seedsbelize 

Gulf gas stations have been appearing in Merida of late. I stopped at one recently and they made the point of filling a graduated cylinder to an even liter and pointing out that the pump also displayed an exact liter. They won my business. Today I drove out of my way to fill up at a Gulf. It is a well known fact that Pemex pumps never pump an exact liter. When I take my gas can in, for the weed eater, it shows distinctly. They have dropped their prices recently, to keep up with the competition (the first they've ever had), and then adjusted their pumps accordingly. Corruption is as corruption does.

rjones28 

NC State. They lost by 5.

rjones28 

Don't worry. The car will remind you.

rjones28 

The one my mechanic uses.

rjones28 

I mostly use Castrol, when I change my own. But, most of my cars don't need synthetic.

Velo Vol 

Wasn't keeping track in real time, but I believe we've had half a day of partly sunny sky in the last eight days.

Velo Vol 

Tell me about it.

WalksOn2Wheels

Modern synthetics are just so good, but I still prefer 5k intervals and that's the suggested interval by Mazda. Though one time I didn't make it in and ran it to 10 k for the hell of it.

Velo Vol 

Tonight in KCBand we had a world premiere performance.

We played a song composed by a guy who was in the band (although currently on hiatus due to baby care).

WalksOn2Wheels

Well, I did the fake miles tonight after a lackluster previous week. I thought about doing an FTP test since I knew my legs were fresh, but didn't feel like it. Ended up doing the London route with Leith Hill and had a good push on the long climb for me. Actually ended up getting a boosted FTP setting based on in ride data to 207 watts. I even averaged 217 over 24 minutes on the full hill according to Strava. So I think that makes it official that the ramp test I did at the end of January was on an improperly set trainer. I don't think you can go from and FTP of 184 to 207 in a month. Well, at least not on just 100 or so miles a week.

Velo Vol 

Good night, @berner

LesterOfPuppets

Who else is super excited about the three new flavors of GKSKs about to drop?

Pirkaus

For engine oil, Valoline Max-Life has done well for me. 5,000 mile oil change, and hundreds of thousand miles from several cars, of different brands.

MoAlpha

That’s only a 12.5% increase and I’m sure you can attribute at least some of it to fitness, especially if the baseline was low for you and you’re still on the steep part of the fitness curve.

I try to do power*time tests when I’m moderately fatigued, so my workouts will be calibrated for that state and I take everything the trainer tells me with a large grain of salt. FTP, extrapolated from a 20 min test is a pretty airy concept anyway.

MoAlpha

I have no idea what they put in my car, but I use Shell Rotella 15W-40 in the boat diesel because who wants to pay $200 for an oil change? No idea if it’s any good. Certainly makes a first class mess.

datlas 

Stupid cat woke me up at 4AM. She is so cute, I have to forgive her.

Note the Star Trek blanket, which was made for me by a patient.

datlas 

The Saturn goes through oil at a rate of about 1 qt every 1000 miles, so I buy cheap oil from WalMart. It doubles as home-brew chain oil when mixed with mineral spirits.

bampilot06

50 today and partly sunny. Waiting for the roads to dry some, we had a lot of flooding yesterday, and then I SHALL RIDE.....

datlas 

Kudos. Getting ready to ride here too, although temps will be in the 30s.

bampilot06

Is warm wx gear easier to ride in the more expensive it is? Silly question but it got me thinking. Riding in the colder temps doesn’t bother me, but the gear that I have isn’t the most comfortable and I think that’s where the lack of motivation comes for me when it’s colder.
When you look at wet suites for surfing the more expensive ones stretch easier and are easier to paddle in, where the cheaper ones not so much. It makes it harder to paddle out and over all the experience isn’t as fun.

MoAlpha

Yeah, I think it's generally advisable to buy the best outdoor clothing you can afford and skimp on something else. Suffering isn't fast.

WhyFi

To a point.

Generally, more expensive cycling gear will use better material and have a better cut, but everyone has a different point of diminishing returns.

Cycling doesn't have a huge range of motion compared to many other activities, so cycling-specific apparel may be a bit more extreme in addressing some needs. A jacket, for example, looks silly off of the bike; look at the long sleeves, long tails and short front - they all accommodate a hunched-over position on the bike. They also tend to have different fabrics in different areas to, like better wind-blocking materials for the forward-facing panels and better venting material for the backwards-facing. I think that it's worth paying the "roadie tax" for jackets because of these kinds of considerations.

Legs, though? Nah - close-out running tights over your normal bibs/NOT-bibs are just fine (though splurging on cycling-specific is nice, if you find them on deep discount).

bampilot06

That all makes sense. My wind breaker is an old pearl zumi hand me down that fits perfect. And my heavier soft shell was some no name off amazon made in china. Works we enough. My leg warmers are a hit or miss. Sometimes I don’t even notice them on and other times I feel like I’m working harder. Maybe it’s all in my head. Def. waiting til a little bit closer to spring to see what goes on sale.

MoAlpha

That doesn't sound too bad, assuming the hands and feet are okay.

WhyFi

Cycling in the cold is always going to be harder than when you're wearing just bibs and a jersey - more material, heavier air, etc.