Today I got a flat (valve stem failure) 6 miles from home. No spare tube on me. The walk home gave me a long time to think about how stupid I am.

Broadcast and streaming are better than they used to be, but they still don't hold a candle to pumping it uncontaminated directly from physical media.

Where are you where there don't be no frozen white crap?

Reminds me of the 7.5 mile walk home on a cool Sunday afternoon after dropping the rear derailleur in the spokes and destroying almost half of them. Had my phone, no one to come pick me up.

good stuff here.

Right? F'in February rocks this year! It was in the low 60s at the time of said photograph.

There is however, a bunch of it still around. This photograph was just conveniently framed in such a way as to obscure such offensive material from the general public.

For safety reasons.

I was going to say that at least you sound less culpable for your predicament than I was for mine (I could have easily saved myself with a spare tube), but your lack of friends comment sounds like a cry for help.

I've had to call my wife to rescue me a few times. The worst was early last Spring, when I got caught in a rain storm about halfway through a 30 mile ride. I was not severely underdressed, but after getting soaked I became quite chilled. I'd planned to take a train back to my town, then bike an easy 5 miles from the train station to home. It became apparent that I would get very uncomfortable and possibly hypothermic by attempting that. I didn't have my phone along, so I borrowed a stranger's and had Mrs. Broctoon meet me at the train with dry clothes. What a lifesaver! I haven't been that cold too many times in my four and a half decades on this planet.

[MENTION=445133]Broctoon[/MENTION], I was hypothermic once. You made a wise choice.

I went out for a metric into the middle of nowhere on a cold February day wearing a new "waterproof breathable" jacket. Sweat inside the jacket left me like a water balloon, got cold and I don't remember the last 20 miles of the ride.

Apparently I stumbled into a Starbucks at the end of the ride. They told me I was mumbling something about hot green tea and couldn't manipulate my money with my fingers. They thought I was drunk and were going to call the police but let me sit at a table with the hot tea. As soon as the heat from the tea got in me I realized where I was, what my name was and what had happened.

So yeah, you were wise to call. It wasn't fun.


-Tim-

I'm bummed the SS CX frame I was going to buy just vanished. Ugh.

I am a glutton for freakin' punishment. For some reason I can't get one of those nice easy tires that mounts in seconds I have to try really fancy tires that are unvulcanized and ride great but are a pain to put on.

I got my Vittoria Corsa Graphenes and the first one went on rather easily for most of it (the end was a pain) on an old rim just to start getting it stretched out and then the second one same thing except it didn't go on, no matter how much I struggled and used the dang Speedier Levers.

Hopefully the new rims which are wider, will be easier to wrench the other tire onto. I was so sad I was hoping that would be quick and I could mount my new Crud fenders on but sadly got too tired and decided to come to the computer and post for a wee bit.

Should have worn cotton.
























Sorry...couldn't help myself.

Took the track bike out for a spicy 20mi ride, got a bunch of PR's. That bike won't let me go slow on it.

That's what's fun about fixed gear bikes. On flat or moderately hilly terrain, I ride mine faster than my geared bike. It begs to be pushed, and to make you push your body. On the geared bike, it's so easy to get lazy.

Huh. Most of the time I ride to "train" and as such my effort is prescribed and dictated by my powermeter - the bike doesn't matter so much. But hey I like training. In racing I don't monitor power, but when I race track bikes and road bikes they're the only kinds allowed.

The above ramblings have no point or objective - just to illustrate that there are many types to a cycling world and that there indeed are 'different strokes for different folks'.

I do still go on unstructured rides/just for fun, but I usually prefer to do that on dirt (MTB). Especially if it involves exploring new neighborhood trails. I'll be doing that with some co-workers at lunch on Friday.

-TMonk

Oh, and nice PR's [MENTION=176970]seau grateau[/MENTION] . Good times.

Thanks! I've never ridden with a power meter, and don't plan on dropping the coin for one, but it seems like would be interesting. Besides a simple computer on my road bike and Strava in my pocket, I pretty much just ride by feel all the time. I've thought about maybe getting a HRM to experiment with looking at data a bit more.

This is the Felt right? Mine is like that, no matter what I do, the damn bike wants to go fast.

Yep. I haven't been able to ride the track in a few weeks because of the rainstorms, so I've been taking it out on the road once in a while to scratch the itch. It's a great bike.

I commute to work on mine in nice weather, like today. Riding home I swear I am just gonna cruise and take it easy. Look down at my Garmin, I am doing 19 mph.

Today I am flying to Austin for a business trip. I won't be able to ride bike for a few days but I'll be visiting a BMW tuning shop which should be fun.

Also, airport security is a drag. Dude cuts the whole line and interrupts the woman who's checking me in to ask for baggage tags. Then surrounded by people who haven't been through security since before 9/11 trying to go through the metal detector with their shoes, belts and jewelry on. I would buy TSA pre-check if the Bellingham airport was participating. I'm probably just pissed because it's 5:00 and I got 4 hours of sleep

It is interesting, esp. if you're a data geek like me . HRM's are informative and neat too.

I'd for sure be pissed in those circumstances.

Commercial air travel sucks. I haven't been on a plane since I retired over eight years ago.

I have to agree. It's been a few years since I have been on a plane. The only upside is the fast "travel time" but the downside is all the bs you have to deal with. Oh, and sweatpants and pajamas should be permanently banned from all forms of public transportation.

i flew 32 individual flights last year, and to be honest its really just the same thing as getting on a train. it helps to fly the same airline if possible, so you know their routine and policies and it makes everything a lot easier.

precheck really only saves you time if you frequently fly, frequent airports with notoriously slow security (im looking at you Denver), and you consistently run late. i didnt have precheck last year and it only hurt me once (again, looking at you Denver).
if youre a weirdo that has a problem with taking your shoes off in public, or if youre one of those people that struggle with common sense and wear kneehigh lace up boots when going through airport security, then i suppose precheck would also help you.

bs only occurs when people (fellow travelers) dont know how to be humans. this applies to all forms of travel, not just planes.