rjones28 

I have 4 bikes in my office in various states of assembly.

rjones28 

I use Excel to keep track of spoke tension.

Ramona_W

Isn't some other spelling of Califon the name of a type of cookware?

Ramona_W

Well, first of all, it helps to actually be *on* the bike.

Ramona_W

Clearly, this is true. Only a few days ago you were claiming to be fed up with life.

Ramona_W

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't a death ride by definition a one time per person thing? So, eventually, there'd be open spots due to attrition.

coasting 

oh boy. another comedian.

Ramona_W

1) No such thing as too much rise and 2) speaking as a professional, so long as you can slam it all the way if you want to, stem length doesn't seem to make much difference.

patentcad

patentcad

This is the 41, no pardon necessary.

patentcad

It's considerably beyond your reading comprehension regardless.

55,810 posts fatso.

Ramona_W

Monday, I got to work early: psyched, caffeinated, ready to kick ass and take names. Went to the 8am team meeting. Went to cashier training that everyone is required to have. Excused myself from further training on the grounds that I had 80 bikes waiting to be assembled. Walked back to my assembly area and discovered that the spot where I'd left my toolbox was now...completely effing empty. Fruity colored wrenches? Gone. Rubber mallet? Gone. My personal tools, the store use tools, the perfect peach lipstick, my last four chocolate covered espresso beans? Gone gone gone. The whole freaking toolbox had vanished. Returned to the sales floor where I told anyone who would listen what had happened. Assistant managers, associates, the asset protection guy, an assistant manager who used to be an asset protection guy- everybody was sorry it was missing but no one had any idea where it might be. I had that feeling in my stomach like when you're going down stairs and you miss a step. One of the guys was recently an assembler at another store and he had someone steal his whole toolbox and he very kindly kept asking me for news and, even kinder still, asking me how I was holding up. There were announcements over the PA system throughout the day and I kept hoping I'd walk around the corner and it would be there on the workbench.

At 1:30pm, they authorized my collecting an assortment of necessary tools for store use. Around 2:30, three young ladies appeared and said "Tara told us we should come back here and help you build bikes." With completely inexperienced people and a handful of the most rudimentary tools? Sure. Let's do it. But, I'll be damned, if over the next hour and a half we didn't assemble 5 bikes. It's true I had to tweak a few things the next day like the front wheel that was barely finger-tight but they tried hard and I appreciated the show of support. Still, I went home at 5 a very sad girl.

Halfway through the next morning, the shift manager and one of the girls from the receiving area approached me and asked if *this* was the toolbox I'd been looking for. Huzzah! Turns out, they found it in the stock picker aka cherry picker next to some fishing line so clearly some insensitive jackass was using it to hang things from the ceiling and was too overcome with fatigue or laziness to return it. I was so happy to have it back. Everything but the chocolate covered espresso beans was still in it. This definitely reinforces the idea that some tools- like my Park spoke wrench- are too valuable to ever go to work with me if they might be out of my sight or reach.

Rowan

I was going to post last night that for the new thread to be successful, it had to have "old people" in it because the most successful thread lately has been this:

https://www.bikeforums.net/fifty-plus...ur-bike-s.html

Obviously, I haven't posted in that thread or the attempt to start a new Old Person's Addiction, and don't intend to.

You are only as young as the woman you feel... errr... feel in mind and soul.

Which means both ways I am still in my 40s.

Rowan

One of the really nice things about cycling is that you can experiment without the possibility of doing excess damage to yourself. Why don't you experiment with tyre pressure. First of all get a decent pump with a gauge, then try riding with the tyres at increments of 5psi above and below 85psi. It may well be that you find the ride or handling to be different or better or worse at certain pressures. Obviously, don't go below, say, 65psi.

It's funny. Years ago, I started posting on the Long Distance forum and Road forum that I was using lower pressures in 23 and 25C tyres, such as 85 to 90psi, and was rebuked for running the risk of pinch flats. Now everyone is doing it... and running wider tyres.

I may have been ahead of my time.

(Same thing with Brooks saddles and fixed gears for older people...)

Rowan

I find that if the gloves are not quite the right fit, they do indeed cause issues, not so much with blood, but with nerves through to the fingers. My hand can slip forward so the bottoms of the gloves fingers press on my webbing. But if the glove is too tight, I end up with similar issues.

My favourites have been unpadded Fox gloves in both long and short-fingered form. I should check the labels on them to see what model they are.

I discovered quite a while ago that padded gloves actually make the finger tingle worse. Fit obviously plays a significant role, along with core strength. For me, gloves are more protection from the elements and if I fall and use my hands to stop...

Rowan

That's odd for a troublemaker like yourself... he should post it to upset the minions who want to play by rules. when there shouldn't be.

Rowan

The spacer above the stem goes a long way to avoiding a CF steerer tube cracking if you wrench down on the stem clamp too hard (yeah, yeah, you should have a torque wrench).

WHOOOSSHHH...

datlas 

Hey @Heathpack, I suggest for your weight, and 28 width, you would do well with 75F and 80R. 85 isn't "wrong" per se but probably a little harsher riding.

Today is apparently "ride your bike to work day" which I was thinking of doing, but look at the east coast usa weather map. There is a huge wall of rain here. They are expecting 1-2 inches of rain today.

Obviously, I did not ride my bike to work today.

Heathpack 

Good Morning Addicts from the bike path.



One last climbing ride before I leave on vacation.

I'm using @datlas' tire pressures, so far I don't notice anything different, but I'm only 9 mi in.
@Rowan, thanks for the glove recc. If you can find model, that would be great. I understand it will be different for everybody, but at least that's a start.

rjones28 

We're getting that too. So, I walked to work.

BillyD

Solid advice.

gc3

Tailwind....

Ramona_W

I read an interesting explanation for why cyclists are so upset after interactions with jerkish but not dangerous motorists and the motorists are so confused. His thinking was that cyclists, who lack the barrier of car walls and are therefore up close and personal with dogs, flowers, pedestrians regard these events as if they happened face to face and it usually takes a lot of nerve, stupidity, or alcohol to encourage someone to walk up to a stranger and attempt to physically intimidate them or to start making vulgar references to their ancestry. Cars, much like the internet, isolate and anonymize people and give them the freedom to behave as badly and as insultingly as they wish with few if any repercussions. And that's what you see on the road and that's also what encourages jackassery like we saw earlier in the thread. I thought it was interesting anyway.

Dudelsack 

Cycling is a conduit to reality. For many, and perhaps most city-dwellers, it is their last contact with it.