mike868y

i couldn't care less about strava KOMs (mostly because there's a 0% chance i'll ever get one in the boston area), but i like it for the social aspect.

TheKillerPenguin

AAA has shorn half a mountainside producing the expiration notices it has sent me over the past 2 months.

Harlan

Wicked! Your own team or finding one?

canuckbelle

I'm guest riding for QCW.

...still hoping to get picked up by a pro team by the end of the year.

rankin116

Welcome to the dark side. Let the self loathing flow through you.

Ygduf

I miss having friends and social interaction outside of my home.

hack

Soon enough your social circle will be the parents of the other kids your kids do toddler stuff with. One year old birthday parties and whatnot.

dz_nuzz

Sounds like you and the other bike racing dads in your area should have trainer parties. Maybe zwift will implement a "Group ride with friends only, no tag alongs" feature.

mattm

Next time you invite us over, I promise we'll show up!

Ygduf

Sure you'll show up, but when you leave will you take one of these babies?

shovelhd

I'm thinking about heading down to watch the Red Hook crit Saturday night. Anyone else going?

globecanvas

I was thinking about going down to Red Hook! My buddy is racing. I'll drop you a line if I do.

Doge

I spent quite a few hours this afternoon with puppy getting ready for his Euro Trip. Going to really miss the weigh weenie sessions. Got the bike dialed in. 6.8kg with the mirror. If refs don't like mirror - no rules reason not to, have to go steel skewers.

mike868y

hope your (and the official's) scale is calibrated!

carpediemracing 

For mirror issue: you could bring some of those adhesive golf weights, few grams a strip, and slap them on the bottom of that weight there.

Doge

Have those. Decided not to use them. Junior want's to tell USAC director he has to keep mirror to make weight.

island rider

So, I glued up a set of Vittoria tubulars. I just put the wheels on the bike in anticipation of tomorrow's ride. When I did, I noticed that they put the rotational direction arrow pointing in the wrong direction on the back tire. Funny, the same thing had happened on the last rear wheel I glued up.

At least I'm consistent.

Doge

They won't even weigh the bikes is my guess. I told him he should ask the ref and then take it off if the ref says OK.

carpediemracing 

So far we have made zero new friends with any parents of kids. We know a couple people that had kids just before us but I think in 4 years we've gotten together 3 or 4 times with one family (5 year old), and maybe 6 or 8 times with another (7 year old). Of course my siblings have kids - Junior has 8 cousins, 3 he sees regularly, 2 more somewhat regularly, 3 almost never.

Junior does have one kid he plays with in particular, so we finally exchanged numbers last week. No play date at this time though.

On the plus side we've chatted briefly with a bunch of parents (he has 16 kids in his daycare class, and there's another 8 or 16 that are the same age in the next room). All of them say exactly the same thing: Junior is the nicest boy. Today a parent told the Missus that their kid was having problems at drop off for a couple years (crying, didn't want Mommy to go, etc). Junior would get him toys (usually some puzzle the kid liked) and try to make him feel better. This started 2 years ago. Apparently they remember this, and the kid told his mom that Junior is "one of his best friends" (which, honestly, doesn't mean much more than they're not enemies).

It's pretty interesting watching him play with his classmates. Junior often asks me "Can you stay a little while?" so I'll watch him play for 10-15 minutes. I can see a lot of peer dynamics in that time. It's also interesting to see how the other parents pick up their kids, how they treat them (in that very public arena of "daycare pick up"), and how those kids are doing because I see how they play also.

It's a bit sad that many of these kids have virtually no interaction with their parents during the week - drop off at 6:30 or 7 AM, pick up just before close at 6 PM, and while they're leaving they're reminding their kid that it's dinner time and then it's bed time. I'm lucky because I can spend time with Junior. His evenings are similar to the others. He generally falls asleep at 9 no matter what his bed time, so that means I usually hang out with him from 5-something until about 7 then 8-9 (I put my dad to bed in there somewhere). In the mornings I get up with him, 5-5:30-6:00, make him breakfast, hang out and stuff until the Missus takes him at 7:30-8 AM.

On the cycling side this makes riding a bit hard. I sometimes get on the trainer and before I've done an hour it's after midnight. Inevitably those are the mornings that Junior gets up at 4 or something, although sometimes he lets me sleep until 6.

carpediemracing 

After I posted I was thinking that a few in the tool box wouldn't hurt if officials decided a bike was underweight. Well, a lot of strips, because those things don't weigh much. As you said though, chances of weighing in (and then being told the bike is underweight)... blah blah blah.

spdntrxi

then T-ball and soccer...

Doge

Bike trailers.

spectastic

my current road bike weighs 19.5 lbs with race wheels. how does that make you feel?

globecanvas

I think, or hope, that's unusual. We have dozens of friends we originally met because our kids were the same age. And a ton of people who we know because of kid things, aren't necessarily close friends with, but are friendly with.

One interesting thing about the parents-of-other-kids social dynamic is that public school is a great leveler of social walls that we're not even necessarily aware of existing. It's not like people make conscious choices to only be friends with people who are similar to them in general interests, socioeconomic status, political views, etc, but it naturally happens. But kids don't yet have those social grouping cues so they make friends with whoever they want, so you end up spending time with people who there's just no way you would naturally be friends with, which can be a good thing (it can be awkward too, but on balance it's good to get out of your social comfort zone, or at least to be reminded of where your comfort zone is, imo).

gsteinb

At dinner last night the conversation turned to what kids where going to what colleges. I was particularly curious about kids my son was friends with, but is no longer. There are loads of former best friends, where interests shifted. He, not surprisingly, doesn't know their plans. As the soccer mom in the family there are many parents I knew socially, but casually. We had varying degrees of contact over the years based on activities and social events. Of all of them I only count one of them as a close friend. Our sons have been friends on and off, but now are super close (he's going to west point). She and I are confidants, and are both very involved in school, friendly with kids, have a real finger on the pulse of what's going on. I have almost no relationship with almost all of the parents of my son's other friends. There's just nothing there. Even with the parent of the kids in his band. It's blank. But not surprising. Especially once they get more independent in the latter years of HS.