your daily bicycle log

I wouldn't know -- they didn't even get any last year!

it's a really nice climb, though it was pretty busy traffic-wise even at midday, midweek

The canyons ive seen in nm down— by gila, and over by black mtns, and up in taos— all had such narrow canyon spaces, pretty winding and neat. As long as traffic is safe they were great. Be careful tho the most insane truck rollover i ever saw was a few russian dudes in the black mtns with NO BIZ taking a rig up that shit let alone rolling it. Tho that was pre good phone coverage days. Damn those dudes were fucked.

Sorry retrospective grammar attempts alwAys fail, all the dashes————-

as it happens, I passed a car accident on the way up

Heading north on the big red bridge gives you absolutely no shoulder to ditch into, so it was awfully exciting when I was cranking uphill and dude rounded a corner towards me, cruising down, in my lane, looking somewhere else. I bark out a "YO" and he glares at me as he swings off with little margin for error. Sorry to hurt your feelings man! I took it out on someone who tried to pass me near the peak of Hawk Hill though.

Crossing the big red bridge in the days before the rail between you and the traffic lanes used to really freak me out. But yeah, it can still be bad now.

Hopefully I can do that ride again soon! It's been a while.

bike died, have no idea why or what to do, am stuck in heavy traffic in a taxi

this is the folder? hope u get it sorted!

yeah thanks. i’m sure it’s fine, just need to learn how to do bike maintenance. standing in a basement with unhelpful youtube videos is not fun.

just go to the park tools youtube account, they'll explain everything

I live in a relatively low theft zone, but just heard you can fill saddle allen bolts with hot glue. What are your tricks? To deter ez pickins. (Lol its a fucking c13 and my preeeciousss).

I bought some security bolts after I got a saddle stolen and have never used them. But they exist!

yeah i say pitbolts and pinheads and like that, but i uh...have a LOT of hot glue, can't reglue baskets and grips without that shiz

just go to the park tools youtube account, they'll explain everything

― gbx, Friday, 24 August 2018 07:06 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for tip. turns out the cassette was loose (i don't know what that means or how i would have diagnosed it)

Buy bike
Buy accessories
Fail at riding
How do I change my gears?!
Ugh
Cry.

What the old saying doesn't mention is how long it takes till riding a bicycle is something you never forget. Can we help?

Practice and repetition is a pain but part of the game. specific questions i’ll try to respond if i know.

Shifting- shift before it gets difficult is one non-insight insight.

uh lemme see if i got this right: don't buy upgrades, ride up grades

"it never gets easier, you just get faster"

is the physical act of changing gears difficult? (janky derailleurs, old cable, front derailleurs in general) or is it how to find the right gear? after years of fixed gear/single-speed i did think that finding the right gear was tricky (i mashed when mashing was called for, got spinny when that was required). getting into the right cadence (esp when you're in the middle of the cassette) can be frustrating, but i have found, as a heuristic, that any time you move the big ring in one direction (eg it got harder), move the rear two in the opposite (eg make it easier)

p sure sheldon brown (RIP) has a whole tutorial on this?

i just spent 16 days with a bunch of people riding the length of thee isle of great britain (john o'groats in scotland to land's end in cornwall). mostly we stuck to quieter roads which added to the distance considerably - 1220 miles ridden in total and on an average day we did about 80 miles. we were camping in tents every night, but my mum and dad drove the whole thing in their camper van so they carried all our tents and other gear so that was a massive boon. weather was mostly okay, the only day when we got totally soaked was riding through lancashire (typical), the haul over the the forest of bowland was a glorious battle against wild, wet and windy conditions. my 14 year old son did the whole thing with us - he normally only rides bmx and mountain bikes but he absolutely stomped everyone on every single climb, he was amazing. the riding was great, but tbh i really struggled with the whole group dynamic and once everyone started getting tired and grumpy i was glad to just spend most of the later days with just my son and one other guy. anyhow, photodump in my long-neglected flickr if anyone's interested in viewing my terrible helmet hair and whiskery bad looks:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/145923930@N07/

congrats, that is a great great event. it must have been amazing to do it with your kid, too. can't wait to check yr photos.

Great work

This is not the content I expect from ilx but I find it pleasing. A stone circle! Wheelies!

so many endos!

Yeah he had an spd moment after one of those endos, landed in a heap on the floor and totally ripped the leg warmers I bought him just the day before. Grrrr!

That is a fun photostream, looks like a great trip.

hardly the most memorable moment for you probably, but the one of the geese is cool in a _is that what they actually do?_ kind of way.

Wow I didn’t check this for like two weeks!
Thank you guys!!!!

missed the old CX bike and wanted something for road/path/dirty hijinx for the summer, got sweet deal on kona rove with 650b wheels and superfat slicks. so good! the french were right!

used it for nite ride, middle of the city after midnight, barely see a regular car among the garbage trucks and taxis

that’s doin it right 👍

yeah bigtime

yeah that sounds fun as hell

night rides were actually a big part of me getting back into cycling as an adult. i complimented some random dude's classic 10-speed back in 2010 and he told me about Midnight Ridazz (LA night ride crew of Taco Tuesdays fame - "guys, please stop stealing from the 7-11 or they won't let us in")

Midnight Ridazz were founded by the biggest amateur doper in the USA. He has a lifetime USAC ban from competition, now he just tries to claim Strava KOMs all over LA. Terrible person.

and gaimon took most of them back

don't shame a dude for getting back on the bike because he did it in the presence of a jerk. keep it positive ya ding dong

brilliant summer idea haitch, i may very well get into some of that (now that evil magpie season seems to be over)

melbourne bike cru

the spotless reputation of Midnight Ridazz ruined

Won't somebody think of the Ridazz... lol

In unrelated "tech giants are horrible" news, this was particularly disturbing coming from a consumer reports POV:

YouTube have terminated my GPLama account. Apparently for three violations of their community guidelines (no reason given). That's everything gone. 2 years work. 700 videos. 17 Million watch minutes. @TeamYouTube Explain this to everyone below. You've just ended me.

— Shane Miller (@gplama) October 29, 2018

whoa -- i've watched some of that dude's videos, seems like the most innocuous unboxing/review stuff around

they've reinstated the channel but haven't communicated what the problems were - obviously there's probably not anyone to actually talk to about it

My main recall of Melbourne roads is nearly having a tram impale my rental while I tried to turn across traffic. Be careful.

― Hunt3r, Saturday, 26 May 2018 13:55 (seven months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just fell victim to tram tracks

oh no- hope yr well and no or few damages! status check?

a load of skin came off left elbow, both knees, left calf and right hand. no damage at all to neck or helmet/head. bike front wheel is jamming against the brake and the chain mechanism is making a funny noise, but i think it’s fixable (will know next week).

next time i see a load of arse biscuits standing in the bike lane i will lose my shit at them.

thanks for your concern <3

FWIW this has happened to me also (although not quite as dramatically!) and almost everyone who bikes in downtown San Francisco. Hope you heal quickly!

thanks! a lovely bloke came out of his shop and got me bandaged up, and the hospital i went to (public health is free here) checked joint movements &c. and established nothing was broken.

I think I might be on the verge of getting a Brompton y/n

what for specifically? depending on your situation you might be better off with another folder

commuting. one of the ways I can get to work that isn't driving is commuter rail + bike the rest of the way

I guess it'd also be nice for bringing along on trips, too, as a number of airlines will let you bring them on as carry-on luggage