big john

I think if you are going faster or they can tell you are hammering they don't worry about you slowing them up so much.

I try to get out of their way when I can, like making room for them to turn right. I like to thank drivers when they let us cross lanes or whatever. There is no sense escalating the friction between us, even though I let a finger fly sometimes. I try not to, might get my old ass kicked.

burnthesheep

Aight, rotors are in. Says today and tomorrow the extra cross wheels and the FD/cassette parts show up.

I did go over some Strava "data" to see how much slower the cross bike is than the aero roadie and it's about a solid 30w or so. I looked up the CRR listings for the Gravelkings and the GP5000 with latex and that alone is worth 20w total the two tire sets. Then the roadie has the lower cockpit worth a hair. Yada yada. So, makes sense.

If with the new cross wheelset I put gp5000's on the original aero wheelset on the cross bike not sure I'll ride the roadie much other than fast group rides. The SRAM axs is just good.

Last night ultrasonic cleaner and waxed 5 chains. 2 cross bike chains for racing and 1 cross bike chain for road riding, TT bike, and roadie. That was some work, but the miles split among all the bikes means plenty time in between.

furiousferret

Like burnthesheep said, I believe speed is safe, the faster you go the safer. Some of my commutes I have to share the road with cars going over 70 mph, and the longer it takes them to overtake me the greater a chance they have of seeing me.

When I started, I remember when cyclists would get killed by drivers, it would get celebrated by some in the comments section of the article. Now it's not nearly as bad, and people seem more rational about it. While I’m primarily a bike racer, I do believe the US and most of the world needs to go on a carbon diet; we need to ditch fossil fuels and drastically cut down car use (even EVs). To do that we need more trains, bike routes, buses, etc. My point is, drivers should embrace this because freeway expansions no longer work; the only real option left to curb traffic is to take cars off the road.

ridethecliche

I think some of it is related to the fact that a big chunk of America got on bikes with their family over the pandemic.

Flatballer

Half you guys are old AF (as am I, almost). Any advice on finding a doctor for a vasectomy? I don't want to pick the wrong person, lol.

topflightpro

My understanding is that it's a pretty common procedure. I think almost any urologist can do it.

Enthalpic

There are clinics / doctors that pretty much only do vasectomies; I would go to one of those (practice makes perfect).

carpediemracing 

Ask what your out of pocket cost will be.

I was under the impression that you can get it done for about $1000-2000. First doctor I visited said to expect to pay about $9k out of pocket. I couldn't believe it. In the list of doctors/costs (not sure if that was a list from the insurance company or if it was a directory or what), they were in the $1500 range. Pandemic hit right after and we put that project on hold.

Flatballer

Good point, hadn't thought of that.

Good idea, although with the baby we're already over our out of pocket max, hence getting that and another hand surgery done this year while it's free, lol.

Put all the expensive medical care in one yea.

carpediemracing 

We had already met the deductible that year, hence the project. However the procedure had to be done in the office, not in the hospital. Once it's in the hospital it wasn't a covered service. In an office, it would have been considered outpatient and therefore covered. This doctor only did it in the hospital, no stay or anything, but it wasn't considered a covered service at that point.

I hate US healthcare.

burnthesheep

Possibly the last move away from hardly ever riding the aero roadie may be complete. The TCX came with fancy 42mm carbon wheels and I bought some budget alloy cross wheels from Hunt to put the cross tires on. Hunt had a sale on a return set, so now have a third set for that bike. So, gravel tire setup, cross tire setup, road tire setup.

It handles a bit less snappy than a Propel, sure, but if I'm not racing crits I don't really see the point. Comfort, enjoyment, and building the engine for TT, cyclocross, gravel, would be the priority.

I'll keep it as the Propel I carbon repaired a year after owning it. So useful for Zwift, sadly. But the 105 mech shifters compared to 12spd SRAM AXS is just utter garbage.

I'll see how I get on with it for a while. Also I love the flexibility now of having one bike that I can take several wheelsets with me on a training ride. Park at the cross course, do an hour of z2 road riding first, then swap wheels and do cross skills.

ridethecliche

I'm trying to get back into riding and doing the PT stuff to be able to do it without the old issues popping up. Also have a giant tcx but it's a bit older. I would love a set of aero wheels for this thing for groad riding and then use the current set for more gravel oriented stuff.

I think cross is just something I'm never going to get around to and I'm okay with that. That reminds me that I have to sell a set of wheels that came with this bike.

himespau 

Holy cow, I feel like a rock star. I was cooling down after a group ride that I was supposed to be doing at z2 (yeah right, ride didn't have a set pace and I found a group too tempting not to chase) on Zwift when I got a ride on from a guy named ___._____/CarpeDiemRacing. He was even wearing the sprinter's jersey. New job must be working out well for you.

burnthesheep

Wheels coming to door soon, can't wait.

Good luck, the BB sound on the road bike was just a rusted chain needing tosses. I ultrasonic and wax my chains so I have zero idea how that happened as that bike never sees rain. Odd. So I'll have a spare BB for that bike laying around.

bampilot06

I recently put a new sram chain on one of my bikes, I road it once, during the day and had to go out of town for work. When I got back the chain was rusted. My only guess is the humidity? Never had that happen before.

burnthesheep

I had been storing those in the shed recently.

Maybe I'll buy a lot of spare quick links and when the bikes go in the shed remove the chains and bag them and take them indoors.

carpediemracing 

Hahaha!

Looking at Strava, I did two sprints that day, very boggy, had to go into the 11T to keep the pedals turning. 21.54 and 21.60 for the sprints. Light turnout - 1500 or so riders on the map, and 10% of them did the sprint segment. A few of those days I spent 30-40 minutes pedaling as Zwift loaded etc, not sure if that was one of them. Might be because I started the ride at 10 pm.

New job is good. Boss (or leader - there isn't the normal hierarchy here, it's sort of like a cycling team, sometimes the other person is more important, sometimes not) is great, coworkers (virtual, in other branches) are fantastic.

I told them about a funeral I went to recently and after that someone told me that if I ever write a memoir that they want to know so they can buy the book. The funeral was for my best friend's mother in law who passed due to cancer. I went alone, the Missus couldn't make it. Missus said there was a livestream (a bit odd, at least to me, but whatever) and she'd try to catch it on there.

Got there, my best friend was there, sort of unexpectedly since he is new and working for the same company as me except he's in SoCal (my SoCal training camp host), and he gives me a hug and says hi. Then he says, oh, B is over there (she was my gf two before the Missus, and B, my best friend, and I hung out all the time, went to races together, etc). So I go to B and sit next to her. A minute later S pops up and asks if she can join us. S was my gf before B. So now I'm sitting between two ex-gfs B and S and the livestream camera is a few rows behind us. I thought, boy, if the Missus tunes in now....

We talked a bit after, took some pictures there (first time I'd seen them together in possibly forever, although they all know each other). I went to the cemetery etc but they left from the church.

Told the Missus when I got home. She missed the livestream due to a client coming in and asking a bunch of questions. She knows them too so it was all good, but still. And this is yet another reason why I feel so fortunate that the Missus is my Missus.

For cycling... Doing some consistent lifting during the week (3x5 hard reps 3 days a week for the muscle groups I can work) and some rides. I'm trying to get my head a bit more straightened out - I have goals now for 2023 but the motivation is a bit lacking.

Reminds me of a thing. Back in the "hotline phone" days, where there was a phone on the desk in the Oval Office that connected to somewhere in the Kremlin, the US/USSR phone people would send messages to test the system. They would try to send quotes and stuff because they didn't translate straight and it was a challenge to the other side. One day the US sent a message: "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak". The USSR sent back their translation: "The vodka is good but the meat is rotten". I have to toggle the motivation switch, don't know how to do it.

I do know I am starting to learn just how little I know about doing the 500m TT. A guy that I raced with (he beat me in every race) literally laughed in astonishment when I told him the gear I used in the 500m. It wasn't mean, it was just that I used a ridiculous gear. For me, not for, say, a Hoogerland.

ridethecliche

carpediemracing
I feel that a bit re having the goals but lacking the commitment. For me right now there's a certain element of futility since every time I start feeling good on the bike again, my knee starts freaking out. Trying to do some more prehab etc this go around.

While I might sometimes lack the motivation to get on the trainer, I've been relatively good about getting sessions on the row erg. Usually shooting for a 5k or 30 mins. I'm not very good at it but hard 30 min session for me was 425 cals which is a lot more than I can currently do on the bike. I really hope there's some decent carry over!

I'm trying to get down to 2 minute splits for a 5k, ie sub 20min!

Doge

Daniel is now a Pilot Instructor. He'll be part of the largest pilot training group in the USA for the next 4 years.
He still rides.

carpediemracing 

Flipped the mental switch, finally. Am in dieting mode with some training thrown in there. Starting like I did in 2009, when I ended up transforming myself. Motivation, commitment, all there right now. Been a week so that's good, but it will need to be a few months for things to be complete. We'll see. Lifting almost daily, riding frequently, eating low.

TMonk

very cool Doge

Enthalpic

Pretty cool seeing the fancy indoor velodrome actually being built.

Broctoon

That’s pretty tough, for anyone who’s not a dedicated, experienced rower. I do about 2:30 splits (25 minute 5k). I’ve only had my row machine for about a year, and I’m trying to get better at it.

Doge

I bought a bike today because it was a good deal. Kid: "Who's that for?" Me: "Mine" Kid: "Size?" Me: "M" Kid: "I'm Med" Me:"You can ride it" Kid:"No point in winning a TT if you can't finish the RR." Me: "Yes there is."


I just like bikes

Hermes

World Cup Soccer - Anyone else watching WC? So far there have upsets and some fantastic plays. Cristiano Ronaldo from the Portugal national team, age 37, and arguably, the greatest player of all time is a magician. I watched his play last night against Switzerland and he reminds me of Magic Johnson on the basketball court. And there is the Brazilian team. The speed at which they execute is beyond the pale.