That's awful, my condolences.

That is awful. So sorry.

I'm sorry Gary. Pcad put up a nice tribute to him on Facebook. Sounds like a great guy to have known.

Man. That's rough. Sorry for your loss.

2 year anniversary of one of the hardest days of my life. Stay safe out there everybody.

Collegiate cyclist, 29, dies in Washington race | VeloNews.com

I just finished not just playing, but actually practicing the piano for nearly an hour. +10 life points!

Now it's time to stretch out and go to bed.

When I was riding a lot 2-3 years ago there were a lot of 40 and 50 somethings in the local hammerfests; some overly vocal and created a very clear and distinct caste system. If you did something remotely questionable and they didn't recognize you there would be some yelling and cussing. Those guys were just fast enough to keep up and compensated their ego's by being a sheriff type controlling the group. While I'm fine with correcting egregiously wrong behavior, some took it overboard and it seemed like they were looking for reasons to yell at people. I remember one time a guy sprinting after a truck who passed too close (but not really) saying he was going to kick his ass and expecting the rest of Raincross to back him up. Another time a guy got threatened at for bad cornering but it wasn't that bad and it was obvious he was targeted because he was a shorter, quieter rider. It was a clown fiesta to the max.

Fast forward to today. The last two years our youth program has blown up, and now the scene is more teens and 20 somethings, and much of that old guard has disappeared. After riding with an old friend, he confirmed those young guns (some of which are killing it in SCNCA) have upped the pace enough that many of the louder older guys have hung it up. We still got some fast older guys, but the ego's all seem to be gone.

Can those juniors come to everywhere I've ever raced. The "old guard" bug me because I feel it drives people away.

Our club has been shrinking. We still get some big turnouts but a lot of the old guard have left. I'm one of the exceptions but I was never fast enough to be elitest. There was a guy who mentored the juniors on the track and the road but he got into a skirmish with our board over e-bikes (he didn't want them) and he never comes out anymore so those juniors go wherever he goes.

Remember this?
https://www.bikeforums.net/17130411-post54.html
I was kinda new and reported how some kids learned how to beat old guard guys.

It started something. A BF Patriarch came to my "rescue" https://www.bikeforums.net/17134791-post97.html

Juniors know how to race the bike.

I still don't think brake checking the group is a great strategy for winning. Young or old.

Nor do I. And it is not that as discussed in the thread and as @carpediemracing pointed out. Which is why I linked to his post.

My dog had three seizures within an hour this morning.

He's epileptic, so he has seizures pretty regularly. And he's been pretty consistent the last 7 or 8 years, with his episodes generally consisting of seizures every 12 hours over a 24-48-hour period. But this episode has been a lot more intense.

He's been having a couple seizures a day for the past three days, which wasn't terribly out of the ordinary, but the three in an hour this morning certainly is. We had to dig out his valium, which is administered rectally. He hasn't needed it in years. It's several years old and probably expired, but it worked.

Before we got his seizures under control about 8 or 9 years ago, he'd frequently have episodes like we are dealing with now, so that has me a little worried.

Not for nothing, but we might want to just let sleeping dogs lie and not re-hash old, contentious issues.

Great Doge you got us in trouble again.

You started it.
To your post above about old-guards and juniors and ride bosses.
About 30% of the Cat 1 juniors in my kids batch (2015/2016 juniors), are not racing now by age 20.
That may be quite normal looking at attrition rates for other sports.

Cycling in the USA is one of the sports many of the "old-guard" only started as adults. How many over 40 (or 50) BF posters were riding competitively in their teens? Several are/were, but the guard seems to come from those that started as an adult.
The old guys (I referee) playing soccer mostly played in their teens. Some played for national teams, now they are old guys. It is pretty easy to pick based on attitude alone (and skill) who started later in life. I once called Jurgen Klinsmann (search if you don't know) offside as a fairly new referee - he said nothing, and it was close, I think I got it right. He said nothing. Yet on clear calls I got no end of grief from "old-guard" 40 year olds that picked up the game late 20s. There is something there.

Doge you might want to pause and consider what you’ve been asked to refrain from, how that particular thought thread actually had no connection to what was being discussed, and what it might be to move forward without it.

Does the Water Cooler ... thread need to follow a thought or theme?

I think I try to be polite, but apparently easily offend many here. I would do well with a permanent ban. Please delete my account. Seems I have little place here.

I think you have more to offer than repeatedly rehashed posts about brake checking, perceived effort, and other oft rehashed topics.

But there’s a request from an admin and you might do well to consider it.

You're mostly right about that crew starting as adults, however the ring leader is a former pro (not a big name) which probably enabled them in some form. Those guys seemed to lock into him for the status, and once he left they're status probably went away as well.

Always stay away from pros at group rides. Its nothing against them (most are really cool) but the pandering and lengths amateurs go to impress them is frankly embarrassing. I've also felt as a middle aged adult when guys like Phil and Bahati show its better to let the Juniors interact with them instead.

Sending good thoughts. Pet stress is really bad stress.

Thanks. He's doing much better today.

I requested @BillyD suspend/end my account. I thought BF would do well to keep paying members and those without the same-think.

Bye Y'all.

@Doge we don't ban accounts due to requests from a user. People get banned for spamming or for posting overtly inappropriate things repeatedly, neither of which you have done.

I'm conflicted about leaving this post here but if you'd like to continue this discussion please PM a mod and we can do it off-line (from the 33).

any shot you're going back to Disney again in the fall? Planning our dates presently.