Went to the bike shop for shoes. My buddy made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Lily did say I have to sell a bike though, so the emonda will go away once I swap the cockpit to the checkpoint. If I do start racing again i’ll use the madone.

Stoked to ride it. Usually my patience doesn’t last and I would want to bring it home immediately, but the shop has my fit numbers so they will set it up accordingly, also I am searching for cranks. Comes with 175 but from past experience that aggravates my knee, so i’m trying to find 170. Seems like most people are sold out or are asking premium for them. I’m in cali later this week and a bike shop near the hotel says they have a pair so I am hoping I can buy them. Ben Delaneys review of the R01 had me sold. Ride quality is supposed to be a little harsh but he said it was the fastest bike he has ever ridden. Time will tell.

A fast bike in Delaney’s hands is a slow bike in mine.

Riddle me this.

My riding friend rides a Madone Gen7. I ride the Emonda. Both the same wheels. Both size 56, we are similar in weight and height. We crest a hill at the same time, and both coast on the descent (roller type hills). Similar riding position down the hill. My speed down the hill is about 20-25% faster. Thoughts why?

Rode solo today. Went to the first scheduled rest stop on a long club ride but I took a shorter route to beat them there. Only 4 of them and they didn't know what I was doing. So I get there in plenty of time and get a coffee and grab a table outside. Another rider showed up and sat down to have coffee. While we were chatting I saw my friends ride by. Guess I don't get to say hi.

So my new friend says he's going to climb Latigo Canyon, this works for me so I went with him. The pace and conversation were good until he launched into his conspiracy theories. I don't want to repeat them here but he turned out to be bat-guano crazy. At the top of the climb he was turning back to go home and he wanted my number to get together for more rides. Nope. I had told him about my club and I hope he doesn't try to reach me through them. I said too much, I hope he forgets.

I ended with 50 mile and 5K feet, according to Ride With GPS. Tired now.

you have the butt hole. Emonda does not.

I was riding the Emonda. No butt hole for me.

Maybe he's got silent brake rub
Maybe your knees are more aero
Maybe your hub bearings are better or broken in better
What's y'all's comparative arm hair situation?

I was so happy to find that I had apparently taught my phone to accept y'all's as a word sometime in the past. Didn't even have to force it, the phone was like "Yep, looks good to me."

In other fancy Trek news I got to watch 9200 goodies in action on a Supercaliber today. Might try to take a spin on that rig in the near future. Always fun to try out stuff I'll never buy.

In much, MUCH cheaper bike news, I did a pivot service on my Ozone 500 Silver Canyon today. Near the end of the procedure I happened to think that this may have been the only pivot service ever performed on an Ozone 500 Silver Canyon, I should've grabbed the GoPro knockoff and made a YouTube! Oh well, maybe next time. Surprising find: the bushing is just steel on steel! How crazy is that? I tried to knock one of the outer bushing components out of the aluminum frame but couldn't get it to budge. Luckily the inner portion popped out of the swingarm with just a few shots with a hammer.

Anyways, my rear suspension is smooth and silent now

Perhaps the stress associated with the upcoming holidays got to be just too much?

The tribe is going down tonight (hopefully). That Dbacks series was rough, putting the M's 4.5 games down behind the 'stros

Gotta be an aero difference. As a non-aero person I get dropped when coasting by much lighter people and shorter, heavier people often. It helps if I really try to get low.

OMG, the bats just came out! Sitting on the balcony with my bedroom window open so I can listen to the game. Had to get up and shut the door. We had up to 3 in the apartment hallway at one point a few weeks ago.

my hub drive commuter had lost all pressure in the rear brake … so i figured i’d extend my bike maintenance to include bleeding brakes.

total fail! still has zero pressure after new pads and fussing with the syringes and extracting air bubbles / adding oil. and now in addition a bit of oil squirts out of the reservoir cap cover, lol.

Jenson has BB7 and BB5s on sale. Add levers, housing, and cables and Bob's your uncle.

Aerobelly?

I can recall two experiences where seemingly normal people let their crazy out, once we were out on the road. I'm not talking normal crazy like he Dutch recumbent dude who rode with a catheter or the American who hacked a 9x onto a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub to make a 3x3x9- I've run across dozens of those harmless crazies. I'm talking scary am-I-going-to-be-murdered crazy.

I guess two in 45 years isn't bad.

I just booked the flight to London, so I guess London Edinburgh London is going to happen. It would be super nice if I could drop 20 pounds between now and August 3rd.

Here's what Strava says about my business trip last week: Based on your heart rate data, your training last week was less intense than usual. Way to recover intelligently. That's a back handed compliment if ever I heard one.

Sometimes when I put new pads on the mtb I have to pump the lever a lot before I get anything. Then it's mushy until I ride a bit. It only does it on the rear, maybe a sticky piston, idk. I've never bled them, or any disc brake on a bike.

I spent about 2 hours with this dude. Early on some of the things he said about himself sounded like b.s. but a lot of people do some of that. As we climbed the canyon it got weirder and weirder. He also told me his wife left him and he didn't have anyone to ride with. After I left him I started thinking about it and he was a little scary.

lol @ 3x3x9

The correct response is "Quiet! My Di2 is recording everything we say."

Sometimes I wish I could watch coverage of the race, but hey, it's kinda zen when you have this playing on the TV with the lights out.

In a bit of uncharacteristic fashion, I am bringing a repost for belated FF, initially from indyfabz

You Tube

been listening to the album, its good stuff. some vocal tracks too in the beginning.

I wonder if your friend is using his brakes on the downhill. As a wussy descender, that’s my guess. That, or you are in a much more aerodynamic position.

Kudos. I would have ridden Latigo with you, but I am back at work on the East coast.