On yesterday's ride, one of my friends who drank the tubeless kool-aid had an ongoing issue. Apparently he had a small puncture or tear in the tire, which would seal, but every time he went over a bump or pothole it would open up and start hissing/squirting again. Sophomoric jokes aside (use your imagination, I had several zingers!), it was quite annoying for him and the rest of us. He would have to stop periodically and try to get the leak to seal. I think the wet roads from the snow showers we experienced may have been a factor in preventing the latex from sealing as well. He was able to finish the ride, but not exactly a ringing endorsement for road tubeless. I do know it has its proponents, but I am not ready any time soon.

A lot of my meals would be called eclectic at best. My lunch yesterday was an apple, a kohlrabi, a chunk of turkey breast, and some goat cheese.

It was after my ride and I didn't feel like a real meal so I just raided the fridge. I do this a lot.

Did he cut the tire on a previous ride?

Thanks to the torx bit on my handy-dandy Lezyne multi-tool, I was able to take the shroud off of the bottom of the VW. When I started it up, oil dripped directly from the oil filter. Seems like it's on there tight though. Shop should be able to take a look at it later on today. I'm hoping that is something dumb, like a crack in the oil filter casing, so that I can get it taken care of today, and we can get the **** out of Dodge tomorrow.

Coffee and panettone for breakfast.

If if he's using a good sealant, those kinds of cuts are exceedingly rare. I've had one in three years. These are the perfect use case for bacon strips, though. He should carry a couple and a small insertion tool.

I don't think he cut it previously. He went tubeless this past season and I know he had a flat previously, which apparently did seal after giving me the equivalent of a facial when I was on his wheel.

I told him to look at the tire carefully and figure out what happened. But this guy is a higher-up at Vanguard and does not do his own wrenching, so my guess is the bike (or at least the rear wheel) is at the LBS with instructions to put on a new tire.

Road tubeless rides great, but the only two times I got a flat with that setup, it was a big enough puncture that it just wasn't going to ever seal. After putting a tube in a tire/rim combo full of sealant twice I decided to skip it. Flats are rare enough without having to mess around with sealant.

I know it's been thrashed out continually in the 41 the whole road tubeless issue. And from my observations it clearly has a place for those who are plagued by frequent flats (eg Goathead country) and of course better for CX and off-road where you want to run lower pressures.

I am fortunate enough to live in a non-glassy and non-goathead road region. I get a flat roughly every 2500 miles (so about 3 flats/year) which is infrequent enough that I am not going to mess around with tubeless. I am open to trying it in the future, of course. But not any time soon.

I run tubeless on my fat bike and my CX/gravel bike, but tubes on the road bikes. No real need for road tubeless in my area.

And only one of my road wheelsets is designed for tubeless.

I think that the biggest problem with road tubeless is that people try to use what works for MTB, and that just doesn't fly. Companies like Stan's need to man up and just admit that their product, even the Race variant, isn't made for or suitable for higher pressures. A good sealant should be able to quickly and permanently seal cuts approaching 1/4" while still maintaining road pressures.

Speaking of punctures, I took a look at my rear tire yesterday. Holy holey. Lots of debris in and around Williamsburg. There's one stretch of tire that had 5 or so punctures within an ~8" section. I think I've got about 1500 miles on these tires, and it looks like there's enough meat left for another 1500 if it's not pockmarked to hell before then.

Wife took me with her to her weight loss place this a.m. to get my body composition measured. She was reassured that I am not flirting with inanition.

:bday:

I didn't have any pork. Does it count?

https://wildbrine.com/sauerkraut-new-years-day/

I can make a new thread from this post if you’d like. Start the new year off we a continuing controversy. Why not, heat things up.

I think that I'm going to go old school with my shaving regimen. I might need to go to the C&V section of shavingforums.net to inquire about the best shave for the buck double edge safety razor. Or maybe I should just buy first and ask if I got a good deal after?

Probably depends on whether you are the pig or the pig eater. We had some.

Well, I’ll say what you’re too diplomatic to say . . . Not happening. It ain’t worth the trouble, dammit!

Straight razor or GTFO.

Goals

So far the quotes link issue is working normally. I’m monitoring closely to determine the exact point, in terms of thread length, when it begins to malfunction.

Whew. Just heard from the shop. The takeaway is that it can be fixed today for a not unreasonable sum. :bday:

If I'm understanding correctly, the housing that the oil filter screws into has a drain and the check valve there failed, letting it leak. The VW dealer in the town down the road has a replacement, so they're going to get their hands on it, replace it and fill it back up with oil (when I checked last night, the level was barely touching the bottom of the dipstick).

So glad that we're not going to have to shuffle our schedule/reservations for the trip home.

I would like to pick up a straight razor, too, but I have concerns about using one to shave my own head; from what I understand, even a safety razor can have a bit of a learning curve in this capacity.

What happens on the flight to Maui? I get a sore throat. Bah humbug.

Congrats indyfabz

VV is loving the embedded tweet functionality.

Fortunately you already know the right smiths. I’m not brave enough, and just shave about once a week so the bill for blades isn’t that bad.

Google says the Seahawks are likely to win by 2 points over the Eagles this weekend. Do we think that's accurate?

Who knows? Remember when the Bills thumped the Vikings last year?

Lane Johnson is questionable, and historically he’s been an extreme Jenga piece in the past.

I’ll start paying attention for real if the Pats lose at some point.