[79pmooney]

in reply to: LBS Rant #36630

There was just a many page thread over on the other forum about how much better disc brakes were. The proponents poopoo’d the cost of maintenance. One regular there, a pro mechanic, said he’s not complaining; it was really good for his wallet.

Thanks 61x, you’re helping me stay caliper!

Edit: $180 bucks?  I’ve never paid that for an entire set and levers, never mind $100 more.

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Where are all my bikes? #36763

Dale, I got beaten over Smuggler’s Notch by a junior on a restricted 5-speed straight block. 15-19? 1977. Kid was from Florida (and good; made something of a name for himself).

One of my last pairs of good sewup wheels was GP-4s. Put 17,000 miles on ’em until I collapsed the rear around an inch on a pothole edge. I’d already gone through the brake track. Bumpy ride home! (I love that going through a rim sidewall isn’t catastrophic with sewups.)

Edit: and on topic – I’ve only sold one bike.  The Fuji Pro I raced.  Hurt,  I loved that bike but it wasn’t a weekend warrior and for my post-crash years I did not need to be saddled with a bike I wasn’t riding.  Sold it to a kid who had no  idea what he was getting.  Sold it for what I paid, $450.

The rest were stolen (2), crashed (2), dishonorable discharge (2), honorable discharge (2).  Still in my fleet (5)

[79pmooney]

in reply to: I feel like Casey Stengel some days #36531

eurochien, I was taught to ride elbows out in crowds so that would be first contact if possible. Out, slightly bent and relaxed with a firm but not rigid grip on the bars. Part of the John Allis school of bike racing that we all learned, either directly from him or from others who had learned.

That so many of us (the racers of the greater Boston area in the ’70s) learned the same rules meant we had very safe racing. One of the “rules” was a that you rode so a rod could pass though the tops of your bars and the tops ofy our neighbor’s bars (pretend they are all the same height) and we adjusted our speeds without even thinking about it to make that happen. In a race once, I was on the far left edge of the road on a several mile seated climb. I was hoping to move up, but for now I was “parked”. Now the road washed out in quite a number of places because there was a hillside dropping off to the left. (Old New England road.) At these washouts, I had to ride into my neighbor and push him over so I could pass. Didn’t know him, but we both knew the code and it wasn’t an issue. A couple of times I had to push hard enough to push his neighbor over also. Again not an issue. My neighbor didn’t like being sandwiched but he could see perfectly well the hole I was going to fall into and didn’t say anything. Since I left that scene, I have never felt that comfortable. Now I have no idea what others know or how they will react and I keep my guard up. (Also the stakes are a lot higher. Minor wheel rubs, if I go down, are near certainly yet another concussion. I don’t have to hit my head. A body slam is enough.

Ben

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Paris-Nice: I like! #36437

lsd, this looks like old fashioned, clean racing. Clean drugwise. Those who lost time to crashes when Sunweb took the peleton through the roundabout with a massive acceleration might have other thoughts as to intent and tactics. But pint sized Quintana made it; proof it could be done by anybody riding smart.

I read the CyclingNews live text report. Just realized they didn’t mention Ineos ever. Not once. Were they in the race?

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Paris-Nice: I like! #36433

First, its not canceled.  Second, opening stage was a real race!  Third, two of my favorites did their thing nicely.  Alaphillippe, built for the Ardennes races, took this on.  Didn’t win but put put his mark on the week.  (More than a couple of riders are going to remember his ride and not with fondness.)  Quintana, the pint sized climber who had no business there in a windy crosswind day, did exactly what he needed to do.

It may be a grim year, but for the next week we have bicycle racing!  Really good racing!  Now, if Alaphillppe can continue the show all week and Quintana can quietly pull this off (throwing in one or two special days) I’ll be as happy as a clam.

I’ve been off the bike.  Music, people and another room renovation getting my focus.  Vowed before I went to bed that today I’d ride.  Last night my leg cramped up.  Yup, gotta go.  (It’s gonna be real slow!)  But Alaphillippe has put some spring in my step!)

I’m off to put some air in my tires and make sure the 18 and 19 tooth cogs are on Jessica.  (Don’t want to do anything rash!)

Ben

[79pmooney]

in reply to: I feel like Casey Stengel some days #36528

Posted By Cosmic Kid on 03/03/2020 02:41 PM

I’m also guessing the non-tubeless tires are a few grams lighter and more supple at the same cost level,

The newest tubeless tires have the best rolling resistance of ANY tire, tubed, tubular or tubeless. GP500 TL and the Vittoria Corsa Speed 2.0 are ridiculously fast.

And I don’t even wann think about what that bunny-hop landing would look like.

Did they compare the tubeless to clinchers run without tubes?  Would they publish the results?  (Not if they wanted to stay suit free.  )

[79pmooney]

in reply to: I feel like Casey Stengel some days #36526

CK, think about it. If you time that flat right, you could incorporate it into your bunnyhop and go several inches higher. I’m also guessing the non-tubeless tires are a few grams lighter and more supple at the same cost level, making that setup faster. Faster mounting, faster rolling and better bunnyhops (well maybe just one). All good. Only drawback: the landing isn’t quite as pretty.

[79pmooney]

in reply to: I feel like Casey Stengel some days #36523

Dale, with my many head injuries; the big one and lots of smaller ones that would not have been except those impacts rattled my now loosened brain, riding in iffy company is just not being very smart.   A major factor in my riding alone nearly always.

I do three or four organized rides a year. Cycle Oregon – yes, thousands of riders of all skill levels but staying away from marginal riding isn’t usually very hard. Those who have to get to camp first leave long before the days warms up for my knees. The Worst Day of the Year ride where I always ride the long route that whittles the groups down early with a 1000′ climb. The Portland Century – usually great routes and it can get iffy on both riding behaviors and roads chosen.

Group etiquette – riding trustworthy tires. In my first 3-4 criterium, a crash fest, the wheel I was on blew mid-corner. He went down. I got by but the two behind me didn’t. The rider who crashed was a good rider and friend but but a young racer riding on a budget. Cheap sewups.

Edit: if you get on my wheel in a ride that is not a race or fast semi-organized ride, tell me!  I throw the bike back when I stand riding alone rather than do the 1/2 crank turn acceleration.  If I know you are there, I always do it right but I gotta know.

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Mosconi and Ineos (again) #36447

What Ineos could do that would get some respect from me: suspend Mosconi without pay for 2 months, starting now. Require him to go to anger management. Tell him to take it seriously or he’s gone next incident. Good anger management will have him looking back at the root of his anger. If he’s willing, it could be life changing for him and a huge benefit for all his life touches. (I don’t have high hopes but I have seen similar miracles. It can happen. And if it did, it would (finally) be Sky/Ineos doing the right thing.)

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Mosconi and Ineos (again) #36445

Mosconi tosses a bike at another rider after a crash at Muurne-Brussels-Kuurne.  Gets disqualified.  Ineos DS after “I agree with the decision – it’s not something that should happen”.

OK.  Now what are you gong to do?  Discipline him a little and keep him on, keeping paying his salary.  He’s an enforcer in the old tradition of the NHL.  Keeping him on says a lot about you, Ineos.

Mosconi’s already been involves with about half a dozen incidents “that should happen”.

Ben

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Velovirus????? #36542

Posted By Cosmic Kid on 02/26/2020 04:41 PM
Oh man….I hope it works out for you. Sounds like an awesome trip.

Unfortunately, I think this crisis is far from receding. I don’t think people grasp how serious the situation is, both medically and economically.

CK, I hope you are wrong but I’ve been thinking the same thing.  We have no idea just how big it is now.  All we know is that it is far bigger than the Chinese officials are saying.

Ben

[79pmooney]

in reply to: Hope spring eternal #36461

Nairo Quintana.  30 years old.  Now the big fish on a new team, the second order French Arkea.  He looks fit and motivated.  The new team seems to have embraced him and stepped up their game.

That first year, the off year for Sky at the Tour, I saw a Quintana with one h*** of an engine and a fire in his gut that had to play second fiddle to (I don’t even remember who).  After that I saw a fire that was never quite “right”.   Movistar backup plans behind him “just in case”.  Nairo basking in the Columbian limelight too much.  His other passions taking too much out of him.

Now he’s the man on a team that seems to have embraced him and that might just bring another country of fans behind him and while it’s a “B” team, it’s French so automatic passes to the big French races.  He doesn’t have to burn himself out to get on the Tour squad or get the team into the Tour.  30 years old with no setback seasons (major crashes or injuries), nearly a decade of experience at the top of the cycling world, a world class engine.  A little guy who can climb like a rocket with the (probably grudging) respect of the big guys, including the enforcer types whose job it is to intimidate the little guys.   (He ran one of those guys into a ditch years ago,  They give him space.)  I remember the Tour stage a few years ago.  Southern France, high cross wind all day.  He rode just back from the front the entire stage, in shelter but always visible from the leading cameras.  Only little guy to be seen up there.  I saw that and though that guy knows how to ride a race!

So, can he do it?  Well …, hope springs eternal.

Ben

[79pmooney]

in reply to: An insulating profect going right! #36914

Thanks lsd. My house has bungalow style roofing and brand new roof with 30″ overhangs and I just painted the previously stained siding with two layers of the excellent Home Depot paint by brush and roller. (Next to best Behr. Every brush and rolller stroke was mine). No evidence of water inside anywhere above the crawl space bottom. Big, big change in feel and smell inside since that paint. Fewer bugs too.

The fun part of doing two coats – you get to have exactly the right color. I bought a gallon of what I thought I wanted – warm, reddish brown. Painted two adjacent walls, different sides of the house. Came home a few days later and saw the full sun on the paint. Way too red! Two or three tries, gallons and adjacent walls later, a fully custom brown that was far from my original idea passed the visual test. For the next week or so the house looked odd with the new and 6 or 8 previous panels in different browns. But once it was all the newest, wow! And I wouldn’t have hit that color in a million years with one coat.

Ben

[79pmooney]

in reply to: An insulating profect going right! #36912

I’ll look into that for the remaining (and otherwise finished) rooms. At this pont I have one more sheet of 2″ to fit on the room I’m on now.

Thanks

[79pmooney]

in reply to: An insulating profect going right! #36910

OC, I store myself there so I don’t go bad prematurely. (But my next purchase will be a down comforter.)

Huck, my sensitivity to many chemicals, common and otherwise has been such a governing force in my life that I don’t dare blow a two part foam into my bedroom walls or any other place I spend much time. Now I did do a life-changing “liver cleansing” several years ago and am far less sensitive, but still, this current experience is ~30 months old. The hell lasted 30 years. I”m still very gun shy.

And yes, blown in foam would have all the thermal effect of my fitted sheets for far less work and would stiffen the structure a lot (think balsa or foam core in a fiberglass laminate) but my knowledge of that laminate is way too intimate! (I built ~50 fiberglass boats as a primary laminator. Hence my sensitivities.)

Ben

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