Introductions - Introducing the amazing CON-VER-SEA-HORSE

Lets see

Dublin,
Ireland

Always been on wheels. Got my first two wheeler about age four, man that raleigh bullet flew. Went through a BMX phase about age 7 (I've got cross bar scars 'down there' to prove it), mountain bikes came to this country c.1988 at which point I got one. Have had 4 in total. In recent years two left me via a five finger discount.

Currently riding a modest hardtail TREK 6000 w/

Deore XT front disc
Deore V rear
RS Duke SL fork
Deore Hubs
Mav X517 Rims
Shimano group set w/ STX RC rear mech (old I know)
Ritchey post
All perched on a nice pair of 'Fat boy' Michelins. (Maxxis MOFO XC's for the winter)
I've got a nice pair of Cateye 12 + 20w halogen for the night trail.

Man I know she's not the creme de la creme, but to me she's the nectar of gods.

I'd probably have a road bike if I could afford to own and maintain one but priorities are priorities!!

Where do I ride?

Unfortunately most of my time is spent traversing Dublin city. You might not think it but its not a place for the faint hearted. It's always been a tough city to stake your claim on, but in recent times what with our latest joke for public transport, the construction of the - 'LUAS' - tram system has reduced the city to a post war scenario.
Also the cycle lanes introduced a few years ago are actually dangerous. 60% of Dublin motorists won't recognise them and 90% of people outside the pale (the rest of the country outside of urban Dublin) don't know what they are!!

Anyway enough 6itchin' at least its a good place to hone your skills.

Off trail for me is mostly the Dublin/Wicklow mountains with a bit of the Slieve Blooms thrown in. I wish I could get abroad more with the bike but people around here who are willing and able are few and far between.

My pet hate:

A common sight in Dublin. Bikes on rails with one or two wheels folded. A result of silly drunken boys, or, more commonly, when the lock was too tough for the thief and they decieded to leave a calling card out of spite. At least nick the damn thing and get some use out of it!!

Most embarasing moment?

For anyone who knows Dublin, I was approaching Baggot St. juntion along the Grand canal heading for Ringsend. Picture this: about 08:30, rush hour, damp greasy road, long stagnant queue of traffic. Me coming about 25mph along the inside on my summer semi-slicks. Car too close to kerb, I went to clear the kerb, instead clipped it. The front wheel skimmed it for about 5m and then %^&E%&%^&(!! wipe out. Must have slid for about another 10m on my hands (w/gloves thankfully). Got up, reclaimed my bike, showed my gloves to the -make up artists/ taxi drivers/ nose diggers/ MPV mothers- stunned crowd, took a bow and went on my way!

That was about 2-3yrs ago and I still cringe thinking about it.

Favourite moments?

Coming down a trail about 40 approaching a nice medium bend and getting the back wheel loose on the gravel. Yep that just about does it for me, providing I'm still on the bike of course!

Other interests

Computers and tech. I'm not a gadget boy, I just like things that are actually useful, and can get the job done better than before, microsoft...hmmm. Films, reading, music, travel. I have a general interest in physics and existence in general, I suppose that sort of bleeds into philosophy. And etc. etc.

Sorry I couldn't post any pictures as my camera now belongs to some one who I neither gave or sold it to :mad: Perhaps sometime in the future.

I'm not really a quote person but...

'There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue.'

Get out there and ride
Best wishes,

Welcome. Guess we can be new together. I was in Dublin once - back in 1996 for about 4 days. Not long enough. Someday I'll go back :)

Welcome :) Nice to have you onboard!

Whow ,That Dublin sounds like a tough town.


A physics question for you.

What colour is a carrot when it's in the ground ?

Indeed bigbang :)

Taking the physics slant and assuming you are shining light on it, I suppose it would be...orange. This is also of course assuming they grow in the ground. They do don't they :confused:

Am I right...AM I...AM I?

Enlighten me :)

Well done Converseahorse!

A carrot in the ground whould not reflect a light source so it would not have a colour ! I'm not sure about praties especially after a poteen or two.

How about this!

You are out on your bike and you see a guy shoot a high powered rifle at you in a perfect horizontal trajectory . You decide to free fall down a hill to avoid the bullet the instant you see the flash from the rifle. Of course your bike is frictionless because you spent time taking care of it .

Are you safe from the bullet ?

Well bigbang

What colour was the bullet? Ha, just kidding...although if the ballistic were to be say black, and fired during the day, the Sun's energy would have a negligible effect on its path. :rolleyes:

As is usual we have to put some controls and parameters on this piece of trivia. We will forget the fact that a conventional 'safety' bike would not function without friction. We will also suppose that I am not subject to air resistance etc. etc. Conversely the bullet is subject to all the usual forces, gravity etc.

So I'm on some sort of bike, perhaps some sort of hover bike where my lactic acid provides power to hover and my waste product (heat) powers some device to cancel out air resistance, so in other words you have to be tired for this bike to work! We're on earth right?! We will also assume that the marksman is about 1000m away, we don't want the curvature of the earth getting in the way! Neither do we need the speed of light to be a factor ;). By the way it’s a flat calm day, force 0, no wind. :sleep:

In addition to all this I will assume the guy is at an equal altitude and so his barrel is aimed directly at me. One other thing, the hill you speak of falls directly towards him.

Well the first thing we can deduce from this scenario is that the guy should stick to his day job, unless he has been paid only to scare me and to miss. :cry:

When he fires his bullet it will fall to earth following the usual parabolic curve. Given a powerful enough rifle this might still hit me somewhere below where he pointed his weapon. We don't want this, sure we don’t! :irritated: So the safest plan of action is to side step (one half my body width, assuming he aimed for my centre) and let the offensive lodge where it may. :roflmao:

I do not recommend attempting to meet the bullet half way, this sort of diplomacy just won't do.

Ta-Da!

Perhaps you just wanted a simple 'no'? :crash:

How'd I do, HO W 'D I do?? :thumbup: :fight:


BTW thanks for all the welcomes everyone
Cheers

Huh?... Uh, Welcome!:D