LesterOfPuppets

Click that fan on and it's GAME OVER!

phrantic09

I have a picture of us on the walk out glass ledge at the Sears/Willis Tower sky deck. Cool pic.

TMonk

Liz and I had planned a big traditional wedding for May 2020. But, we all know what happened then. Did the courthouse thing a month later. A couple of years alter, we put down the 20 grand (our anticipated wedding expense) toward the down payment on a house, which my parents matched.

While we were disappointed at first, I quite happy wit the way things worked out. Minus the whole global death toll from COVID19 of course,

TMonk

Awesome Mauna Kea vid from Phil.. Lots of geography and history in there too, and some misadventure.

datlas 

One time use shoes $500? Crazy talk.

Top of the line CYCLING shoes for $500.....

Mojo31

Can't argue with you.

I have bought $400 shoes - cycling and other - just not $500.

LAJ

Don't get me started on those people.

LAJ

$500.00 Lake kangaroo leather jobbies for $400.00. They were nice, but I wasn't as happy with the durability in comparison to others.

big john

I got married to the ex when I was 41 and about 20 pounds heavier than I am now. No pics on a digital media and I don't have a scanner.

genejockey 

After that NorCal Cycling video, testing 28, 32, and 34mm tires in a reasonably well controlled experiment, I decided to try 32s on the Canyon, which is my only bike that can fit them. I ordered a set of Vittoria Corsa G2.0s from Bike Closet for $35 each, and swapped them in. At the same time, since I'd been having problems with my floor pump ( a Blackburn form the late 90s), I got a new Lezyne floor pump and a gauge, so I could have more confidence in my tire pressures, not to mention not having the pump head pop off the valve as soon as I hit 90 psi (I still run 25s ad 90/95 F/R). I used the Silca calculator, which suggested 70/75. This made sense, since it had suggested 80/85 for 28s and 90/95 for 25s. The Corsas were a bit of a ***** to mount properly. Even pumped up 100 psi, I had to massage the sidewalls to get the bead seated.

Funny thing - on those wheels, the 32mm Corsas at 75psi are only 30mm wide. Meanwhile, the 28mm GP5Ks are 29mm. Hmmmm. The rims have an inner width of 20mm, which I guess means significant "light bulb" effect with 32s. But I'm not going to buy ANOTHER new wheelset for this bike!

Anyhow, yesterday I finally rode them. I don't know if they feel that much different from the 28mm GP5Ks I've been running on the Canyon since new, because it's been at least 3 weeks since I rode that bike outside. They felt reasonably cushy. What I did notice was that every time I looked, my speed seemed a couple mph slower than what I've come to expect for where I was at the time. I mean, I've been riding this route for over a year, and these roads for almost 30 years, so I have a pretty good idea how fast I should be going for a given effort at a given spot. So, I was expecting the average speed to be WAY lower than usual. In fact, though, it was only a little bit lower - 15.4 vs 15.7 mph over 59 miles. Now, to be fair, the winds seemed pretty capricious yesterday - the omindirectional headwind - so that's a factor, too. Still, I clearly didn't gain any speed advantage.

Looking at Bicyclerollingresistance.com, the Corsas do have almost 4w higher rolling resistance, compared to the GP5Ks, but could it really make THAT much difference? Oh, well. Cnnfounding variables have confounded my experiment.

big john

Cray cray. How he went on without the support is amazing. I guess having done it before was a huge advantage.

I've never ridden a bike above about 10K feet. I'm usually ok with the elevation but sometimes it gets me. I did that Santiago Cycling ride "Breathless Agony" in 2006. 12K feet in the first 75 miles but it tops out at 8300. Lots of up and back down early then a 35 mile climb. I was fine until the last stop 15 miles before the summit and then I felt awful until turning around. Not sure if what I ate there was part of it but the altitude really got me and a friend I was climbing with was suffering, too.

I used to go mountain biking up to 9K quite often when I lived at 6K but those rides were only 3 or 4 hours. Hard to imagine going up to 14K and spending several hours getting there. A couple friends have gone to 14K in the White Mountains on mountain bikes and were fine. I've been on the road to 10K in the same area and was ok but did get nausea near the top

LAJ

You haven't lived until you've broken tree line, which is around 12K here. Racing up Mt. Evans is an adventure one should consider. When I hit around 12,500 or so, I just feel queasy, and it never really leaves unless I slow way down.

datlas 

When can I come visit???

BillyD

I thought the vintage wedding pics would be a blast, but no takers so far from the early crew. Oh well.

Mojo31

I really like my S-Works shoes.

Mojo31

I'm game. Just have to wait until I get home. None on my computer since that was back in the analog days.

genejockey 

Took me a couple minutes to find a digital copy. 1988 was strictly analog.



Here are those same two crazy kids last fall, down at Monterey...

genejockey 

"S-Works" always makes me think of my avatar - "Shop smart! Shop S Mart!"

LAJ

They are shutting it down to repave, which is long overdue. The road is horrid for a car, and even worse for a bike. 2026 would be the best time.

LAJ

Lake shoes seem to fit my wide foot the best, but I do use the S-Works to commute in.

genejockey 

Further to above: Just for grins, I went to Bike Calculator, set it for my weight, and played with the power. The default is 150w, which gave an average speed of 17.24 mph. Increasing power by 8w (the equivalent of 2 tires with 4w RR advantage each) increased the average speed by 4 mph. So, whatever speed advantage I may have gained from running wider tires at lower pressure I lost by running tires with higher rolling resistance.

Mojo31

Cycling content follows.

My two road bikes have DT Swiss hubs with the 18 tooth star ratchets. I've reached the point where I want to reduce the pre-engagement float, and can get either the 36 tooth star ratchets (50% reduction) or 54 tooth star ratchets (a further 25% reduction). Both run about $110/$120.

I'm not sure which to get, but only want to make this change once since it is a $220+ change.

For those who have made the change, is 36 enough? Are there any downsides (other than more maintenance/earlier replacement) to getting the 54s? In other words, any ride issues presented by the 54s?

phrantic09

Are we actually doing this?

Trsnrtr

Give me time and I'll post a pic of our wedding taken on the square in Washington, IL and a repeat pic on our 50th anniversary.

BillyD

Same.