Lluvia, lluvia y mas lluvia.

Que rico es ver llover y no mojarse.

I rode single track Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on my makeshift cross bike and am completely addicted. I also had two people basically tell me I'm a bada$$ for doing it on a SS 'road bike'. Felt good man.

Nice! That sounds like so much fun. It's so much more rewarding to challenge yourself when riding offroad, rather than float through it on a super fancy full suspension rig.

In related news, I did my first MTB race yesterday at Sea Otter, on my hardtail singlespeed. I had to swerve around a dude who crashed right in front of me on the first steep technical downhill section, forcing me to take a ridiculously stupid line that I barely held, and causing my water bottle to eject itself into the bushes. I only brought one since it was only a 15 mile course... ****. Held on with the lead pack as long as I could, but was too dehydrated by about mile 8 and stopped at the next aid station for water. Still ended up getting 10th out of 34 in my class, and had a ton of fun.

Yeah, it's the first time I've felt way outside of my comfort zone riding a bike since I was kid. Sounds like you had a pretty great weekend too.

Yesterday I entered the Subaru world of turbocharged intercooled all wheel drive, and everything it entails.

Kinda feels like a lyric from a Talking Head's song.

How did I get this large automobile?
My God, what have I done?

Well done sir!

Which one did you get?

Not to be petty, but

2015 Forester XT Touring. Drove it home last night.

Navigation, Eye Sight, 440 watt Harmon Kardon audio... really can't think of an option it doesn't have. Previous owner bought some accessories from Subaru too - cargo nets, roof rack cross rails, air deflector for the moon roof. Subaru printed the entire maintenance history for the car, options lists and a bunch of other paperwork just because I asked. Showroom condition.

It's weird, not like any normally aspirated performance car that I've driven. This is my first turbo. Low revs and no boost and it's pretty tame. Up the revs and keep it in the boost and it lights up nicely. It's like two different cars depending on the revs.

In "I" mode it goes like a little truck. In "S" mode it keeps the revs up a bit and puts it in the boost a little. S# is high performance mode and it keeps the revs way up and keeps the boost on. I did one blast last night in S# with manual shifting and it really launched, impressive for such a small engine in a big vehicle. Spec is 0-60 in 6.7 sec.

Yeah, XT comes with CVT only. Blah blah blah... Even with flappy paddle shifters and eight fake speeds in manual mode its still a super nice car. . Turning the steering wheel is a reminder that it is, after all, a truck. Sway bars might be in order.

Stereo cranks!

Should haul bikes nicely.

Watch the oil levels. The new foresters are known to be thirsty and can sip a quart of oil every thousand miles in some cases.

Nice car Tim.

MFW fedex showed up today:

Congrats!

That eye sight is craziness. I rarely use mine on my legacy but when I do I always cramp my leg up just hovering above the brake pedal.

Track was pretty 'meh tonight. I felt pretty tired from being very busy at work and slightly underslept. The legs felt flat/stale as it's my first hard day after an easy week. Also the weather was awful: mid-80's (at night!), and super dry, total Santa Ana-like conditions. We were all complaining of cotton mouth after each event.

I did win the unknown distance race which was cool, but it pretty much fell into my lap: I was second wheel when they chose to ring the bell.

Eyesight is Subarus pre-collision system. Can brake the car for you before you fall asleep and plow into something.

Youre probably talking cruise control, which I dislike too. Having my foot hover over the brake is a lot more uncomfortable than having my foot on the gas.

Looks good. From the size of it, you can fit quite a few bikes inside with the second row folded down

i tried cruise control once, i hated it. decided to just do the 6 hr drive like a normal human

The only time I really enjoyed it was when I drove from Long Island to California. Had cruise set at 99MPH for half the state of Kansas.

Hmm, that's disappointing. I don't think my '96 Outback with worn rings consumes that much! Subaru settles in oil consumption lawsuit - Torque News

Excessive oil consumption between oil changes is not just limited to Subaru.

Manufacturers are being pushed for better mileage and the move is toward light 0-W20 oil, low friction piston rings, long maintenance intervals, etc. Normally aspirated Subaru has a 7500 interval. VW has a 10k maintenance interval. With the oil control rings used in use today (low friction running face coating) almost every engine is going to need to be topped off.

Acura had just as big of a problem from 2009 to 2011. There was a class action law suit against Honda for the same issue. The issue is pushing the boundaries of engine technology to get better mileage. My girlfriend two years ago had Lexus rebuild the bottom end of an IS250 engine because "the piston rings weren't up to spec" as the dealer told her. It isn't just Subaru.

I've done the research. 2012 into 2014 was a big problem for Subaru - the running face coating on the rings wore out at 20k to 40k miles. They were replacing rings on affected engines but enough dealer mechanics were botching enough rebuilds and dealers complained that the builds took too many hours labor so Subaru just started shipping engines. Subaru dealers were overfilling crankcases so the car appeared to use less oil. The previous owner just had the oil changed at Subaru before I bought it and it was overfull.

Anyway, the issue was always highway miles, never around town. It was also mostly 2.5 engines, less so the 2.0 in my car. It The 2.0 uses thicker oil anyway so that helps and it has a more rigorous maintenance regimen. I have the balance of the 60k power train warranty and could conceivably go for an oil consumption test and get a new engine under warranty if it comes down to it. My power train warranty may have even been increased to 100k due to the lawsuit - I'm going to take the car to Subaru and chat with the service manager about the warranty next week.

Sounds like you're all set!

Just like when I originally bought my '96, I'm trying to determine the best year range for its replacement when it gives up the ghost. I'm leaning toward post-2004ish for the head gasket improvements, and this stuff about oil consumption in 2012-2014 is good data to have.



P.S. Oh, and SS/FG content: I sometimes use said Outback to transport my FG to rides...

People who hate cruise control have never driven on the i5, portland to LA is just 16 hours of going straight south and trying not to fall asleep.

What is a Bianchi Eros?

I guess I could google it but it would either ruin my fantasy or come up with pictures I really don't want to see.

It does make for some interesting Google searches if you're not specific about bikes. It was a 1990-to-mid 2000's model that kinda bounced around between being an entry- and mid-level road bike. It started off as traditional lugged steel with Shimano components and became a fancier model with Campy and was TIG-welded with sloping top tubes and threadless headsets by the end. Mine was a Craigslist find when I was weeks away from going on a weeklong biking trip and didn't have a road bike yet.

Oh...