybe ruin your car (although lateral hits are worrisome)... in a motorbike or a bike, well, damn, you are sent flying. BRRRR.

[George]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Edge-205-/321764755193?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aeaac86f9
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Edge-305-and-Cadence-Meter-/181755255696?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a51751b90
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Edge-305-w-GSC-10-Cadence-Speed-and-Heart-Rate-Strap-Excellent-Cond-/201358112520?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ee1e0f708

Would those work for Strava, without having to pay additional monthly fees to use? I know absolutely nothing about GPS devices, so sorry if those are dumb questions.

Edited to add: I didn't notice that first one with a $5.00 price is a bid price and not a Buy It Now price. As the other two are already bid to $50.00 or more, I'll say these are definitely out of my price range for such a trivial luxury item. It would be fun to track my mileage on Strava, but not for $50+.

[overpowered]

They would work with Strava.

[Cam]

Don't do it, George! Don't succumb to the peer pressure! :D

[George]

Fear not, brother luddite. I won't be spending big bucks to know where I've been.

But, I'd up to spend $20 for one, as long as there were no monthly fees, because I think it would be neat to keep track, and it would probably inspire me to ride more, even if it's just around the block one more time before coming home. I don't care about speed, but it would be fun to know that I rode X miles in a year or whatever.

However, as well over $100 of parts (Shimano, Tektro, Sunlite, and Park Tool) arrived today, I don't have an extra $50 or more for a non-essential item like that...not that any of what I bought is essential, but it is more useful.

And now I have a nice-sized shipping box, which is something I've been looking for.

[G'day Mate]

The other thing Strava does is provide the odd challenge. Next week they want you to ride for one hour in recognition of Wiggins' upcoming hour record attempt. My ride home is 40 minutes, so I'll just take a bit of a detour one night.

[G'day Mate]

Oh yeah, a couple of things from this morning.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0xMwn6Qzmo

I should have been more careful of the second one as I was still moving quite fast as I approached him. My data shows me slowing gradually from 35 to 30, and then suddenly down to 20.

[overpowered]

Yeah, passing cars on the edge like that tends to be risky. I generally avoid it unless there's some good reason to believe that nobody will turn or move over in front of me.

[G'day Mate]

At low speeds I never go past on the left if there's a driveway or street they could suddenly turn into because there can be absolutely no warning.

[Blerpa]

That white van situation was scary. EEEK! And yes, pretty much experience tells you what to expect.
It's funny that I got so much more awareness now that I drive 350-400km a day as a courier having to do with motorways, local roads, village roads, during night, morning, afternoons... with plenty of speeding idiots, big trucks, other couriers in a hurry, ambulances and goddamn retard people (quite many... youngsters with a brand new license, bad drivers, distracted old people); that has helped with the bike as well, actually.

[Tom Servo]

Particularly good Bike Snob NYC today: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2015/05/bsnyc-friday-no-quiz-because-when-i-get.html

[Blerpa]

"So basically, when the coast was clear he jumped the light by a couple seconds, which is understandable." - No, it is NOT. AT ALL. But from someone named Bikesnob what do you expect? To ever put the blame on cyclysts?

The moment cyclysts will finally abide to the road rules everyone has to it would be the moment they will stop to act like martyrs.
Right now it doesn't make his/her otherwise correct and valuable main argument any favours... especially with all the juvenile remarks about Murdoch.

Vehicles are tools like someone said in the comments. Cyclysts, and pedestrians even, can be, and often are as much as motorists, assholes too.
The kid stalking is utterly disgusting.

[overpowered]

The point is that they were trying to portray him as riding recklessly and he clearly was not. Yes, he should have waited but he wasn't doing anything dangerous. The reporter was trying and likely succeeding in fueling more hatred for bicyclists and that's not OK. The point about how they don't stalk motorists who kill people while breaking the law is an important one. Motorists kill a pedestrian or cyclist in NYC almost every other day -- mostly pedestrians, but the Post is not stalking them. It's inflammatory journalism feeding on hatred towards a minority to get more attention and intentionally making that hatred worse.

Bike Snob tries to be entertaining which is what the Murdoch silliness is about. Murdoch is a truly evil man. He deserves all of the vitriol he gets.

[overpowered]

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/

[Yw-slayer]

http://m.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1811320/cyclists-push-make-hong-kong-bike-friendly

[speedpimp]

Last night I saw an Amish guy riding a recumbent bike fitted with flashing LED lights.

[George]

You better stay away from him.

He'll rip your lungs out, Jim.

Tee hee! Sorry, I just can't help myself. It's the ear-to-ear grin I've got goin' on right now.

See, we've had the coldest spring I can remember in ten years of living here in Colorado. I'm seriously thinking of going skiing on my birthday this year...in June. I wore a sweatshirt to my son's football game just yesterday.

Two weeks ago, I mowed the lawn for the second time this year, and it was so cold outside that I could see my breath the whole time. It has been cold and rainy for two weeks solid, and probably three. I've lost count. Now, they're saying it's going to be dry and hot - mid to high 80s - this coming week, and I decided it's time to ride the road bike to work instead of the MTB.

I pulled it down from the garage ceiling, blew off the dust that has been gathering since December, and went out for a quick test ride this afternoon to make sure it still shifts and brakes and the tires still hold air (I blew 'em up to 115 psi from super-squishy dead-of-winter nothingness).

It does, and they do, and right now I'm feeling like the guy who just brought his dusty old sports car out of winter storage and found it's just as fast as he remembered.

Tomorrow's commute should be fun.

[JoshInKC]

You better stay away from him.

He'll rip your lungs out, Jim.
Who doesn't love a Zevon reference?

[overpowered]

See, we've had the coldest spring I can remember in ten years of living here in Colorado. I'm seriously thinking of going skiing on my birthday this year...in June. I wore a sweatshirt to my son's football game just yesterday.According to this:

http://www.onthesnow.com/open_resorts_all.html

Arapahoe Basin is still open. Apparently the only non-glacier skiing still open in North America.

According to this, they are tentatively staying open until June 7.

http://arapahoebasin.com/ABasin/tickets/default.aspx

[George]

Yeah, I've heard their ads on the radio - "record snow levels - we're still open!"

They pride themselves in being open until July 4, some years, but apparently there is still good skiing up there this year...good skiing vs. simply some skiing, ya know?

I need to quit being the never-calls-in-sick guy and go skiing instead.

And I just might. :rawk:

[George]

After June 7, we will be closed Monday – Thursday, reopening for lift-served skiing from Friday, June 12 through Sunday, June 14, 2015. For all the details on our extended season...

Arapahoe Basin will operate with normal skier services seven days a week through Sunday, June 7. After that, we will be closed Monday-Thursday. A-Basin will reopen JUNE 12-14, 2015, from 8:30 am - 2:30 pm. CLOSING DAY is tentatively planned for Sunday, June 14. Please stay tuned to this page to see if we can keep going longer.

I realize this has nothing to do with cycling, but I beg the collective's indulgence, as, to me, this is the Cycling, Weather, and All Kinds Of Adult Athletics thread.

[G'day Mate]

I ended up doing 47.5 km (~30 miles.) and averaged ~26 km/h by the time I got home.

hehehehe (https://www.strava.com/activities/315207978)

Two 60km loops. On the first I started alone but joined on to a group of about 8 pretty quickly. 20kms in and there were just three of us left and we took turns on the front to finish it with an average speed of 30.2 km/h ... which is pretty good considering the 1,000m of climbing!! I let those guys go off without me for the second loop and still managed to average 28.2 km/h by myself, but the second loop only had 500m of climbing (almost all of which seemed to be at the end). When I started there were only those two guys and one other in front of me, and I caught the one other (who was an older guy) and paced him back to the finish. He'd done the whole 120km non-stop!

Oh yeah, it was pouring with rain too.

[overpowered]

I realize this has nothing to do with cycling, but I beg the collective's indulgence, as, to me, this is the Cycling, Weather, and All Kinds Of Adult Athletics thread.A lot of competitive skiers do cycling in the summer as cross training to keep the legs strong and keep endurance up. Levi Leipheimer was a competitive amateur skier as a youth before switching to bike racing.

[overpowered]

hehehehe (https://www.strava.com/activities/315207978)Shit that's fast for that much climbing.

[Cam]

G'day, why ya gotta ridicule my personal achievements? :sadbanana:

I've gotten Lori into doing more cycling with me. We did a 1.5 hour mountain bike ride on Saturday and a 1.5 hour road ride on Sunday.

[George]

^ Strava, or it didn't happen. :p

Wow. My ride to work was both fast and slow today. The road bike goes like a rocket, and so effortlessly that I forget about shifting. Need to accelerate, going uphill, and you forgot to downshift? No problem. Just kick it and try to keep the front wheel on the ground. :D

Due to this excess speediness that made me feel like Kevin Bacon in that Breaking Loose movie, it took me twice as long as usual to finally and disgruntedly arrive at work.

[SportWagon]

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/?utm_source=strava_activity_header#161470720,E32fC VyTnwk3HZ8JGpufCVM4qQmIcyMKVCKfCfBinwnP754JUW2fCem CnwmAaJ8Jpl+fCXUhnwmAUp8JjXMjCopSnwn6wp4JlFKfCQ==

Just hit "Play" and it seems to start working. I think I've posted that before.

Oh yeah. I woke up this year unable to exceed an average of about 19km/hr. Feels really weird. A good thing is I don't strain my knees. But strangely, my shoulders, etc, get tired as if on a longer ride.

[G'day Mate]

G'day, why ya gotta ridicule my personal achievements? :sadbanana:

Heh, if I go back to where I really started riding (more than just to work every day) just a couple of years ago then my stats are pretty similar to yours ;)

[overpowered]

https://scontent-lax1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11251778_1037040322980552_5662861360380385837_n.jp g?oh=d8fc0a27865d5639d2d122712bbc6c68&oe=560CDE5A

[FaultyMario]

Strav friend requests sent your way, gents.

[G'day Mate]

And an invitation to join our club has been sent to you :)

[Blerpa]

Mario! :D

[SportWagon]

hehehehe (https://www.strava.com/activities/315207978)

Two 60km loops. On the first I started alone but joined on to a group of about 8 pretty quickly.

Ah. That's why I'm Mike this week and not Alice.

Perhaps needless to say, that ride gives lots of excellent flybys.
http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/?utm_source=strava_activity_header#315207978,bkTJE kySyRKExskSu6/JEkvDyBL1zMkSNYzJEjXQyRIJw8kSOLjKEkPFyRKqRMkS1ffJE rM6yRKp+MgSQAbKEgtRyRKDT8kSxGHJEnj/yRIiWMkSVyrKEvNJyRI=

You didn't quite make it to Willyaroo...

Actually, has DrMekon gone private as well as premium? Presumably he's still riding a lot.

So the 60km loops were only partially intersecting. Interesting, some optical illusion makes the second loop look somewhat longer than the first, but, actually they are both pretty close to exactly 60km. Oh, okay. Maybe 58 for first loop and 63.6 for the second.

[George]

Three commuter pics and minor commentary.



Why am I riding this close to tennis courts when I should be out taking the lane somewhere? Well in this case, along my road bike route to work (I go a different way on the MTB) they currently have a neighborhood street completely torn up and closed as they replace a culvert with a bridge. There's a pedestrian and cyclist detour that goes right along this sidewalk and over a little stream to get around the construction.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00204_zpsdztctb8m.jpg

Here's the stream and behind that is a park with a disc golf course and little bridges crossing the stream at various points. It's very pretty this time of year.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00208_zpsvrj3ti0e.jpg

Here's my hot rod, pausing under a gazebo during a downpour on my commute home. Yesterday was pretty warm, but for a few minutes, it got dark and windy, and riding in the passing storm felt like being pelted with ice cubes shaped like tiny darts.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00212_zpslltk181z.jpg

Rode to work again today. Lovin' it!

Pardon the enthusiasm, but my cycling season is really just starting.

[Cam]

Wait until G'day shatters your self-esteem. :thppt: ;)

[Tom Servo]

Missed CicLAvia on Sunday. My parents were here until about noon and Michele slept poorly and therefore felt like ass, so we just sat around the house and finally watched Monaco.

However, Long Beach is about to have their first Ciclovia on Saturday and a friend of ours is "leading" a ride from Santa Monica. We're planning on heading down there and meeting up with him, then riding down to LB, doing the Ciclovia thing, then heading back. Should be around 80 miles when all is said and done, which will make it our longest ride yet and a good test of Michele's new bike fit. See how it goes!

[overpowered]

Wait until G'day shatters your self-esteem. :thppt: ;)Some of us were forced to make peace with that a while back.

[G'day Mate]

G'dindiana Mate


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgb_rXMAYd4

[SportWagon]

So did your Strava just cut out on your last ride? (You appear to stop before Whistler and Cross, and never got home). I was afraid you'd had another accident.

https://www.strava.com/activities/317235018

Sorry if this seems like G'dinvasion of privacy. But we do notice where you usually ride...

(Ah. But not that precisely; actually now I see you were several streets west of usual).


The suspect is probably having dinner with parents...

Dum da dum dum! Dum da dum dum DA!

[G'day Mate]

Yep, dinner at parents :)

[SportWagon]

Who live in the apartment building (flats?) with the underground parking garage... ?

[SportWagon]

Last night I saw an Amish guy riding a recumbent bike fitted with flashing LED lights.

I was saw an Amishish guy (we call the local ones "Mennonites") riding a recumbent bike, in with a group of other Mennonites on assorted bicycles.

[Blerpa]

I was saw an Amishish guy (we call the local ones "Mennonites") riding a recumbent bike, in with a group of other Mennonites on assorted bicycles.

Were they fixies? Amish Posers! :lol:

[overpowered]

Actually, fixies are older technology. For the first 40 years that bicycles existed, all bicycles were fixies. For the first 22 years of that, all bicycles were crank attached to the front wheel, with no chain and no gears.

[George]

"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!"-- Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 - 16 August 1940)"

Yes, I blatantly copied and pasted that, if some of you have seen that elsewhere online.

[Blerpa]

Yup, I know that fixies are ancient tech, I was taking a jab at Amish: they would be the perfect retro hipsters ever! :D

[SportWagon]

Many Mennonites ride niceish-looking to very nice derailleur bicycles. I think I posted on this virtual thread a couple of years ago how one old teenager in his Sunday Best on a white modern Dawes dogged me for a good while. (I think it was two years ago; last year I was getting first signs of really slowing, and this year so far I seem somewhat demolished--almost anyone could decide to ride hard and leave me behind).

A lot of Mennonites like to use tri-bars. A proportion of otherwise traditional Mennonites (suits, hats, prairie dresses as appropriate) do drive cars. Usually black. So a group of identifiable Mennonite cyclists could be from such a congregation.

Simplicity seems to be most important, but can be mixed with some modern technology. You see horse-drawn buggies with pneumatic tires on sub-frames adapted from old car parts.

The rules for simple living are theirs. It's up to them how to define and interpret them. I think obtaining something second-hand (and therefore cheaply) may be considered somewhat important. But some farmers have reasonably high net incomes in cash. (E.g. there was a black Audi more than once at the new order meeting hall I pass on Middlebrook Road on my way up to Elora (will I ever get up to that distance again?)).

Oh, and I've never consciously noticed any local Mennonite obviously riding a fixie. (Saw a student-age young woman riding on the trail beside the railway track beside the University on one; an old Peugeot frame, I think. Didn't notice whether it had proper fixie dropouts, but after she passed on a single speed, I watched her ride away (I was crossing the trail, so her path was perpendicular to mine), and I could see some "shakeys" from encountering the back pressure of the turning cranks; her male companion had a derailleur, BTW).

But, overall there's not a big "fixie hipster" culture in this town, and in fact you see a fair number of hipster bikes running in "cheater" mode.

Oh no! You've started him rambling again...

As some may recall, I rode a fixed-wheel fairly regularly from about 1985 to 1990. My high-school "Mercier Special Tour de France", as many remember. With "tubes allegee special pro" or something like that. They were seamed, anyway. It was a poor man's replica of the Mercier racing bicyles of the late 60's and very early 70's. It fit within the budget my father could sneak past my mother for my first real bicycle when I was 16. I rode it with its mostly stock equipment through university and after graduation upgraded with a French TA triple crankset. When I got a custom-built Mariposa from Bicyclesp0rt I had them transfer that equipment to it. And then I ended up with an old frame with very faded red metallic paint. So I had Bicyclesp0rt repaint it black and fitted it with a fixed gear (always carrying a cheater freewheel on the other side should it be necessary, though it never was). I also kept both brakes operational, though I tried to avoid using the rear much, and would occasionally slow down with back pressure. I never had the strength to do the "skid stop" thing, and I don't recall ever seeing a club rider on an adapted track frame do such. (They would invariably have a front brake, usually operated by a three-speed style brake lever up near the extension). Often the fixed wheel was my ride of choice for my 10-mile each way commute through Toronto, though I had a six-speed as well. I don't really recall what proportion of each I rode. I might have logs which will say.

After I moved from Toronto to Waterloo, I really didn't ride the fixed much, though I did occasionally. I last tried it in about 2007 when a professor here organized a "team" to "Ride for Heart". But I decided I wasn't up to trying to control it in a possible crowd. I was probably already a lot weaker than I'd been in the 1980's. So I chose a different bicycle for that ride.

There's actually a small repair it needs which I haven't got around to doing. (One bolt of five on the fiddly TA mini-spider is missing). And I just know I wouildn't have the strength for it now. (I keep periodically finding my TA spares and then losing them again...)

Even though the largest gear I ever ran on that fixie was 66inches (44/18) I was recorded once as doing a 20mph 15K time trial. (Beep! Beep! on the bulb horn at the finish gave the time keeper even more amusement) I used to be able to spin.

[speedpimp]

I was saw an Amishish guy (we call the local ones "Mennonites") riding a recumbent bike, in with a group of other Mennonites on assorted bicycles.

Two different groups that come from the same beginnings. We have both Amish and Mennonites locally and they are split into even smaller sects. Usually if they are dressed like Amish but driving a car I consider them Mennonites.

[SportWagon]

Yeah but I'm not 100% sure some of those we call Mennonites here wouldn't call themselves Amish. A quick web search suggests that's probably the case. That is, we people in Ontario hardly ever use the term "Amish". Except for people who have done research and are publishing a book or something.

P.S. Look it up in wikipedia. At least at one time a term was "Amish Mennonites". So it would seem Amish would be less averse to being called "Mennonites" than other Mennonites would be to being called "Amish".

[G'day Mate]

Who live in the apartment building (flats?) with the underground parking garage... ?

That was me arriving at work in the morning.

If you're tracking me today, it's bad weather again so I've driven down the hill and done a park'n'ride.

[overpowered]

Yup, I know that fixies are ancient tech, I was taking a jab at Amish: they would be the perfect retro hipsters ever! :DThey've got the beards and the clothes for it.

[Blerpa]

SW, that was a splendid read! Thank you!
Thing is, I suppose any of us have encountered a fixie bike in the past: a friend of my father probably had one when I was a kid (I remember something among the lines "those were the kind of bikes used when your grandfather was young, tricky to use") and when I was in Finland a classmate of mine definitely had one: did ride it only once down a very harsh downhill and remember to have been terrified by the fact (it was a lumbersome heavy steel frame) I was speeding so much and yet had to either rely on the not very progressive front brake or counterpedaling the rear wheel to stop. Hairy experience.

But mainly all the fixies all of us met in the past had the same aura on them: quirky old bikes often (but not always) with front-only brake and that weird rear wheel brake thingie, often cheap, often passed over by uncles or grandpas or bought for peanuts at second hand sunday flea markets.
What we haven't probably encountered when we (I'm 41, so in the middle or such of the age span of the board, I suppose) were young were the fixie (hipster or not) snobbish movement and the final modern *true* (LOL) fixie bike: no brakes at all, only the counterpedaling movement to stop the bike.

Anyway, I had to google up "tri-bars" :rawk:

[SportWagon]

My father in the early 1950's(?) did a lot of cycling from south London (Mitcham, actually; did I see a part of Adelaide named after that?) to various country parts. He rode 20 miles to work 6 days a week and a 100-mile century most Sundays. He had a white Viking frame which cost him about a month's pay, and eventually fitted it with a fixed gear. (yes, a real fixed gear). As high as 85 he told me at least sometimes. And I don't think he'd ever go lower than 70. (probably measured as chainwheel/sprocket * 26 since British club bicycles around that time tended to have a wheel size nominally classifed as "26 inches" (probably by about 1and1/4) perhaps consult Sheldon Brown (http://sheldonbrown.com/26.html)). He wouldn't have been rich enough for tubulars; in fact patching was an important skill and he said a new tube could ruin his month's budget.

A frequent destination was Box Hill which is still a cycling destination in that area.

That was between the end of his full-time national service and his marriage in 1955. I don't think the serious cycling started in the 1940's as I don't think he'd been working for long then. Though he did start full-time work when 16, I believe. (having managed to get admitted to grammar school)

I'm not sure how Blerpa is using terminology, and perhaps other readers are confused, but in British-speak a bicycle is not a "fixed gear" if it has a freewheel; that's just a single-speed. "Coaster brakes" were almost totally unheard of in Britian. I remember some of my friend's parents when we got our "10-speeds" (er, this was in Canada) just didn't understand how much more effective a front caliper brake was than a coaster brake. Even if the caliper brakes were Mafacs.

"and that weird rear wheel brake thingie" is what makes me uncertain whether Blerpa was talking only about bicycles with no freewheels.

I recall, actually, reading some laws ("at least one law") in which I was reasonably sure at least some of the editorial contributors had no idea that there were bicycles without freewheels, and confused back pressure against a fixed with a coaster brake.

So I'll claim my comment can serve to clarify things for other readers. :up:

[G'day Mate]

(Mitcham, actually; did I see a part of Adelaide named after that?)

Yep - I live in the Mitcham council and there's also a suburb called Mitcham

[George]

I too am enjoying your stories, SW.

Spotted elsewhere on the web today:

http://i.imgur.com/G4gxoRR.jpg

[Random]

Prius + high-wheeler = Davis :lol: Picture probably taken in Sacto traffic, since there aren't any soundwalls like that in/around Davis.

[SportWagon]

One thing I eventually realized about Mennonite bicycle riders is that they are nearly always young, probably unmarried, men. In any case, the vast majority of them have no beards. (so they might not fit a retro hipster image) I see the occasional Mennonite with a beard riding a bicycle, but they are by far the minority.

[speedpimp]

When they get married they usually step up to a horse/buggy.

Last Sept a guy I work with, who is an avid cyclist, flew over his handle bars and broke his shoulder. He didn't return to his normal job until Feb. I got back to the office today and I first thing I hear is that he flew over the handle bars again and broke his other shoulder. ffs.

[overpowered]

His shoulder or his collarbone? Collarbone injuries are actually pretty common in bike crashes due to hitting the shoulder. You can't put a cast on a collarbone so they have to wear this weird brace.

[TheBenior]

Yeah, I think broken collarbones pretty much happen in cycling, football, and rugby.

[Yw-slayer]

Shouldn't we be talking about filtering here, since George thinks that people who filter on their bikes through traffic (such as I do) are inconsiderate cunts who are worse than queue-jumpers shoving a vehicle in right in the start and who deserve an F-350 door in the face?

[overpowered]

I generally avoid filtering. I usually queue up behind the cars as if I was driving a car. The main exception would be a gridlock situation. I try to avoid cutting ahead and causing people to have to deal with me more than once if I can help it. In a gridlock situation, they won't have to deal with me more than once or typically at all. I will be long gone before they get out of the gridlock.

[Tom Servo]

That's my filtering strategy too. My main litmus test sounds the same as OPs - I don't want to make you have to pass me more than once in quick succession. If there's a bike lane or a bike lane coming up that I'll be using, then I have no problem filtering past on the right. If I'm controlling the lane, then I generally won't filter unless it'll take more than two light cycles to get through the next intersection.

Santa Monica Blvd. eastbound approaching 405 on any given weekday afternoon is absolute gridlock. There is no bike lane and they prohibit parking on the curb to open up a third lane on the right. I know from personal experience that trying to filter up on the right hand side is incredibly dangerous as people regularly right hook you trying to find other ways through the gridlock, so I filter up between the lanes like the motorcyclists do.

I rarely filter, but half the reason I took up bike commuting was so it didn't take me 30 minutes to go a mile anymore, and there's no way I'm waiting in that mess.

[speedpimp]

His shoulder or his collarbone? Collarbone injuries are actually pretty common in bike crashes due to hitting the shoulder. You can't put a cast on a collarbone so they have to wear this weird brace.

I heard it was his shoulder, considering who told me the info it was probably his collar bone.

[overpowered]

I know from personal experience that trying to filter up on the right hand side is incredibly dangerous as people regularly right hook you trying to find other ways through the gridlock, so I filter up between the lanes like the motorcyclists do.Yep. I do this too. The right side can get scary particularly near intersections when a person in a stopped car decides to bail out and try the next street.

[Freude am Fahren]

The main exception would be a gridlock situation. I try to avoid cutting ahead and causing people to have to deal with me more than once if I can help it. In a gridlock situation, they won't have to deal with me more than once or typically at all. I will be long gone before they get out of the gridlock.

This, I think, is where some of the misunderstanding on the subject comes from as well. As I read that, I think to myself, "you mean there isn't gridlock all the time where you live?" For instance, filtering forward (which I rarely do, since it is illegal here, see below) could cut my commute from 30+ to less than 15 minutes.

The only circumstances I filter forward on my motorcycle are if one of the following are true. In all cases the traffic I'm passing is stopped or inching forward. If I can keep moving without having to put my feet down, I don't even bother. Also, if it's not hot, and I'm not in a hurry, I probably wont bother either.
-When at a red light that I am so far back from, that it will turn green then red again, and I will have to wait again.
-Storms approaching
-Large gaps ahead of me from inattentive drivers.
-To get ahead of truck/bus. I like to breathe.
-To get far away from bad drivers. I don't like to put my life in the hands of someone texting their bff while touching up their makeup, or eating a burger.

As for bicycles, I'll pretty much always go all the way up to the intersection, unless it's a narrow lane, and everyone will just have to sit behind me, or squeeze past me in a dangerous fashion (which is what most would do around here). Lines are long enough, that more than likely from the time I reach the rear of a queue to the time I reach the front, traffic will have resumed movement anyway, so I won't even make it to the front. Again, I usually don't filter past slow/medium speed moving cars, as they can be very unpredictable, so I'll slow to their speed and sit in a gap, prepared for movement.

[Random]

Wiggins on the Hour Record warpath (http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2015/05/07/wiggins-hour-record-warpath)

Says he's going to put it out of reach.

Scheduled for June 7th

Total fail...he only went 54.5xx.

:p

[G'day Mate]

1.5 km/h faster than the previous record - that's pretty impressive. Almost 3.5 km/h faster than Jens's effort less than a year ago

[Yw-slayer]

I filter if traffic has come to a stop. If it's moving then I slot back in line. I almost always filter either on the right side of traffic (since we drive on the left), or in the middle lane.

[overpowered]

Total fail...he only went 54.5xx.


1.5 km/h faster than the previous record - that's pretty impressive. Almost 3.5 km/h faster than Jens's effort less than a year ago

I had forgotten that this was happening. 1.5 km is nothing to sneeze at but I'm not sure it's up to the standard of "putting it out of reach" as he said he would.

Not at all surprised that he's that much faster than Jens though. Jens was always a good but not spectacular time trialist and he was a bit on the old side when he did it. Wiggins is arguably the best time trialist in the world.

[Tom Servo]

I filter if traffic has come to a stop. If it's moving then I slot back in line. I almost always filter either on the right side of traffic (since we drive on the left), or in the middle lane.

Yep, sounds a lot like the rest of us and the vast majority of motorcyclists I see out here as well (where filtering is de facto legal). It'd be nice if all the drivers around me were part of this conversation.

[Yw-slayer]

Sorry, I meant in the middle of the lanes. But yeah. I've sat at traffic lights in a car and have had people on bikes blow by me on the left just as the light turns green, to my surprise. I don't want to cause problems for myself given that I appear to be one of few drivers in town who is aware of and sympathetic to bikers.

[Tom Servo]

We ended up doing almost 70 miles over the weekend going down to Long Beach's Ciclovia, and am happy to say that the bike fit appears to have worked. I don't think Michele has ever done more than 40 miles before having a lot of back pain (at those kinds of distances we often have to stop so she can lie down a bit), and she did 70 with basically no discomfort at all.

I might have to go to this guy too.

[Yw-slayer]

Nice. Like OP (I think) said, there are bike fits, and there are Bike Fits.

[speedpimp]

Found out exactly what happened to my coworker. He was riding home on a bike trail(old RR row) and didn't see a tree limb laying across the path. Turns out its the same thing that happened to him last fall.

[overpowered]

Nice. Like OP (I think) said, there are bike fits, and there are Bike Fits.I don't think I've ever phrased it like that but yes, I have mentioned the importance of a good fit. Sometimes a surprisingly small change can make a huge improvement.

[G'day Mate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6yrdga1zGg

[G'day Mate]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHCt6GkXAAAh62n.jpg

[overpowered]

https://scontent-lax1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10559772_933518093397601_5162963420845976161_n.png ?oh=ae5c703e0cf556f440e9f957759ff5e7&oe=55F99FAD

[G'day Mate]

My own saying is "if it isn't a tail-wind, it's a head wind"

[Tom Servo]

That is the single worst thing about my current job over my previous one. Turns out I almost always had some sort of tailwind going to the previous one and didn't realize it. Now I always have a headwind - I had no idea that the wind changes direction over the course of the day in Los Angeles until I took this job.

[Cam]

This was my experience commuting in Irvine. In the morning, the wind normally blew west. I rode east in the morning. By the end of the day, the wind would shift to blowing east when I was riding home, west. The only exception was the seasonal Santa Ana wind, when I would have a nice tail wind headed home. That was nice. :)

[Cam]

My local bike shop is cool. I've been doing group rides with them since last summer and I'm getting to know the people that work there pretty well. Last night on the regular Wednesday night ride, I was chit-chatting with one of the mechanics as we rode. I told him about future plans trying to get work teaching art after I get my degree, or even go back to animation somehow. However, if I couldn't get work in my field that I would look at other alternatives, for example, working at a bike shop. I do a lot of my own work on my and Lori's bikes. I thought I made it clear that I was focusing on art and finishing school.

Tonight, I showed up for the regular Thursday night ride and was pretty much offered a part-time job. :lol: I might just take it. :)

[Cam]

Briefly talked to the manager and it was kind of awkward on both sides. I don't know what will come of it.

Completely unrelated, next week I will be participating in a study/experiment of cyclists to find the effect of effort on respiratory function, or something like that. I'm going to find out my VO2 max. :lol:

Bought new brake pads for the Suteki. I gouged my rim a bit with the worn-out pads. :mad:

[G'day Mate]

That job thing is pretty cool Cam - I hope something comes of it for you :)

VO2 max hey?

[SportWagon]

Finally pushed beyond the 40km barrier this year. As I rode up Middlebrook Road, not far past the Mennonite Meeting Hall, well south of the Folly/Castle, a small deer jumped across the road ahead of me. About the size of a medium German Shepherd, but with longer legs. This doesn't happen all that often. This time it as well ahead of me on the road, but close enough that I heard it snort. But nothing like as close a call as the large one near Elora a few years ago.

And then there was the Hillman Super Minx which passed me climbing out of the Conestogo River Valley.

And, although I finished the ride slowly, at least there was no hint of cramps forming my legs near the finish. (As I had felt at the end of the previous week's 40km, actually).

[overpowered]

67.7km is considerably more than 40km.

[G'day Mate]

Indeed. I usually think that 50% more on a bike is about twice as hard as the original ... if that makes sense

[SportWagon]

My distance increments are modified by my habitual routes.

67.7km is the next easily available step up from the 40km. Well, I could reduce it a bit by coming back by a western route, but a particular stretch of that is beginning to get busy on weekends with cottage traffic.

40km was getting almost into post-glycogen territory this year because of my new-found slowness. 67.7km has an advantage that it's uphill out, downhill back. I'd planned for a snack stop on the way back. I would probably have tried 67.7km last weekend but somehow it had been suggested I should be back sooner on that day, and I decided a well-consolidated shorter ride might be as beneficial as a longer one. And it probably was. Although I did get the hint of leg cramps, my back and arms and hands felt less tired than on previous weeks.

Indeed, last Saturday on my 67.7km ride, I began feeling tired at about 50km (snack was around then). And at exactly 60km I felt "this would have been just about perfect; those extra 8km are a bit of a nuisance". And careful observers will note I did not do my extra final km+ "round up" loop near home before finishing.

I'm just surprisingly out of shape this year. In previous years build-up was more of a cautious formality. (One year my first ride was 80km). But this year build-up seems more necessary.

In general, though, I've been noticing a lot less knee strain this year.

[Cam]

I'm hooked to a machine measuring the amount of oxygen I'm using. They also measured my heart rate. I held 60 rpm for an extended period. The experimenters increased the difficulty at regular intervals until I gave up. I'm going back for a 90 rpm test on Thursday. I'll post the results then.

1273

[G'day Mate]

So that thing has a fixed gear, they tell you what RPM to do and then they play around with the resistance?

90 is actually (I think) about my comfortable RPM usually - people often comment about how high my cadence is.

[Cam]

Yes. I quit at about 17 minutes. I was up to 275 watts. They were just about to put me up to 300. I feel I could have gone a little more, but I didn't take it too seriously. They felt I did well compared to their other participants, but their sample size is small so far.

[G'day Mate]

Why aren't you on Strava again?

[G'day Mate]

Hah, just saw this visual representation of what I already knew ...

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/insaneogram81/3PGraph.png

[Cam]

I do not have a smart phone or GPS. I cannot be bothered to enter my rides manually. My wife has a wrist-watch-like GPS thing she used for running, but that still requires a manual upload of data.

The Wednesday night ride might be cancelled this week. It is supposed to be 39C (102F) today.

[George]

I spotted this while shopping for handlebar tape:

Raleigh Handlebar Tape - "Marbled Bacon" Print (http://www.amazon.com/Raleigh-Handlebar-Tape-Marbled-Bacon/dp/B003BDPLRK/ref=sr_1_87?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1434557226&sr=1-87&keywords=handlebar+tape)

I guess this could have gone in the Bacon thread, too.

Edited to add a pic from the web. :lol:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5161/5364961069_3f33c9abbd_b.jpg

[G'day Mate]

I hope none of you guys ride like this clown ...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69L3A71fHjY

[George]

You forgot to add, "And then I dropped him as if he had been riding a child's tricycle." :lol:

Dig that acceleration at 0:40. :up:

I ride as you do with traffic going a similar speed, if not even more in the lane than you were, like how you moved right when the car signalled a left turn. I have no tolerance for those who would elbow their way in front of others like that.

The other day I just had to smile and stop when some guy on a bike did something I wouldn't do. I possibly pay attention more than most because I know I'm relatively new at this. Imagine two lanes leaving a neighborhood. One is left-turn only and the other is go straight or turn right. It's legal to turn right on red here. This is the intersection where all my interesting encounters (and my wipe-out on a patch of ice) happen(ed), partly because if a person stops in the right lane, intending to go straight, as the light turns red, at least five and as many as ten cars will fall in behind, and most with their right turn signals on. Also, for what it's worth, the street being crossed is a six-lane boulevard, with three lanes in each direction. It's a wide and very busy street.

IMO, the best scenario for me at that intersection - where I go straight when the light turns green - is to be behind a car (or cars) where the lead car is waiting for the green to go straight also. I center my bike in the lane and am ready in my "green light gear" to quickly accelerate through the intersection.

So one day I was there on my bike, in the lane like a car, and about fifth or sixth in line, when I saw some dude on a bike casually roll by on my right on the sidewalk and line up at the intersection, still on the sidewalk, waiting to use the pedestrian crosswalk. The light turned green and I guess maybe the first car went through, going straight, but the other cars had to wait for Pokey Joe to get across three lanes of traffic and by the time I got ready to enter the intersection, the light turned yellow and I stopped.

Meanwhile, Pokey Joe finished his leisurely crossing of all six lanes, turned right, and becamse his alter ego, Sidewalk Salmon, and proceeded to ride away. :lol:

[G'day Mate]

I ride as you do with traffic going a similar speed, if not even more in the lane than you were, like how you moved right when the car signalled a left turn. I have no tolerance for those who would elbow their way in front of others like that.

I would normally be riding further to the right too but that guy was there. When the car signalled left I signalled to that guy that I was going to move to the middle and he gave me room, but then obviously he went all the way around behind me and tried to undertake everyone.

Cars often "wander" inside their lanes when traffic is moving at that sort of slow place, so I don't want to be coming up in someone's blind spot when they decide to wander towards the curb.


Dig that acceleration at 0:40. :up:

That was with flat pedals - you should see what I can do on clipless ;)

[G'day Mate]

Had my Giant flat-bar serviced today ... she's dead :( Big crack through one of the chainstays

It's 7 years old and has done 20,000 kms, so that's not bad for a commuter-mobile! If I can prove that I was the one who originally purchased it then Giant will replace the frame under warranty :)

[George]

Time to start forging receipts and making blurry scans of them. :D

I keep reminding myself I should spend the price of a used bike on craigslist for some shoes I can only wear while cycling and a pair of gonna-fall-over pedals. The guy who gave me the Allez knows me well and is somewhat of a luddite himself, or maybe better described as a saver who doesn't buy unnecessary luxuries. He said something like, "Trust me. Get some clipless pedals and shoes. They make a huge difference.

I'll get there eventually. In the meantime, I use MKS Sylvan Touring pedals, which aren't slippery (when it's not raining), look better than black plastic, and seem to be well-rated on the internet. I jump off curbs and catch air at the BMX track with them and they haven't broken yet. My only beef is they scrape the ground on my road bike if I try to pedal while banked over too far. I figure with clipless pedals that would be my shoe scraping the ground instead of the pedal, and I'm not sure if that's better or worse.

No, I don't ride so fast nor corner so hard that this is a frequent problem, but I ride the same routes most of the time and there are a couple windy paved trails that I can pedal through on the MTB that I have to "lift and coast" through on the road bike.

[overpowered]

I hope none of you guys ride like this clown ...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69L3A71fHjYInitially, I felt that you were too far left. That slow traffic situation tends to get ugly when you're on the edge and that's a narrow lane. Later you moved right and did it right. That other guy obviously had no clue. I always wonder what's going through their heads when they try to pass on the same side as the car is signalling a turn. It's not a good idea when they're not signalling but when they are, it should be obvious to not pass them.

[G'day Mate]

Initially, I felt that you were too far left.

Yeah, as I said to George above, that other guy was riding next to me so we were two-abreast, taking up the whole lane for that part. I take my normal position after going around the Mazda.


That other guy obviously had no clue. I always wonder what's going through their heads when they try to pass on the same side as the car is signalling a turn. It's not a food idea when they're not signalling but when they are, it should be obvious to not pass them.

It's just so dumb to get that close in that situation. If the car hasn't seen you then you'll come pretty close to getting wiped out and probably have to start off again from a near stand-still. If they have seen you then they're not going to know what you'll do next so they'll hesitate and who knows what will happen then!

[G'day Mate]

Holy crap, I found the receipt!!

[overpowered]

The problems of cycle tracks:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4325776673979&l=3198179527347601599

[Cam]

Second session, signalling that I'm good to go. The guy on the right is one of the undergraduate researchers doing the study.

1274

Pushed to my limit on this session. I still have two more sessions to do. Here's the initial numbers they told me:

First session, 60 rpm.
30 second average: 46
Breath-by-breath: 55 (I'm guessing that is my best breath. I forgot to ask.)

Second session, 90 rpm.
30 second average: 50
Breath-by-breath: 66

Pretty significant jump between the two, but I feel like I gave more on the second run, confirmed by the numbers. Going by VO2 max charts gleaned with a cursory internet search, that puts me in the "Well above average" or "Superior" or "Cat 3/4" category for my age group. :hard:

[George]

Here's a tip o' the cap to Superior Cam. :)

Obviously you are not indulging in enough South Carolina cuisine, if you're that healthy.

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ

700 watts?!

[Cam]

Wow.

[G'day Mate]

Quadzilla!!

And I think Greipell has big legs

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFeLqkGLJ7E

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ4Y6Lnv0e8

Interesting idea but, McD's won't exactly fuel you on a ride so well.

[G'day Mate]

I want to be healthy, so I'm going to ride my bike to get some ... McDonalds??

[Blerpa]

McDonald's salads are perfectly healthy in here. No dressing, low fat grilled chicken, very fresh vegetables in it. And you choose to add or not salt, pepper and olive oil on your own.
EDIT: Yes, I know the bag is for a burger, fries and a soda (could be water, but probably is soda), but I appreciate the slow change of mentality and the design idea of the bag. Beside the fries, nothing could stop them to improve the quality of the bread and the beef.
Unless people are some of those health freaks who think that the only healthy food is grass and green stuff, obviously.

[Tom Servo]

I had one of those days where the stars were aligned against me. Michele decided she wanted to bike commute to her work, and I generally go along with her as it's a good excuse to extend my 5 mile commute to 12.

We leave and there's just horrendous traffic, worse than I've ever seen. A mile in, we find out why. All routes east/west, and I mean all of them except the freeway which we're not allowed on, are blocked. Obama is coming through. I thought he would have left earlier, but apparently he's a late riser. Almost half an hour of just standing around in the sun during a heat wave, not allowed to go anywhere. Not even walk down the sidewalk. Eventually his motorcade passes and we can go.

Most of the way to Michele's work, I suddenly realize that I put my wallet in my backpack that I planned to wear while riding the Madone. I called a last minute audible and went for the Long Haul Trucker, but forgot to transfer the wallet. My wallet also has my access card to get into work. Oops.

Drop Michele off and continue my experiment to see if it's better riding on the major arterial, Santa Monica Blvd., through West Hollywood vs. the official sharrowed bike route Fountain Ave. (hint: It's totally better because nobody gives a shit about sharrows). Get to the light to make my left onto Crescent Heights. Light changes, I go to pull away, find I'm in too tall of a gear. Try to mash anyway, fail to clip in and slip, rack my junk on the saddle. Like, seriously someone just kicked me in the balls kinda hit. Now I'm in reasonably high speed traffic, trying to pedal, all while feeling like someone just nutpunched me.

Get to work, have to ask the nice security people to believe that I work on the 15th floor, they finally let me up.

End of day, go to Michele's work to meet with her and ride back. Pick her up at work, start heading out, back wheel feels really odd. Tire is going down. Slowly, but it's going down. Stop about 1/2 mile in, find that a) It's hard to monitor your rear tire when you've got fenders, and the tread is just completely gone from that tire and b) There's a big hunk of glass in the tire. Pull out glass, change out tube, inflate, hope to make it home where I will order a new tire.

Maybe 4 blocks later, Michele complains that her cleat is loose. It is. Not familiar with Speedplay cleats, I give up fixing it to hopefully not make things worse. Get on bike, find that new rear tire is flat. I forgot my hand pump and have used up all my CO2 cartridges.

Nearest bike shop that's open is 2.2 miles away. They close at 7. It's 6:10. We start walking. Poor Michele has Speedplay cleats and walked 2.2 miles in them.

We make it to the shop at 6:50. I get a new tube, a new tire, and a bunch of CO2 cartridges, then go outside to change it. The shop has offered use of their floor pump as long as I'm done by 7, as they "close promptly at 7". So I rush, of course. I check to make sure the tube is not pinched, but not well enough. When I'm ready, they've put up the gate in front of the door. So, I pump it full of CO2 and the tube explodes, pinched against the rim. Fuck.

Michele runs over at asks them to please open up. They do, she buys a shitton more tubes, and then they come out and offer their floor pump, just asking me to bring it back when I'm done. Very grateful. Next attempt goes well, new janky tire is inflated, and we can ride home.

While I'm annoyed the universe had it out for me, I'm glad that it wasn't in the form of a car hitting me. We made it home safely, and I still had a better time than I would driving in LA traffic.

[Blerpa]

That's a terrible ordeal. (Cleats are the cycling shoes with the clinking mechanism, right?).
Probably the store would have made it better for you and for themselves to wait to close down shop, so you could have managed with calm to fix the tyre and maybe they could have given you also some help, so there wouldn't have been the need to give you their pump.
But at least it was good they lent you their floor pump.

How reliable are those CO2 cartridges? I've only bought two tubes for my bike (and no, I've never changed a tube in my life - I'm terrified if and when it will happen I will have to, in the middle of the road) and so far I've avoided buying those CO2 little thingies... are they easy to use? Efficient?

[Tom Servo]

If I were you, I'd take a wheel inside with me tonight and practice taking the tire/tube off and putting them back on again. Like you're worried about - you don't want your first time doing it to be out in the middle of nowhere, invariably when it's raining. It's not hard, but it takes a bit of practice.

I've heard horror stories about misfiring CO2 cartridges, but with the inflator I have (https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/inflation/shiny-object), it's been pretty foolproof so far. Make sure inflator valve is closed, screw CO2 cartridge into it, push onto tube valve, then open the inflator valve. Tire's pumped up in about a second. The thing is, you can run out of CO2 cartridges on a ride but you can't run out of air from a pump. It can be hard to get up to full pressure with just a hand pump, though.

[George]

Wow, that's the cycling day from hell. It reminds me of the first (and only!) time my wife and I skied at Breckenridge, including the long hike in ski boots. For once, I'll spare you guys the details.

One of the benefits of starting to participate in a sport more recently than others is benefitting from newer technology, instead of relying on the same old gear that one may have owned for decades. An example in the guitar world is my late '80s electronic tuner. It's the size of a hockey puck and has blinking red and green lights. It's powered by a 9-volt battery and needs a separate 1/4" guitar cable to plug in. Meanwhile other guys come to the jam with these new tiny tuners that clip on the headstocks of their guitars, powered by little watch batteries or similar. And that brings me to this:


It can be hard to get up to full pressure with just a hand pump, though.

I've only had to use it once to fix a flat away from home, but I use it now and then at home instead of my floor pump just to keep the parts moving and so I don't forget how it works. It easily fills my road bike tires to 115 PSI, and it has a gauge, too.

Link to manufacturer's website for the Topeak Road Morph G (http://www.topeak.com/products/Pumps/RoadMorphG)

http://www.lancelhoff.com/wp-content/uploads/topeak-road-morph-g.jpg

And speaking of forgetting things on the commute, today I forgot my water bottle. I discovered it too far into the ride to turn back, and I was pleased I didn't think about it much after noticing I didn't have it. I might walk over to the bike shop at lunch and buy one for the ride home today, and just to have another one in the cabinet at home for anyone to use.

I also need some bar tape. I got new tape on my road bike in the fall of 2013 when I had it overhauled, and the left side is starting to get torn up behind the hood. Strangely, the right side is still in good shape. I can't account for why one side would wear more than the other, and especially not the left, as I shift more often on the right and brake about the same with both. I might put on something a bit more colorful than plain old black this time, even though that is against The Rules.

[Random]

Colored bar tape is against the rules?

[Blerpa]

Fuck the rules! Put a fluorescent violet tape on it! :D

Hey, guys, I may have realized, especially now that in Sicily is really hot, that among the tons of accessories I bought for my cycling I've missed a crucial one: GLOVES.
Is there anything peculiar to know aside from "yes, you dolt, you are going to ruin your hands without gloves, do go buy them ASAP, it's an order!" ?

[George]

Obviously you gents haven't read The Rules (http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/).

Actually, fluorescent violet might work, as I have purple logos on my bike, and that could possibly qualify under sub-rule 3.

Actually, I plan to buy the cheapest tape I can find, as I've never wrapped bars before and I'm sure I'll mess them up the first time, even after watching YouTube videos of how it's done.



Rule #8 // Saddles, bars, and tires shall be carefully matched.

Valid options are:

1.Match the saddle to the bars and the tires to black; or

2.Match the bars to the color of the frame at the top of the head tube and the saddle to the color of the frame at the top of the seat tube and the tires to the color where they come closest to the frame; or

3.Match the saddle and the bars to the frame decals; or

4.Black, black, black



I'm pretty confident I break more of the rules on that page than I obey.

[Yw-slayer]

Since you're not going off road, you won't need gloves that cover your fingertips. Just make sure they're comfortable and are not difficult to see if you're using your hands to signal.

[G'day Mate]

:|


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjQaYm74xg

[SportWagon]

I can get to around 100psi with my 20year-old Silca frame-fit pump. (Horizontal frame-fit; beneath the top tube; leaves room for two water bottles).

[Yw-slayer]

I'm EXTREMELY SURPRISED that it was a Subaru driver who did that!!

[overpowered]

My Silca pump from the 80's exploded ages ago. I used to like how those fit in the frame. Now everything's too small for that. However, today we have frame pumps with foot pegs and hoses and even pressure guages, which is nice.

As for the head on, first off, that driver was a giant moron. However, I would have been riding right of center on that road and used the same turnout that you did and let the platoon behind me go by. When cars are coming the other way, I would signal backwards for cars to back off and not pass. It doesn't always work, but it works with most drivers. Most realize that you are warning them that it's not safe to pass.

[G'day Mate]

Yeah I got caught out, which happens. The videos of me safe stuff like that aren't quite as interesting so I don't tend to post them ;)

Yesterday though the long line of cars passing squeezed me to the side ... and in the bad weather I'm less inclined to move to the middle. Everyone seems to think that what's good enough for the car in front is good enough for them too and ... yeah.

[SportWagon]

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/bikes-and-tech/silca-launches-new-frame-pump-the-impero-ultimate_370778

I have a couple of modernish frame-fits from Mountain Equipment Co-op. But I guess the new curves at new "tube" joints would make them not work.

http://www.mec.ca/product/4015-597/planet-bike-roadie-cycling-pump/

[George]

Topeak makes long frame pumps too. They come in four sizes. REI stocks them, at least in the store near me.

http://www.topeak.com/products/Frame-Fit-Road

Today is Denver Bike To Work Day and I saw lots of cyclists on the road this morning, and rode in a line of four for a short time. That was a first for me. Later I passed one fellow walking his mountain bike uphill in the same spot where I got off and walked on my first day in 2013. I'm so glad I decided this was a Thing Worth Doing back then.


When does Colorado celebrate Bike to Work Day? And why is it different than the national day?

Most of the country celebrates Bike to Work Day in May, but due to Colorado’s mountain communities and unpredictable weather, the state legislature declared June as Colorado Bike Month, with the fourth Wednesday of the month being Bike to Work Day.


My favorite LBS was serving breakfast out in their parking lot near my office this morning. I got there about 7:30. They had tents set up and those race stands where riders could clip our bikes up by the front of the seat. They had a guy with a great big grill and coffee and juices and sign-ups for giveaways and whatnot. While I waited for a group ahead of me to get fed, I went inside and bought some nastro per manubrio. Afterwards the chef made me a monster stack of pancakes and sausage, after which I shall surely need a mid-morning nap.

This afternoon from 4:30 to 6:30 the same LBS is hosting the "First Ever Denver South Bike Party" at a bar next to the office building I work in, with free beer (yes, that's what they said this morning!), a live band, bike parking, and tech services, according to the flyer I picked up. Pretty neat. If I stop by I'll try to take a pic or two and show you guys the scene.

Here's an article from the Denver Post website if anyone's interested: 2-wheeled commuters flood Denver on Bike to Work Day (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28371965/2-wheeled-commuters-begin-flooding-denver-bike-work)


Organizers in Denver are expecting tens of thousands of participants in what has become the second largest Bike to Work Day in the country, second only to San Francisco.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2015/0624/20150624__8387634~p1.jpg

[Tom Servo]

I love the Bike to Work day stuff here in LA (happens in May), but it sounds like you guys do it better than we do!

And yeah, it's rare treat when you end up hooking up with a group of riders that are around the same speed. There was one time where I ran into 5 other riders and we all rode together for the commute. Turns out they were actually three separate groups (two couples and one single rider) who just sorta bunched together. Made for a fantastic commute.

[Random]

Hey everybody, it's That Guy!

(There's one in every crowd.)

:lol:

[George]

Interesting (to me, anyway) three-minute video about the new bike highway on the north side of the metro area, and some people talking on camera at Bike To Work Day events today:

“Highway for bicyclists” opens near Denver as part of Bike to Work Day (http://dptv.denverpost.com/2015/06/24/highway-for-bicyclists-opens-near-denver-as-part-of-bike-to-work-day/)

[Tom Servo]

Heh, the only thing our cities do on bike to work day is have the cops crack down on rolling stop signs.

[George]

I was really looking forward to stopping in to the "bike party" after work. I looked down on the place around 4:45 and saw a bunch of bikes lined up on a stand like I used this morning. I figured I'd change around 5:00 and leave at 5:15, which is early for me, but this is IMPORTANT BUSINESS, right?

By 5:15, it was raining. By 5:30, I could hear people's smart phones squawking out weather service alerts. Now it's pouring like crazy and the skies over the entire metro area are dark grey. Often I can see the storm roll in and tell it's not very big, but I think we're in for some serious rain. I guess I'll stay at work a while and see if it lets up.

Signing off from the Colorado Tropical Rain Forest,

Mr. Soggy

[G'day Mate]

Interesting (to me, anyway) three-minute video about the new bike highway on the north side of the metro area, and some people talking on camera at Bike To Work Day events today:

“Highway for bicyclists” opens near Denver as part of Bike to Work Day (http://dptv.denverpost.com/2015/06/24/highway-for-bicyclists-opens-near-denver-as-part-of-bike-to-work-day/)

Boy, that's a nice, wide path! The best we usually get is just wide enough for one bike in each direction.

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBTK0UwwQ4I

[G'day Mate]

I taught myself to bunny-hop last year - very useful. Cleats make it easy of course, so I probably do it in the single-motion that Martyn Ashton said was a bad habit. Of course ... I mostly use new my powers for evil by barelling through certain traffic-calming measures (eg. speed humps) instead of slowing down.

The other thing I learnt last year was how to descend comfortably. It's a very important skill - there's nothing more dangerous than a nervous descent. Again though, I have a bit of a bad habit of braking a little through the corner, although never hard. I usually do 90% of my braking into the turn, and then ease it off so that I don't pick up unwanted speed through it.

I also am much more comfortable through left-hand turns than right, but I'm getting better at that. I discovered a day or two ago that I put enough pressure on my left foot through these turns, so I'll work on that now. Almost every commute to work involves some kind of fast descent (traffic permitting) these days so it's become very important!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vou9FFuFGo

[Tom Servo]

I tend to think that all of us racing game dorks actually know how to take a corner, and so far it's worked for me. As long as you have some understanding of weight transfer and what it means for traction, I think you're pretty much set.

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raRcYkvnoZ0

[G'day Mate]

I tend to think that all of us racing game dorks actually know how to take a corner, and so far it's worked for me. As long as you have some understanding of weight transfer and what it means for traction, I think you're pretty much set.

The line through the corner is the easy part, it's feeling confident and planted that's difficult, and takes a bit of practice and technique to get it right. Having said that, some are more fearless than others, which helps.

[Tom Servo]

I've ridden that new Redondo lane. It's fantastic, idiots trying to drive on it notwithstanding.

[overpowered]

I'd be nervous riding contraflow. I hate contraflow.

[Freude am Fahren]

The people who turn into the lane are idiots, but I can understand that mistake, especially without being able to see the signage in the area. The drivers who hit the curb boggle my mind. How can you be paying that little attention to what you are doing while turning through an intersection? How do they not plow into drivers in left turning lanes or off the side of the road constantly?

[Blerpa]

Damn, those people should have their driving license revoked... how retarded you must be to not get it? And to get on the curb? What are you, blind? Sad LOL

[Tom Servo]

I'd be nervous riding contraflow. I hate contraflow.

Yeah, overall it feels weird, but I'm glad that the city put up traffic signals with red arrows for people turning both left *and* right across the cycletrack. They have bike signals for it and a red light for anyone turning across the cycletrack as long as the bike signal is green. I was happy to see they did that, and in my experience down there even the right turning people were behaving themselves (it definitely looks weird to see a green light for through traffic but a red arrow for right turners, something people will have to get used to).

The contraflow ain't perfect, but they are definitely doing what they can to control the traffic around it.

[Tom Servo]

Also, that and the Hermosa section have traditionally been the parts where a lot of casual riders don't dare to tread - Hermosa is still just sharrowed lanes. It's made a huge difference in the number of riders I see over there, which is great to see. Now, if they could just fix Hermosa, then we'd be in business.

I mean, then it'd be filled with so many oblivious tourists nearly crashing into each other that I'd avoid it like the plague, but I'm happy for the oblivious tourists.

[Cam]

Looks like I'll be building bikes at my local bike shop after all, part time. Built two today and I've been asked to come back to build more.

[G'day Mate]

Heh, sweet

[George]

Just so y'all will believe I did the work myself when you see the finished product...



And I gotta say, my bike rack that mounts to the trunk of a standard sedan also mounts to my homemade workbench just as well.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00256_zps15dfhue9.jpg

[Freude am Fahren]

Something I need to do I think. I've starting riding more regularly again, and my bike hasn't had a tune up since I bought it in '09. I think i only cleaned the chain twice and am on my third (?) set of tires. Other than that, not even a proper cleaning :o

[overpowered]

HA! Beat swervo by 0.1 miles.

[Tom Servo]

Heh, I'm going to chalk that up to a rounding error and assume I beat you.

[Yw-slayer]

Shouldn't George be posting about opening F350 doors into cyclists' faces like a REAL MAN rather than than posting about bikes and the joys of cycling?

[G'day Mate]

I also do modelling ...

http://api.ning.com/files/pBrEDFyKDmMKL6CAA2wMiJSreb92rLgM6yRiAfNVDpiMs392v3 qRBTVjPTz-VXZRMrEe7xcfVs5p9LMLyrooZXgtnPOD8InQ/donbrice_1079.jpg

[Cam]

OMG WANT!

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM0oQIRIyrs

[Freude am Fahren]

2:10 :eek:

[Blerpa]

Goddamn Brumotti: he is a tv celebrity in Italy. And yeah, he is kinda the Ken Block of bike acrobatics... even has a gorgeous girlfriend (Giorgia Palmas for the Keiths around).

[overpowered]

Cyclist Jeremy Vine reveals he films bad drivers and sends footage to police

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/cyclist-jeremy-vine-reveals-he-films-bad-drivers-and-sends-footage-to-police-10354690.html

[Tom Servo]

Wish LAPD gave half a shit about the footage I've got.

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLHgxYUlDHc

[G'day Mate]

Fantasy TDF why not?

http://www.velogames.com/

I'll set up a gtxf.bbq mini-league if anyone's interested ...

[Cam]

Went on the Wednesday night ride after a two week hiatus. It's just been too damn hot to ride. It was still 33C when I left tonight. The last two weeks, it's been about 40C. It was a quick ride tonight. My last road ride, my cyclometer fell off and I haven't reattached it yet. I had no idea how we were doing, but at one point I was just about to fall off the pace line when they slowed down a bit. Whew! Later, we got close to home after almost 30 miles. I asked one of my fellow cyclists our average speed for the ride. "20." Cool. I'm freakin' beat now though. :lol:

Happy Canada Day! :)

[Tom Servo]

Repeat from what I posted on FB: Was riding down Burton Way in Beverly Hills, one of only two streets in that city that have bike lanes (they're actually quite nice bike lanes, very wide). Was doing about 23mph when I hear a loud bark right in my ear coming from my left. Look over and it's a Beverly Hills city van with an amused looking guy in the passenger seat. Look around, there are no dogs anywhere nearby. Watching helmet cam video later confirms it, no dogs anywhere nearby nor in any of the other cars near me - this guy did that as they passed presumably to startle me and, I'd have to guess, hope that I'd crash.

How dumb do you have to be to do that in your clearly marked and numbered work van? Trying to find out from the local BH bike advocate who the best person in the city government is to contact about this so that guy can have a little re-education.

[overpowered]

Driving a car is getting cheaper and cheaper while trains and buses just keep getting more expensive

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/driving-a-car-is-getting-cheaper-and-cheaper-while-trains-and-buses-just-keep-getting-more-expensive-10363354.html

[overpowered]

The biggest names not at the Tour de France

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/the-biggest-names-not-at-the-tour-de-france_375972

[overpowered]

Road tax, red lights and lycra: the cycling ignorance quiz

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/bike-blog/2015/jul/03/road-tax-red-lights-and-lycra-the-cycling-ignorance-quiz

[Blerpa]

10 out of 10... but it is self referential, no surprise :)

[overpowered]

The Tur Day Frantz starts tomorrow.

I'm kind of bummed that we're down to 3 U.S riders. That's the least we've had since the 1990's.

A lot of people who are normally good there are surprisingly not there. Kittel being so off form that he won't be there improves things for Cavendish, Greipel and Kristoff. It really annoys me that Wiggins didn't get to go last year and has switched back to track cycling.

Peter Sagan has been told that his stage wins take a back seat to keeping Contador in yellow, even though there are at least 3 stages that play well to his strengths. He may not get much support from the team for stage wins and may even have to do support for Contador instead of going for a stage win.

Nibali seems to feel that his form is not great right now. Not sure if he's going to be a factor.

I'm rooting for Quintana in the overall, but I suspect he won't actually be on the top step. It's more likely to be Contador or Froome.

[G'day Mate]

I think I'm going for Quintana too.

Random thoughts:
- I don't think Contador will win after the Giro (unless he was just phoning it in)
- Astana were incredibly strong at the Giro so I don't understand why they're not bringing Aru or Landa to support Nibali
- Adam Hansen is riding his twelfth grand tour in a row so fingers crossed he finishes

[overpowered]

Actually I'm rooting for Talansky and van Garderen but they are less realistic choices than Quintana. Quintana actually might be able to pull it off and I think a podium is likely. Talansky and van Garderen will probably be doing good to get in the top 5.

[G'day Mate]

Yes, well in the same way I'm going for Porte and perhaps even Dennis but they're not realistic chances.

It is strange that there's so few Americans given that three of the teams (BMC, Trek and Cannondale) are based there. Orica GreenEdge only actually have three out of nine riders Australian for this tour as well.

[G'day Mate]

So how do they determine the starting order for the ITT when everyone is starting from scratch? In fact, how do they determine the TTT starting order when they begin with one of those?

And later on, how will they determine the order for the TTT? Fastest rider or fastest five perhaps?

[G'day Mate]

Hmmm ... the last person is Nibali who won last year, before him is Peraud who was second last year, before him is Demare from FDJ whose team had the third placed rider last year, before him is Froome who ... d'oh.

[G'day Mate]

Aha! It's team number.

Astana have bibs 1-9, AG2R have 11-19, FDJ have 21-29 ... but how do they order the teams?

And I assume the teams themselves get to decide the starting "sub-order" of their riders within that?

[G'day Mate]

So what's with Tinkoff Saxo's hi-vis camo? Are they trying to be hipsters?

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGAIYKTZ9w

[G'day Mate]

TDF ...

/
/
/
/

:up:

[overpowered]

Yeah. The wind can really fuck the peloton up sometimes. Cancellara can sprint and this isn't first time I've seen him do it to take yellow. He's won a lot of classics for a reason. 29th yellow for him. He's solidly in 11th on the all time list. Easily the most for anyone who's never won the GC.

[G'day Mate]

I went to bed worried about Adam Hansen after it looked like he had a heavy fall yesterday, but it seems he can continue ...

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/insaneogram81/aht01.jpg

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/insaneogram81/aht02.jpg

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/insaneogram81/aht03.jpg

[Cam]

"I eat pain for breakfast." :rolleyes: Sounds like a lame-ass line from a B-rate action movie.

[overpowered]

It will be interesting to see if Cancellara can hang onto yellow tomorrow. It's got 3 cat 4 climbs and ends with a cat 3. Climbing is not his strong suit. He's strong and can go up hill fast as long as he doesn't have to do it for very long. The cat 3 might be too much. I think Martin may get him. He's not a great long climber either but I think he's a bit better than Cancellara at that. Dumoulin, Sagan and Thomas aren't that far back and could have a chance to take yellow. I suspect that Sagan may go for a stage win. He's generally good on the cat 3's and 4's. It could be an interesting finish.

[G'day Mate]

"I eat pain for breakfast." :rolleyes: Sounds like a lame-ass line from a B-rate action movie.

I think it's deliberately lame

[Random]

"I eat pain for breakfast." :rolleyes: Sounds like a lame-ass line from a B-rate action movie.

Sounds like someone trying to be Jens Voigt. :D

[SportWagon]

Road tax, red lights and lycra: the cycling ignorance quiz

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/bike-blog/2015/jul/03/road-tax-red-lights-and-lycra-the-cycling-ignorance-quiz

I doubt that there are any jurisdictions where you are required by law to wear a helmet while automobiling, but I suspect there are a few where you are required to not wear a helmet (on public roads, not in a formal competition scenario).

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-discussion-not-model-specific-sponsored-algar-ferrari/289240-legal-drive-helmet-public-roads-3.html

http://ask.metafilter.com/19245/Can-you-wear-a-helmet-in-a-car


Google "helmet driving car on public roads"

[overpowered]

I didn't realize how steep that final climb was. That's a hell of a cat 3. I don't think Cancellara could have kept yellow even had he not crashed.

It's a shame about the crashes.

Cobbles tomorrow.

(actually the crashes were worthy of spoilers).

[Freude am Fahren]

I don't really think spoilers are necessary.

[Cam]

Especially the cobbles bit. :lol:

[G'day Mate]

Gerrans run of bad luck continues then

[G'day Mate]

I didn't realize how steep that final climb was. That's a hell of a cat 3. I don't think Cancellara could have kept yellow even had he not crashed.

According to the website it's only 1.3km @9.6% - that's no big deal and it's the sort of stuff that I thrive on - but watching it on telly it looked a lot steeper than that.

[SportWagon]

Guess I'll need to save my moaning about getting old for another month... ;)

But, P.S. I've discovered that short beards are hotter (less comfortable) in hot weather than are longer beards...

[overpowered]

According to the website it's only 1.3km @9.6% - that's no big deal and it's the sort of stuff that I thrive on - but watching it on telly it looked a lot steeper than that.They were saying that parts of it were a lot steeper than that.

[G'day Mate]

Yeah the website says there's a maximum gradient of almost 20%, which is pretty steep. There's plenty of that around Adelaide though, such as the ridiculous "commuter" path (https://www.strava.com/activities/337422824/segments/8003551703) my local council built which I occasionally ride home on.

Having steep parts though makes things easier IMO. I find a sustained 10% grind is a lot harder (psychologically) than 15% ramps broken up by 8% "rests". This climb (https://www.strava.com/segments/1411804?filter=overall), for example, seems to culminate in a 20% pinch but what you don't even realise is that afterwards it's still 6-7%, it just feels flat by comparison.

Anyway, those are just general comments. I still think it looked way steeper on TV than the stats suggested.

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MrcwKP1guA

[George]

Typical local interest stuff behind spoiler tag. Sorry, no Tour De France content.



The needle on the scale was just barely on the light side of 200 lbs. this morning, so maybe I weighed 199.9 until I drank some water. I've haven't been under 200 in quite a while. That's about ten pounds lighter than I was this past winter and spring, thanks in large part to cycling.

We're having strange skies here due to wildfires in Canada, according to the news. This is the third day of no sun and grey or white skies. There are few shadows outdoors, as it seems there's no direct light. I took the pic below at about 7:00 PM yesterday. It was fully light outside, and yet the street lights were on. Strange. This time of year it gets dark around 9:00 or so. Official sunset may be earlier, but I'm talking about how late you can go outside and still see pretty well without artificial light.

It's also cooler than usual. On Monday the high temperature - in July! - was 66 degrees F.

You guys might remember me talking about the bike my son was given a while back by some neighbors who moved away. It was rideable, but not good quality. The chain would fall off because the rear dropouts were made of metal about as stout as aluminum foil that allowed the chainline to get all squirrelly, and the stem & fork assembly, while firmly attached, would wobble back and forth inside the head tube. I've been wanting to get him something nicer, and yet not spend a fortune on a bike he'll outgrow soon. I read good things online about the Specialized Hotrock as a better-than-department-store bike and I bought one from craigslist for our daughter some time ago. It's a quality bike, and noticeably better than the outgrown Huffy it replaced.

Around the same time, I started watching CL for one for our son. I thought it would be fun to get him a red one, as they both kids are always talking about their favorite colors. It was easy to find a purple girls Hotrock bike on CL, but months went by while I watched for a bike for him on CL. I looked at other brands too, not just Hotrocks, and of course bikes in all colors, but I just never saw the right combination of the right bike in good condition, price (some BMX bikes are advertised for hundreds on CL), and relatively nearby location. During that time I convinced myself that no boys Hotrocks were made in red.

Then, on Monday, I checked CL and saw a Specialized Hotrock in red - the first red 20" wheel single-speed Hotrock I've seen - in good condition, and very close to home. It has a couple minor scratches in the paint but after a good cleaning and new grips it looks pretty impressive. Both of these bikes have the original tires, Specialized "Roller" 2" x 2.125" and the sidewalls say to inflate to between 35 and 100 p.s.i. I cleaned up both bikes while the kids were gone and inflated the rears to 50 and the fronts to 40 p.s.i. and these bikes go. We had some fun last night. Here they are at the park near our house under the strange white sky. Hopefully these bikes will last the kids through this summer and next, if they're not too tall by then. The seatposts have another inch or so in them before the minimum insertion mark. Mostly I'm pleased my kids are riding what seem to be decent bikes and I don't have to worry about them falling apart.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00271_zpsy6qrbqtr.jpg

[Tom Servo]

Awesome find!!

[Yw-slayer]

As awesome as dooring a filtering cyclist?

[Tom Servo]

I have a feeling Yw is upset about some post somewhere that I didn't notice...

[overpowered]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ACotZJ6Svc

[G'day Mate]

This new on-board footage we're getting from the pro tour really is amazing, isn't it!

[Yw-slayer]

I have a feeling Yw is upset about some post somewhere that I didn't notice...

Pretty much. Not one of yours, mind.

[Yw-slayer]

http://gtxforums.net/showthread.php?51-Internet-memotivationally-epic-fails/page256&highlight=Filtering

[George]

It was one of my posts, but it was about MOTORcyclists cutting in between cars to get to the front of the line at an intersection. I shot off my mouth like an Internet Tough Guy because I believe that is wrong, even if apparently legal in some places where I've never lived, and clearly I offended YW and a few others, which wasn't my intention.

I also I went over the top in criticizing women drivers, but nobody said a word about that. That seems strange at this oh-so-sensitive forum. Only those who I assume are motorcyclists objected.

YW, I welcome your private or public message if there's more we need to discuss here. I think I've said all I can on this topic, but if you feel a need to continue the conversation (or the crucifixion), I will participate, or not, as you wish.

[overpowered]

Norwegian journalist tries to eat as much as a Tour de France cyclist, and ends up throwing up

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cycling/norwegian-journalist-tries-to-eat-as-much-as-a-tour-de-france-cyclist-and-ends-up-throwing-up/story-fngr0c3c-1227434985425

[Yw-slayer]

There's nothing else I need or want to discuss. If you really think it's OK for people to smack a cyclist with a heavy duty truck door and thereby cause potentially life-threatening injuries just because he is "cutting into line" then I think that says it all.

[George]

Forum chatter isn't necessarily the same as actual beliefs and practices. Ever hear anyone yell "kill the ump!" at a baseball game?

Frankly, I'm as surprised that anyone would defend that motorcyclist's actions as some were to read my harsh remarks against him.

I don't condone or participate in violence against anyone, on two wheels or otherwise. But I do reserve the right to occasionally bitch and moan and comment on videos posted for the purpose of discussion, and I accept the judgment of others about my remarks as part of life on the internet.

And another reason for the hardcore cyclists to despise me: I bought a Pletscher double-leg kickstand from my favorite LBS yesterday. :eek:

[Blerpa]

Fuck hardcore whatever... cyclists or else.

If you want to see great photos of people riding any kind of bike in New York go to this site by photographer and cyclist Sam Polcer (you can find this guy's photos on Instagram, Pinterest and all the other social networks as well), I really spent one hour looking at ALL of them one by one:

Preferred Mode - New York Bike Style (http://www.preferredmode.com/)

[overpowered]

Tony Martin's out with a broken collar bone. It looked bad when he didn't get up for so long and was touching his collar bone and when he got back on the bike he did not put his left hand on the bars.

Daniel Teklehaimanot won the polka dots, making him the first African to hold a leader's jersey for any of the classifications in the Tour. He's probably the first black guy to do so as well.

[SportWagon]

Anybody else seen a Toyota ad (on television) which showed a guy with a trendy bicycle in his big-windowed office, but seemed to recommend he should get a Toyota instead so he could make it to important meetings or something?

Anybody else seen the same ad at a later time with the bicycle "shopped" into some sort of large locker thing?

[overpowered]

Seen on another board:


"Rob van der Bijl, an urban planner in Amsterdam, said it’s a common assumption: “Well, there are a lot of amenities, infrastructure, et cetera for bicycles — so, hence, bicycles are successful,” he said. But he argues that in reality, the opposite is true: “The existence of all these facilities and infrastructure are the result of the success, not the cause of the success.”
“In one word,” van der Bijl said, “I would say it’s a matter of culture.”

[George]

Product review of Pletscher kickstand with pictures below.

Short review for those without the time to linger: Good quality, does what you'd expect, and girls can't resist a guy with a kickstand. :up:



I bought this as an alternative to buying a proper repair stand. I tried using my bike rack that goes on the trunk of my car, but that let the handlebars and fork swing around at the most annoying moments, and it also blocked the door into the house from the garage. I called my favorite LBS around lunch time yesterday and they had one in stock. To me, this seems more like a tool for home/garage use rather than something to go riding around with. In case anyone is interested in such things, I took the following pictures.

To lower the stand, you lift the bike by the seat and then push the stand out and down with your foot. It has gears, which are greased, and moves as smooth as buttah! Nice quality. There are lines on each leg to cut it down to size with a hacksaw, but I like it just as it is for my current mission, which is to re-cable this bike. The rear wheel is maybe three inches off the ground, and that's fine for what I want to do.

Side view. The legs stand apart a bit, but the bike is solidly standing up. The crazy crosschaining is because I have the chain on the smallest gears to replace the cables.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00274_zpsx9k67cpq.jpg

Rear view. I won't be riding around with this kickstand on this bike, as the head of the kickstand bolt is rubbing on the pulley under the FD. It's not bad enough for this job, but I'd need to take some metal off the top of the bolt head with a file or a Dremel to have them live happily in the same place. And that's okay with me, as I have learned to live without a kickstand.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00276_zpsfvwx4jkz.jpg

It folds up nicely and out of the way, if one wanted to leave it attached all the time.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00278_zps5nwq6gvd.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00279_zpssnjaywmh.jpg

Max weight is 25 kg. I must confess I don't know how much that is, being a true 'murrican who ignores the metric system almost as much as soccer.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00280_zpsucf1jun7.jpg1993

[G'day Mate]

Norwegian journalist tries to eat as much as a Tour de France cyclist, and ends up throwing up

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cycling/norwegian-journalist-tries-to-eat-as-much-as-a-tour-de-france-cyclist-and-ends-up-throwing-up/story-fngr0c3c-1227434985425

Strava reckons I burnt about 10,000 calories during Three Peaks. I did that over 10 hours though - the TDF guys do the same sort of thing in half the time!!

[G'day Mate]

Tony Martin's out with a broken collar bone. It looked bad when he didn't get up for so long and was touching his collar bone and when he got back on the bike he did not put his left hand on the bars.

Hmmm ... so who wears yellow for stage 7? He's currently the leader because he crashed within 3km of the finish and was therefore given the same time as the peloton, but with his withdrawl does it go to Froome who is second or just go begging?

[overpowered]

It goes to Froome, though it's possible, but unlikely, that he will refuse to wear it for one day. Some people don't want to wear yellow until they are officially the leader. It's been done, but I don't think that Froome is the type. He'll be wearing yellow tomorrow.

[Yw-slayer]

Strava reckons I burnt about 10,000 calories during Three Peaks. I did that over 10 hours though - the TDF guys do the same sort of thing in half the time!!

Is that estimate with or without an HRM? I think that's still the most accurate kcal burning currency.

[G'day Mate]

Is that estimate with or without an HRM? I think that's still the most accurate kcal burning currency.

Without ...

So, I went back and looked at people it grouped me with who had HRMs and they burnt about 6,500 - 11,000 ... so I guess the truth is somewhere in between?

On the ride itself I ate about a dozen bananas, two or three energy bars, two or three gels, a stupid scone and this salad wrap thing they gave us for lunch.

[overpowered]

So apparently the UCI ruled that Froome would not be allowed to wear yellow today. He said that he didn't want to anyway out of respect for Martin. Not sure if he's telling the truth. Maybe he is and I misjudged him.

[Yw-slayer]

Yeah, 10,000kcal sounds about right for a cycling event in Australia called "Three Peaks".

[overpowered]

You can't really do an accurate calorie estimate without a power meter, but they're expensive and that's definitely pushing into the world of hardcore.

Cav and Etixx-Quick Step finally get the positioning and timing right. Nice to see him finally get one. It puts him solidly in third on the all time list and only 2 away from Hinault. It's been 2 years for him since he crashed on stage 1 last year. He's probably only got 2 more chances this year.

Sagan is only 11 seconds behind Froome. A cat 3 is usually not a place where the real GC contenders are likely to attack each other. Sagan could at least theoretically take yellow tomorrow and Froome might even let him, since he's no threat in the long run.

[SportWagon]

Anybody else seen a Toyota ad (on television) which showed a guy with a trendy bicycle in his big-windowed office, but seemed to recommend he should get a Toyota instead so he could make it to important meetings or something?

Anybody else seen the same ad at a later time with the bicycle "shopped" into some sort of large locker thing?

Comments on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9j55Tro3w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9j55Tro3w

Suggest that the bicycle was removed from later reruns.

And I seem to recall that the cabinets (perhaps not a locker) was moved in from the left, making it a little more prominent. So perhaps they were actually using a different set of takes and didn't edit it after production.

[G'day Mate]

Froome looked strong on today's final climb. Contador and Quintana were there but quiet ... biding their time I suppose. Nibali though ... does that kind of pinch not suit him or did we see him crack?

[overpowered]

I think he cracked a little. He said before the tour that he didn't think he was really on top form. He's still doing pretty good though.

[G'day Mate]

Looking at the results he only lost 10 seconds on the other three - not as bad as it looked at first - he was probably only just behind the group in the end.

[G'day Mate]

It's always hard to tell people apart on the team time trial ... although today there are a couple of exceptions:

- Adam Hansen is riding a road bike instead of a TT bike because of his shoulder
- Thomas Voeckler is doing that thing he does ...

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/534881eae4b02c0c8e9dcace/t/53fee5e4e4b02e9c3cf7935e/1409213924505/

The differing numbers of riders are making things a little interesting. Orica GreenEdge are clearly just trying to survive with only two-thirds of their team left.

[George]

The usual from me.



Now with drop bars and bar-end shifters! This bike has gone from tolerable to supremely comfortable, and it actually stops now instead of just slowing down when the brakes are applied. It's Sunday morning as I write this and we are eating a good breakfast before heading to the BMX track and other exotic cycling destinations today.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00287_zps7u0xbslw.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00295_zpsfk5stly0.jpg

A relatively new (to me) product sold in hardware stores called Gear Ties were helpful while cutting cable housing, before wrapping the bars. I also use them to tie my bike to the workbench so kids don't bowl it over on their way out of the door from the house into the garage, when whichever bike I'm riding that day isn't hanging from the ceiling.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/craigslistuser/DSC00285_zpsqffzlor6.jpg

[Tom Servo]

Tried to whip up a ride for the wife, a friend, and me to enjoy on Sunday. Overall went well - we rode out from Westwood to Griffith Park, up and over Mt. Hollywood, then back down around the LA zoo. Picked up some water, then went on the LA River Path for a while. Made a mistake picking Glendale Blvd. - it's steep uphill and very narrow and lead to a lot of asshole behavior from drivers. That is until an LA Metro bus came up behind us and blocked everyone while waiting patiently behind us until it was safe to pass.

Just sent a message to LA Metro calling out their driver for being awesome. I hope he gets the message.

Then cruised around Silver Lake to meet up with Sunset which actually was quite nice to ride descending into downtown. Enjoyed the wonderful Spring St. lanes through downtown, Grand down to USC, then Expo back home.

Unfortunately, we had to make some adjustments due to road closures and when we did that one time, Michele got her front wheel caught against the lip of a driveway and went down. She's got some pain in her hip, says it feels like she pulled a muscle. She struggled for the rest of the ride home, we barely managed 12mph. Get home, realize her brakes must have gotten hit when she went down and she had spent that entire time riding with the brakes rubbing against one side of her rear wheel. That explains the 12mph.

The good news is, she wants to do it again. Maybe without the crashing, though.

[G'day Mate]

Get home, realize her brakes must have gotten hit when she went down and she had spent that entire time riding with the brakes rubbing against one side of her rear wheel. That explains the 12mph.

:lol:

... she's not too badly hurt, right?

[Tom Servo]

Naah. Her hip is really sore, she says it just feels like strained muscles, not any sort of real damage. Sitting down and getting up generally is slow and elicits a pained grunt, but otherwise she seems fine. Thankfully it was at low speed so the road rash is miniscule. She nearly caught the fall, but when she got a foot down the bike kept going and pushed her leg out into a pretty awkward split - I'm thinking that's where the hip pain is coming from.

[Yw-slayer]

Hope she gets well soon man. I need to get back out on my bikes now that Dragon Boat season is over.

[M4FFU]

Still suffering from utterly woeful M575 Shimano brakes. Replaced the front and rear pads to resin (from metal) on Saturday and after a little bedding in, difference is night and day at the front. Rear is still woeful. I was planning on going for a full XT upgrade if the pads hadn’t fixed it, but will stick with trying to get the rear to perform. It’s been bled, and disc cleaned. Will try the disc cleaner again…

Also ordered a shorter stem for my road bike. Gone from a 100mm to 50mm as the read is too much. Yes, I know it might be twitchy, but the bars are just too far away. Should this not fix my comfort issue, I’ll cut my loses, sell the bike for what I bought it for, and go for a proper frame fit rather than an ebay lucky guess!

[Yw-slayer]

A proper frame fit is the best investment you'll ever make in relation to Road riding. Try and get general geometry/body proportions measured too so that the shop can advise you on future purchases.

[M4FFU]

Absolutely - and will do. I'm just trying to best-fit my eBay bargain before the need for a different purchase/frame.

[G'day Mate]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJyUS5xW8AATLfD.jpg:large

[overpowered]

That's just wrong.

[George]

^ Segway needs drop bars. :p

And is the guy on the right on a bike that fits him or is he clowning around on a bike belonging to someone much smaller than he? Elbows below knees? Ouch.

Maybe I'm not watching enough Tour De France if that's the norm these days.

Hope Mrs. Servo recovers soon and fully.

[overpowered]

They sometimes go with a smaller than normal frame and raise the saddle to normal height for them to get a more aero position. A smaller frame also has less flex.

[overpowered]

‘It’s Like Riding a Bike’ Means Nothing to These Adults Trying to Learn

http://www.wsj.com/articles/its-just-like-riding-a-bike-means-nothing-to-these-adults-trying-to-learn-1436832513

[TheBenior]

I recently found out that a buddy of mine who's 34 years old never learned to ride a bicycle.

His early years were spent in the former USSR in what is now Kazakhstan.