Enthalpic

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0602122349.htm

Doge

https://www.quora.com/Which-colour-o...20the%20board.

cmh

Since you can't see your own red helmet, but your competitors can, you would think the red helmet might backfire. But digging into the article (all the way to the 2nd paragraph instead of just reading the summary which is what most people read of any article, myself included) it says:

'The findings may have applications for sporting and other activities in which a brief burst of strength and speed is needed, such as weightlifting. But the authors caution that the color energy boost is likely short-lived.'

So you definitely want a red helmet for a TT to make your competition go out too hard at the start. But maybe go with a soothing blue helmet for match sprints.

I like the way BF works where I can spout out a bit of so called knowledge that seems like something I read in the past and Enthalpic will post an article to confirm or discredit it.

Flatballer

I'm usually not into people offering me free money because there's always a catch, but if you haven't refinanced your house in a while and you're planning on staying more than a few months, you should really look into it. I played a few lenders against each other and got one (Better.com who will match basically anything you can find and are easy to deal with) to essentially pay me over $1000 in credits beyond their fees and title insurance and all of that, in order to save like $400 a month by lowering my rate from 4.125% to 2.875%. For just a little bit of my time and effort (and restarting my 30 years which I don't care about) they're literally paying me $1000 upfront to save $400 a month and pay well over $100k less if I keep the loan to term.

It really is free money, so do it while rates are low.

himespau 

Might have to look into that. We got ours at 3.325 7 years ago and last I looked would be losing money with any refinance. If I could bundle a home improvement into that, I really could use some new windows.

rubiksoval

I started last month! I was also at 4.1% for 30 and am now 2.1% for 15. I only have about 85k left, but with the additional I've been paying each month, this new loan will work out to be $10 a month less and a few thousand less in total overall. Should be finished next month.

I was planning on paying off the house anyway in five or six years, but at 2.1% I'll probably just pay for the full period and save the money to work on projects I was likely going to have to take a loan out for anyway. Or save for another down payment on a house to rent out.

Flatballer

Yeah, I'm not planning on staying long, and we're still at 27 years or so and over $350k in balance. I considered 15 year, we can afford it, but the difference in interest rate wasn't worth it, we can take the extra and invest it and do better. With our balance going to 15 year made the payments substantially higher, which limits options in the future.

topflightpro

I've looked at refinancing, but it's not worth it for us. We refinanced from a 30-yr at 4.25 to a 15-yr at 3.125 about 8 years ago, and since I've been paying a little extra every month, we only have about 5 years left on the mortgage.

That said, I've generally take advantage of every 0% financing offer I can when making larger purchases. Why pay everything up front when I can get a free loan and pay it off over 6 or 12 months?

gsteinb

for flatballer's benefit I say

"what's a mortgage?"

Flatballer

Must be nice. Perhaps when I'm your age.

furiousferret

We're going all in on paying off the house. My wife's checks go to that and we only live on my income. Should be 3 years. Its also forcing us to be a bit more frugal which is good for now, and even though my budget has extra that we can put away, I swear every damn month something comes up.

The other nice thing is we have enough air and hotel points for 2 vacations, which is really going to help because I don't think living on a fixed budget like this is sustainable (provided you have excess income).

We've been told by several people with our 3.25 interest rate that money should go into investments, but we'd rather have the debts paid off first.

gsteinb

I paid off my first house (I had a condo prior) pretty quick. I threw any disposable income at it. We've been basically paying cash for them ever since. Debt is a scam.

Flatballer

Meh. I'm in the "debt is a tool" camp. I currently have a 0% APR 5 or so year (I don't really remember, nor care that much) note on our car. I'm about to have a 2.875% mortgage. I can take a TON of extra money from those and put them to work for me, either in the market, or upgrading things on the house, or just enjoying life. Money is valuable as a means to an end (happiness and security, etc). If someone wants to loan me a bunch of money so that I can leverage the money I have into more money, I'm not gonna say no.

If you're using debt to buy more than you can afford, or paying high interest, that's a problem. Our credit cards are paid in full every month.

furiousferret

It can be used as a tool but most don't. Most of us have to use it to buy a house, maybe a car, etc. For us we used debt to fund new bikes, vacations, etc. Probably cost us an extra 20k in interest over the years. Its only been about 5 years since we've been on top of it, and that was largely from paying off our student loans (which were over 1k a month) and deciding not buy cars every few years. Now if its tight, that's more of a we don't want to touch our reserves (neither one of us ever see retirement savings, that goes elsewhere).

While I don't regret it I probably would have spent more frugally. Spending a month in Italy and taking my wife to her birthplace in Vicenza was 100% worth the massive price we paid.

Doge

Is it debt if assets > liabilities? And in the USA at least, the lowest you can go is bankrupt.

Junior is as much into investing now as cycling and spends as much time at it. And it pays better (other than for a couple LUX ex racers - maybe). But yea, he is using the tool.

topflightpro

Both of these statements are true.

Psimet2001 

Indeed. "I wouldn't be where I am right now without having been able to go into debt." That me and it cuts both ways.

burnthesheep

We had kids too young to do the "kill yourself to pay off a small house" bit. We wouldn't rent and hand our money over for no equity in something either. So, home loan.

I know folks live in trailers or super super junky small things starting out with kids, but I wasn't going to live in those areas for school or work commute.

We wouldn't have though if the market were super hot at the time and bound to fall. We bought our first place really low. Then sold it really high into a neighborhood that hadn't been on the up and up yet. Now newer neighborhood is on the up and up and up.

ridethecliche

So shimano sphyre shoes. I missed the boat and my size sold out in everything but the highlighter color...

Does anyone have any experience with the track version? Those are the ones with the single boa.

Between those and the highlighter green ones right now tbh.

topflightpro

Get the green. They look good, and they will provide a good safety benefit on the road - studies have shown that shoes are often the most visible item to drivers because the motion makes them standout. This goes for runners and bicyclists. It's also why it's good to have reflective material on shoes, pedals, and socks.

burnthesheep

Weather forecast for next week BETTER be correct. Finally shows signs of warming without rain.

ridethecliche

The blue on the trackies should be pretty reflective too right?

https://www.excelsports.com/main.asp...ajor=5&minor=1

I guess I'll order two pairs the 41.5 and the 42. I tried the 42 and they fit well last time. Just want to make sure that the smaller ones wouldn't be better I guess.

topflightpro

Yeah. It should be.

topflightpro

And if it's not, what are you going to do about it?

Flatballer

I'm ready for spring. We're getting another 6+ inches here.