kensuf

Washed my bike the other day and now my quarq appears to be broken. I'm sure no one has ever heard that before. But they have good customer service.

In all seriousness, considering I just shelled out some major cash for some medical bills, I may just be done with the whole power thing for awhile unless Quarq is willing to give me a killer deal on a new PM.

kensuf

first world problems, I know.

furiousferret

Being a sprinter (correct me if I'm wrong) it should help you out quite a bit. Good luck!

I always waver leaving my team; our area has 8 teams and its saturated things to the point no team is deep in races. I've ridden alone in 15 of my 16 races, which will not change in the 4's. My inferiority complex keeps me from joining a more competitive team, even though they're open membership when you race there is alot more pressure to perform and train. Riding on one of the SoCal 'zerg' teams just isn't an option as I'd rather lose with friends than win with strangers.

We do have more 'interest' in our team which includes some very fast and bored triathletes. This would mean having to coordinate training and racing which isn't really my thing. Ideally these guys don't flake out because we could own the 4's.

furiousferret

Hopefully thats covered under warranty, water shouldn't destroy a pm that easily.

hack

Eh...we'll see how long that sticks. I may just be an opportunist that doesn't like going up hill.

mattm

Gonna write a new app, for coaching.

It'll basically tell you you're fat, lazy, and slow. Then encourage you to ride so you'll at least not be lazy..

Ygduf

Created a new club on Strava. It's the best. Sorry, you're not invited (unless you are, just ask!)

Chris Evans | Strava Club

spdntrxi

^ that's funny

UmneyDurak

I need that app. It should also shout at me German. I don't understand a word of German, but I think it would be more motivational.

Enthalpic

How German sounds compared to other languages (full) - YouTube

rbart4506

I like...

Creakyknees

where do I send my money?

furiousferret

My clone army will rule the peleton.

furiousferret

Giants advance, Dodgers eliminated. BEST DAY EVER.

topflightpro

New pet peeve - when I get an email at work asking me to send out another email to other people and providing me a full explanation of what I am to include in the second email.

Why can't the first person just send the email himself?

himespau 

Something I struggle with as a biology professor. A former student asked me for a letter of reference to medical school (happens all the time). I said sure, no problem. Turns out it's for a school of naturopathic medicine that preaches antivaccination nonsense and, in general, teaches stuff that's completely non-scientific (and potentially dangerous to patients). On the one hand, it's her choice to do what she wants with her life, but on the other hand, I don't want to be seen as supporting something that's pretty much the opposite of what I taught her in my classroom. I know some people say whatever and just send out form reference letters for anyone who asks, but I try to only write letters for kids I actually know and for whom I know that I can write a good letter.

Gramercy

I think drivers don't like when we cycle faster than them. I can ride to work in the same time as driving. 36 to 38 minutes by riding, 35 minutes by driving.

caloso

Crap. Missed the eclipse. I should have read the article a little more closely to see that it was 6am EDT.

hubcyclist

yeah that's a tough spot to be in. It's tough to back out at this point, for sure, but for me I think professional ethics would be higher than any agreement to recommend.

Wesley36

I am not sure that "professional ethics" includes the authority to make a judgement about the institution that the student is applying to, as exasperating and facepalm inducing as it may be. In the case of this student, would denying to write the recommendation be expected to convince her to rethink the woo, or would it just feed a sense of persecution from "establishment science"?

Not a fun spot to be in, but adults make their own decisions, and sometimes those are bad decisions, and often there is little we can do to change that.

Ygduf

THIS IS 80% OF MY JOB!!

Super annoying, yes. Especially if you're asked to provide a draft back to the original requester who then ****s it up with terrible edits.

Hermes

Here is an idea for an app. Shadow Coaching. The idea is that the app captures data i.e. follows a Strava poster and provides a workout for the week ahead based on that persons previous week.

I have not decided who I want to shadow. Fudgy or Mattm.

echappist

perhaps call in the kid and explain your position as she obviously values your opinion (at least as it pertains to certain things)? After all, the person is asking your for a favor related to something for which you have both personal and professional objections. Of course, she could just ask someone else to do it for her, but perhaps she may have applied not knowing what this place is really about?

Also, just wtf is a naturopathic medical school? I've heard of osteopathic and allopathic medical schools, but naturopathic?

himespau 

Yeah, I doubt that anything I said or did change the student's mind. It's just frustrating that this person was the top student in my upper level biology class in that particular semester and now is applying to something that rejects a lot of what I spent a semester trying to impart. And it's not even that I think we as western scientists know everything that there is to be known. The whole point of science is evidence-based inquiry into the unknown, and some traditional stuff may have happened upon answers we'll later find to be important. I've had several primary care providers over the years that were DOs that did a fair bit of manipulation and holistic treatment stuff and a lot of what they said made sense (I know a lot of DOs that would get upset to be lumped in with naturopaths and I do recognize there is a difference, but I was just trying to say that they do a bit more than most allopathic medical doctors and I'm cool with that).

It's just the outright rejection of the scientific method and things scientifically demonstrated to be effective and important (like vaccines) in a lot of these homeopathy places that bugs me (and maybe it's just that I feel insulted that my teaching didn't work in this case - on the other hand, the student thought highly enough of the experience to ask for a recommendation). There are varying levels of homeopathy/naturopathy that range from introducing traditional medical practices in addition to modern one on one side of the spectrum to outright rejection of most modern drugs, surgery, and other interventions on the other that all seem to use the same name (which in itself would be confusing for someone who didn't know better). The school in question seems to be in the latter camp. Oh well, this student is an adult, and I can honestly say performed the best in a difficult class and did engage me outside of class showing some curiosity in the topic.

JohnKScott

Is the former student deserving of a recommendation? If so I would give her the recommendation. You would not be supporting the institution you would be supporting a deserving student to pursue what she thinks is best in her life.

Besides, not knowing the details of the institution etc., not all naturopaths are 100% against vaccinations. That said, as a consumer, I appreciate a balance approach between traditional and naturopathic medicine. However, I want my doc to be an MD who brings in some naturopathic balance rather than an NP. Perhaps my hangup. Maybe she will be a naturopath who brings in a good balance of traditional medicine due to some of your teaching? Who knows. But I would lean toward giving the recommendation. Good luck with your decision.