So, I had a big write up and this POS Dell computer died again. I'm not going into it again. Went for another afternoon ride that I REALLY needed. stupid iPhone and iPad won't connect to my wireless anymore at home. No idea why, just don't. Sometimes I hate technology. It all seems so half-assed. Why can't this crap be like a Campangnolo Super Record Derailleur? Simple and beautiful. Anyway the Strava crap: <iframe height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='http://app.strava.com/activities/60027439/embed/4946dd9e09cb2ed9751a8ff5545d36c353b993b3'></iframe> I got some stuff done. My legs are sore, but my heart rate is not really up yet. Rode for a bit with a guy wearing an altitude mask. Weird deal looked like some British Zombie fighter. That rest day thing works the trick for sure. Still not really losing any weight, but I am stronger. Back isn't horrible either so I count that all in the win column. Oh, and one other amazing bit of news; my new/old/original decals for the Pinarello showed up today. These are the correct bits. I've been searching high and low for these for the last 17 years or so. Finally found some when of course I was looking for something else and wandered into the eBay wasteland for a bit one Sunday afternoon, and low and behold there they were. Now, I have to clean up that frame and get these on there. They won't bring back thirty years of legs but damn they are going to be nice. I have a set for a post 1984 Pinarello too, that I got thinking they were right only to discover they weren't. If anybody is interested, I could probably be talked out of them cheap.
Awesome! Man I wish I had an influence like that when I was younger. No one cycled around here when I was growing up. Found out WAY too late how cool this sport is. Very cool, I'm following it, but have no idea about the riders. +1
I had wondered, because the second picture reminded me of the 1970's. In those days though, I don't recall ever seeing a cyclist wearing a helmet.
I was younger, but not young exactly when I learned about real cycling and racing. That education began with the Coors Classic bicycle race. I was in my late twenties. Our daughters grew up at bicycle races, usually when I was working them as an official on a motorcycle. Their first bicycles were made in Italy. We as a family learned about France and Italy through bicycle racing. We made a lot of friends, covered a lot of ground and went places we probably never would have otherwise. Cycling changed not only our little families perspective of the world but influenced our extended families. We were lucky to be in Colorado at a time when cycling boomed. When I came to the sport was just before the end of the mom and pop pro shops. We had several really good pro shops around town. You wanted to visit every one of them because any time you stopped by you were welcomed into a world where there was so much to learn and so much history. Wooden rimmed wheels hanging on walls, Shop owners with thick accents who could tell you tales of racing when men were men and bikes didn't have five speeds. You have not lived until you have been trounced by some old pot-bellied Dutchman in an afternoon impromptu sprint. I once stood on a corner in Vail Colorado, working the Coors Classic criterium there, watching as the European riders all pedaled through the corners making up places, as the American riders pointed their inside knees and coasted. That day I learned to ride through corners, and apply what I'd learned from cornering motorcycles to cycling. I taught myself to push the front of my bicycle and ride through the pedal touching, managing to impress an Olympic track coach when I touched a pedal in the corner and caught the bike without breaking stride. Cycling made me fit enough to out-skate guys while playing hockey when I had started decades later than them, but I could skate a 30 minute shift and still be fast. I miss that. I lived in a place where I commuted so much on my bicycles that the batteries in my beater car and motorcycle would go flat. If it was snowing that meant I ride the mountain bike. If it was raining that meant I wouldn't be hot. We were crazy, and having a ball. Every ride I get to take now brings back a little bit of that old feeling. I'll never be that fast or fit again, but I can get close. The best part is I learned a fun way to fitness. No boring gym walls, just a bike and a place to go. Like Willie said, "...it's all practice..."
On my ride last night, crossing the only busy street on my route, with a crossing light. Two cars ran the red. The first jumped on the gas when the light turned yellow about 200 yards out, crossing the line on his side of the "T" intersection under the red. The following pick up was about a hundred yards behind him and I missed him because I was flipping off the first asshat in the Prius. As I started off to cross, I looked out of habit, and had to roll back toward the curb. The pickup was doing more than the speed limit, 50mph and not caring at all. There were maybe eight cars and trucks as traffic. Nobody really on the street yet these two people decided it was much more important to not stop than me maybe getting hit. I have enough of a hearing impairment so I did not hear them coming. If I had not looked a second time, I would be dead. That pick up was traveling at a very high rate. Then this morning on the freeway I'm riding the Adventure to work, and a Benz rolls up along side me. He slows, and I look over to see him holding his iPhone below the radio with the backlight off texting with one hand!:huh He looks up at me and I shake my head, to which he flips me off!:eek1 This is the point where I have to go to my happy place so I don't kick the right side mirror off his E350 with my boot. Events like the above make me think that GoPro and a headset might not be a bad idea for both bicycle and motorcycle. Just hit "RECORD" when I come upon the morons I usually just navigate my way around. I wonder if there is a means to send that sort of recording to the cops so the principals get the recognition they seem to be seeking. Kids use that crosswalk all the time, skateboards, those razor things and bikes and walkers/runners/and even us cyclists. What is it that makes a person think that shortening their commute is somehow more important than possibly ending somebodies life? Or that ANYTHING on that fucking phone is worth looking at while driving? Rant off. Still, I ain't gonna let them harsh my buzz.
Man you guys have some old crap laying around. When we moved out here in 97, I found a box full of old motorcycle helmets. Smelled like hockey gear. I tossed the whole thing. Anyway, went out for another ride .Felt tired. I'm not sleeping great, and going to bed late and waking every hour or so isn't a big help. But, I got a ride in and that's what counts. Strava goo: <iframe height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='http://app.strava.com/activities/60206233/embed/1d4e3d749c42d05ad197eb1c14affda23c95380f'></iframe> Hard ride and I was / am tired.
Just rolling home. It was a nice day, though we had the typical Crissy Field headwinds. Set a couple nice PRs, too. <iframe height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='http://app.strava.com/activities/60214553/embed/8033a7b452de72bad69319fd4495461e54e4822b'></iframe>
I was thinking more along the lines of an ESD event. Something that disables the toy for a bit. MAybe I can get the collective working on it?
Lots of cell jammer plans on the 'net. My understanding is that it's totally illegal to use one, but I'm not sure about possession. My big concern with something like that is that you take their split attention completely away from road while they try to figure out why their call just disconnected.
I'm late to the party here but glad I found this thread! Avid cyclist here, no where near kbasa, Rapid, Gummee, etc. but love me some riding. Road, dirt, cyclocross, tandem, love to do it all. Just got back from BRAG (bike ride across Georgia) where I clocked 480 miles for the week in south Georgia. Nice and flat which allowed my crew to clock a 5:40 century. Great times. I'm also a hasher like Gummee and we have a mountain bike hash here in the Atlanta area (hash=drinking club with a running/riding problem), wheelhopper.com Tons of great information in this thread, thanks for posting and hope I can contribute!
