I never patch, I just replace tires with a bit more tread remaining than most and it makes a huge difference.

I thought engineers just did math and the electricians did all the dangerous stuff.

I generally don't touch anything or do any work. I visually check low voltage wiring. But I'm in the station directing commissioning and stuff. When you're working on 500kV transformers and breakers there's always danger.

Damn dude! I think I'd pass on that one too.

I'm guessing you didn't dust yourself off and walk away from that one??

I had those on my Audi. May have been 225.
I only buy the bridgestone turanza serenity plus for everything.

If I wanted a kid racer car (again) I wouldn't.

I had to climb back up to the trail, (bike stayed on the trail) and ride 2 hours back to the car. Tore rotator cuff for the second time, compression fractures on 2 vertebrae, bumps and bruises, face-planted on the trail before I went over the side, broke helmet.
I was between the fast guys and the other 5, so nobody saw me fall. When they got there they saw my bike lying on the trail and they yelled down to ask me "Wtf are you doing down there?" I told them I fell and they didn't believe me at first.
I've been crowing about doing more mtb rides lately, so I got no mercy when I declined today's ride. *****, putz, etc.
Think I'll go do a club road ride.

That's insane. I don't think I'd ride there either. I like mountain biking when the penalty for failure is a few feet, not 40.

It's definitely a function of where you live. For example - when I lived in west Texas, it was not uncommon to get multiple flats on one ride due to bad roads, debris, and the generally spiky things that live in the desert (goatheads and such). I remember one ride I got 4 flats before I finally gave up and called a friend to give me a ride. Since I moved to North Carolina 1.5 yrs ago - not a single flat during a ride. Not one. I'm gonna go knock on all the wood now.

thanks!
sorry for making that snarky comment :o

Where in West Texas? I lived in Lubbock for awhile. I don't recall getting many road flats, but MTB, I had to run Slime tubes.

About 3 years ago we picked up the travel to races. I also had the tire distributor I ordered from move, and not let me know, so many races were done on tires that used to be fine locally, and were happy to lose air for about 4 races in a row. It was a bad deal. Since then junior just got one flat recently from some gutter riding. It takes time to figure it out and know the roads.

no worries haha. I felt slightly classist about my comment - although it's true routes lie in laziness :)

on that note im getting back to work. yeah I know it's saturday. my review is within 6 weeks and I want there to be no doubt as to whether or not I was worth it. I almost left with another offer about a year ago and worked out a big raise, bonus and three year fixed salary plan.

Monza has been by far a better race than LBL today.

LBL hasn't been exciting for a long time; ugh

i want my hour back

The damn thing was less interesting than Milan San Remo

Blooming hillside in N Tecolote Canyon on my casual mtb ride this morning:

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...32&oe=59951CDE

did the days' of our lives thread go away?

I'm like inches from putting away bikes and finding a new hobby. Scarponi with his kids in his final tweet basically put into image the concerns I've had for some time. Getting brushed by a car the week before, and having a number of local guys hospitalized, and one in a coma, after a group-ride crash on Friday are all contributing to my inability to ignore what I kind of feel is my better judgment.

Geez, when it rains, it pours! Keep your head in this troubled times @Ygduf - I'm sure whatever you decide will be the right choice for you.

Ride Palomar more.
Having kids and age does affect the brain a bit. I got knocked around a few times by cars in my early 20s. By early 30s one more little (big crash, little impact to me) race crash and having more important things just did me in. I was no where near as talented as you, so that made things easier.

No kids here, but that's likely change in the near future. Given that and what appears to be a consistent increase of negative car/bike interaction, I'm starting to reconsider my long term attachment to cycling. Too many distracted, impatient, angry drivers out there these days.


Group rides offer some sense of "safety in numbers", but the risk of stupid crashes increases as well (this year's local race ride scene has had at least 6 rough ones to date). Maybe TTs on the local canal access road (closed to traffic) is where I'll spend more of my time until the joy fades.

yeah, not trying to be a total downer but the whole thing is making me kind of sad. I've never connected with anything like I have cycling and am overall feeling sad about it.

Made the break in the race yesterday, had my usual end-of-break **** finish because it came to a sprint and I was basically changed and driving home by the time the rest of the guys finished the cooldown lap.

Any traffic-free options available? Track, cyclocross, MTB, ... ?

I am so old that I remember patching and resewing training tubulars. I think that I still have one of those Velox triangular needles somewhere. And waxed dental floss was the perfect thread for resewing.

I patch old tubes once I get about 20 or so collected together and then I do them all at once. It is cheaper when you buy patches and glue in bulk. The patches stay fresh, but the glue goes bad once opened.

Sounds like the stuff my oldest boy now does working for Pepco in DC.

Today while looking through the archives for racing/training material I came across this.

For starters, the kids always come first, which you are no doubt aware of now. So I hope there is a big and tall grocery store near you that tailors for the cyclist build. Next, a lot of your development is tied to theirs. I'd feel very confident postulating for them how the second parent is effecting ruining parts of their lives that validate them through competition.

You're right of course. Cars are getting faster, people less attentive, and both are getting more numerous. I'm not going to repeat my unsolicited thoughts here. I will say, compared to Scarponi, your job and the people you work for are much less likely to result in your wife getting "the call" than someone else getting "the email". Scheibo recently mentioned your time up OLH being respectable and I didn't realize just how recent that placing was. Less than the year plus however many days old your kids are now.

From that same thread quoted above here is what GC thought of your ninny leanings. Get back to us when they discover matches or make that exclusive pre-pre selection you just know we'll all be so proud of we'll need pictures and a birth story to fully absorb our feeling on the matter.

Edit:
Liar, an open buffet. :lol:

I've started giving track a go this year. It's a three hour drive there, but it's different. And the lack of cars is definitely a plus.

That said, Monday through Friday, I'm on the rollers or trainer. I don't bother trying to ride among the cars during the workweek.

Last year, we lost 4 local riders in a 2 month span, that got me thinking. I also don't think my wife wants me riding anymore after so many close calls. I really do enjoy cycling though, so its hard to just walk away.

this is one of the times I wish you'd write like a normal person with understandable phrasing.

I think my odds of dying by fat and of shape if I don't start riding again are higher than dying by car if I do start riding again, but maybe I'm just justifying.