What? Helmet deals?

Smith Overtake non-mips were on clearance all over the place a month or two back. Super nice helmets with some interesting technology. Koroyd is a layer of tubes which is supposed to absorb impact. Those bothered by bees getting stuck in their helmets say that this is the best. REI had them as well as Performance. I think the one's on clearance were last year's models. Not sure if they are still out there but I almost bought one but they lacked the color I wanted.

The best value I've seen recently is the Giro Aeon for $108 at Excel Sports. https://www.excelsports.com/main.asp...jor=3&minor=13. Not sure if they are available on clearance elsewhere. Again I think they are last year's models.

Both are high end products, especially the Smith. That's all I know about.

While I'm at it, today I had four tires put on the car.

Dropped the car, walked next door for coffee and went into Target, came back and it looked like my car was done. Guy says, "You are all set" and I reply "The same tires are on the car."

Somehow they didn't put new tires on the car but just put Armorall on the old tires. I know the guys well and just smiled, enjoyed watching the looks on their faces as they tried to figure out what happened, three guys running around the garage literally scratching their head.

After about ten minutes I looked up from my phone and they were doing the work. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+

Manager shook his head and said, "I don't know what to say." "I was getting concerned" was my reply and asked, "Are we good?" and it went from there. Some tire jockey must have pulled my car out mistakenly.


-Tim-

When you consider that a helmet is something you will wear every time you ride your bike, will last a few years if you don't crash in it, and will potentially spare you nasty damage to your head if you do crash in it, the prices don't seem so unreasonable. On the other hand, you definitely don't need to spend that much money. I love hunting deals too, and I got my Lazer for like 50 bucks.

Smith Overtake is as low as $50 depending on size and color. There are some decent colors for $87.50.
https://www.backcountry.com/smith-overtake-helmet

Smith Overtake Mips for $102 - black/small only
https://www.backcountry.com/smith-ov...helmet-smi008z

Smith Overtake - $37.50 to $85
https://www.steepandcheap.com/smith-...NtaXRoOjE6MTo=

Giro Cinder Mips for $105
https://www.backcountry.com/giro-cinder-mips-helmet


There are some deals out there for someone who is patient. Having an uncommonly small head helps.

Today I got passed on the outside of a sharp corner by an impatient SUV driver on the way to work. It's a 15 MPH corner where you have no way of seeing if there are any oncoming cars, and sure enough there was. Once I realized it was happening, I pulled way the hell over to avoid the potential wreck.

Usually drivers in that area are pretty mellow, so it took me by surprise. Can't wait for everyone to have their autonomous cars.

today was a better day

cars man, why!

Today our team kit order from Castelli finally came.

Got to rock it on our Thursday morning gravel ride that ends in coffee and the best biscuit sammiches around.

Dumbass desert wind heat wave cooled down from bonkers-ass ridiculous to just regular annoying. Went out for a 27mi ride. Think I want a 140mm stem for my road bike.

Several years ago a group of us held our own "Indie 500" and rode 500 laps around a .10 mile traffic circle. It was fun for a short time but eventually became exceedingly boring and people began to drop out

Hahahha.

How long did you last?

I completed it but I had to take a few beer breaks to kill the monotony.

This is the best image I found of the circle. Windward Circle in Venice Beach.

Jesus. I'd need a beer hat to keep me entertained on a loop that short LOL. I'd definitely go and start that ride tho, seems like a good time.


Tomorrow, I'm heading down to LA again to ride in a circle (ish) (only once).

Going to ride the Circle of Doom ride with a couple of friends. Going up the 39 and down the 2. Should be around 90-95 miles with 10000-11000 ft elevation. Pretty excited.

One time I was riding at the Rose Bowl and this one guy I passed was looking pretty dead, so I let him draft me for a couple laps. Saw his activity on Strava later -- turned out he was doing a solo century. Entirely on a 5k loop. People are weird.

Well, my idea for my crazy century? Pack the road bike and fixed gear into my car. Head over to the local college campus. There is a 1 mile loop that has one stop sign and is 99% unused bike lane. Park the car right on the loop. Bring a nice lunch/snacks/water/whatever and ride completely stripped of anything on the bike. No cages, no bag, no spare tube kit, nothing other than a rear light and a computer. Monotonous? Absolutely. Bathrooms are close. Could swap bikes out if I wanted to change it up. No worries about a flat tire or mechanical failure. Was just gonna ride, and ride rather fast if possible. If it became too boring, you just head out a bit further if needed.

Is there a good way to find someone that see on the street in strava? Did you just look at the course for the Rose Bowl and find someone who had their PR on it that day?

There's a flyby tab on strava that let you see basically anyone that was on the same roads as you were at around the same time.

A link to his activity showed up under mine when I finished. I'm guessing we were just linked up long enough that it registered us as riding together.

Thanks, I hadn't ever seen that.

Today I built my 1000th wheel - since I started counting, anyway.

That means you spent 30% of your ride within 50 metes of him. Strava considers that a group ride and links your rides together.

How they figure out flyby and group rides is interesting. They use three metrics:

• Correlation (C) is the amount of time riders spent near each other. "Near" means within 50 meters. If you are within 50 meters for 30% of your ride then you rode together AKA group ride. That's when you get "Seau grateau rode with three other people" and so forth.
• Spatial Correlation (S) is route similarity without considering time or speed. Two riders on the same course will have high spatial correlation even if they rode it at different times and speeds.
• Distance traveled (D)

C, S and D are given scores from 1 to 100 and then all the riders are ranked in descending order on the flyby page.

It is marked as a "flyby" if you were within 50 meters but only briefly (low correlation).

I wish the values were adjustable.


-Tim-

The more you know...

Today I did 41 miles solo on the road bike.

That's a pretty good ride but damn it's long. I did a similar ride several years ago, up the 39 and then take the Rincon trail across to Redbox, and back down the 2.

Today I:

20.6 miles
1:10:19 moving time
17.6 MPH average
44° temp + winds
Felt Z5 geared road bike

That's a nice ride. We should all join the BFSSFG group on Strava.

Aren't you in North Dakota or something? It was warmer by you than it was in North Georgia.

Today I hit 3000 miles for the hear and am just shy of 190,000 feet climbing.


-Tim-