tetonrider

i don't have a link, but there is a brand that is popular in the UK that makes one. it's battery-powered. i can't recall how long it lasts or how much water it requires.

the big venues have waters lines one can tap into, but don't expect that for stuff most (/all) amateur stuff, or even pro stuff in the US.

when it's really muddy you might want 1/2 lap changes, so you may need 3-4 bikes and multiple support staff if they have 2 pits. you can do that, right?

Doge

When the rider is ready, the pit crew will appear.

You'd help right?

Ttoc6

Highest level cross races I've seen in person were both lost in the pits. Day 1 had Zach Macdonald flat and not have a proper support system in the pits to bail him out even though he was close when it happened. Day 2 had Jeremy page go into the pits for a bike change only for Logan Owen to attack then and ride away solo for the last two laps. These were 2015 UCI race in Seattle, Logan Owen won both days for his first and second UCI wins of his career while in the u23 national champ jersey.

Point is, a good pit crew is race saving. A bad crew might be a detriment. Logan didnt have anyone there as pit support so he didnt run the risk of pitting, instead opting to deal with the mud. And it paid off for two days.

tetonrider

Sure! Nothing I love more than standing in a pit in the rain, getting my hands wet washing bikes.

hubcyclist

My wife surprised me by buying me a Raleigh rx 1.0 I had been eye balling. $700, sram 11 speed, seems pretty good. It has cantilever brakes which I’m good with. In fact I can use my powertap wheel with it so I can quantify my suckitude or sync least occasionally see when I can dig deeper. Getting it tomorrow prior to race so it’ll be interesting to see how it compares to my el cheapo build

furiousferret

Speaking of cars.

We just dumped about 4 grand into both our cars this week. The frustrating thing is my wife's just went over the warranty by a few hundred miles. My Jeep went in for a wobble and somehow it costs 1500 to fix. I get the feeling if I went to another shop (and not the dealership) it would have cost half that; but I have a lifetime warranty. So far hasn't covered anything.

himespau 

Last month I paid off one of my cars and this month had to take it into the shop for about $2k in repairs. They also said that the catalyst was degraded, but fortunately that was under warranty. Called the nearest dealership (the one I bought it from was closed, the nearest one is like an hour away now) and they said, sure, it's under warranty and they'd fix it, but first I need to runthrough 3 tanks of premium gas (specifically Shell brand). Wow,that added a fair bit to my next fill up. This is after we dropped about $2.5k into our other car in August. I suppose it's not that bad given that one car is 5-6 years old and the other is 11, but not expected.

topflightpro

First oil change out of warranty, my car needed new spark plugs.

Spark plugs are something I could probably do, BUT, it's a BMW, so I figured there was probably some special tool required or a computer code needed, which would end up costing me a ton to buy for little use. In the end, I just paid $400 to the dealership to have it done. (I brought the car to the dealer for the oil change because they were open on Saturday mornings, and I could get a ride in while the oil was changed.)

Last week, I brought the car back to the dealership for the airbag recall. While there, they said my rear brake pads were nearing the end of their life and suggested new pads and rotors. Their estimate: $1700.

I called to independent shops to get estimates: $500 and $600.

I won't be going to the dealer.

carpediemracing 

If getting rotors from pretty much any non-dealer shop request the painted/salt-spray-tested/epoxy-coated/etc variety (typically stocked by NAPA/AdvancedAuto/AutoPartsIntl). The hat (center) and the edges are finished. This prevents those areas from turning into rust balls in about 3 weeks. Even retail it's only about $10-15 more per rotor.

tetonrider

you might do even better just by getting pads.

the thing with that is that whenever pads need replacing, BMW officially suggests pads AND rotors, and that's a bigger job (/esp with BMW parts and associated mark-up).

of course one should be able to replace pads several times before the rotors are finished, but occasionally if you have old rotors with new pads there might be a little uneven performance (slight) or noise until everything settles.

there was probably ONE customer who complained about this, and thereafter BMW realized it is better to just do both at the same time, every time, and many owners don't know enough to know this isn't a requirement. i think it's a myth that BMW owners aren't price-sensitive or that they can afford to be ripped off because a loaded outback costs more than some baseline BMWs.

at the time of purchase the dealership tries to sell the extended warranty, and they'll tell you that if you get ONE brake job it will pay for itself because brakes are $1700. it makes sense when you hear it, esp if the person knows little about vehicles. they play into customers' fears and lack of knowledge.

a smart person like you realizes that certain things (brakes, oil changes) don't HAVE TO be done at the dealer. as long as oil is to "BMW-spec" you can get your oil changed anywhere, but of course they don't make that easy to find.

can you just get pads at that independent dealer? might save you a few more hundred $$.

big john

I don't know how people afford to get their cars serviced at dealers. Some of them must be honest, but others are total rip-off. Of course, some independent shops are rip-offs, too.

Working at a dealer for years I have seen stuff even I have a hard time believing. Some service advisors should be in jail for the things they do to people. Old people get it the worst, old people who hardly drive at all get sold thousands of dollars of useless crap by bottom-feeding service advisors. I'm ashamed of what goes on in our business.

I advise people to find someone they can trust and listen to that person. Also, don't buy crap that isn't recommended by the owners manual.

Flatballer

I think the difference lately is that pads last a really long time, rotors tend to be relatively cheap, and once you've done the labor to get all the way in there you might as well do the rotors too. They start out too thin to turn now too apparently.

Everyone from DIY to independent shops seems to do rotors every time with newer cars.

Ttoc6

Not talking about the skeevy part you mentioned, but I feel the same way about bike shops. I think at the last shop I worked for it was almost 20$ out the door if someone brought in a flat tire. No way I can afford that. Learn as much of this stuff yourself and make friends with mechanics to teach you the stuff you're not so confident on.

So, as a corollary, I need to learn more car stuff because ****'s expensive, yo.

scheibo

finally figured the cause of a critical bug my VP filed 5(!) months ago for what ends up being a a super rare race condition. my teammates originally responsible for this area in the code left 2 years ago and no one left really has any knowledge of it, so i had to painfully figure everything out from scratch before i could actually even begin to attempt to understand what could be going wrong. in the process i found something like 5-10 other subtle bugs (comb through any code hard enough and you'll find bugs...), but only just now was I able to diagnose what the original issue was.

i can't even begin to describe how good it feels to finally get out from under this. fixing the issue shouldn't take more than a week, and now i can finally be free to work on something less frustrating!

big john

I think German cars are notorious for having thin rotors, actually to thin to turn at the first pad replacement.
GM cars and trucks seem to be thick enough to allow machining. Of course you don't have to turn the rotors when you put new pads but if it squeaks or chatters you get a do-over. People recommend stuff to protect themselves from this, which is fine to a point.

We also have carbon rotors on the ZO6, can't turn those, you just weigh them. I heard the carbon rotors on the Macleran-Mercedes are $12,000 each!

big john

We don't allow e-bikes on our club rides but today we made an exception for a well known guy who knows how to ride in a group. He pushed me on part of a climb (because I'm a fat slug) and I didn't really like it. If I was more tired maybe, or sick and bonking...

Ttoc6

Ebikes... sketchy experiences around them. As one gets faster, they grow more confident with the speeds they ride at. Now take the years of practice it takes for us to get used to riding 20mph on a bike path around others and throw it on someone who doesn't know what they're doing. I was drafting off of a ebike (didn't know it at the time) a few years back when he suddenly stopped pedalling (disengaged motor) and hit the brakes because there was someone 100 feet ahead of them on the trail. Needless to say i sprinted away from the situation as soon as I avoided the crash.

On the other hand, I demo'd an e mtb down in moab during Outerbike. I can see the place in the market for these but I can never see myself buying one. It took the part of biking that I enjoy and threw it straight out the window. A lot of people realy enjoy the technical aspect though and I'm all for getting more butts on bikes.
The speed limit they have now is really fun to play with. As soon as you hit the cap it piles on the resistance HARD! Doing sprints at 20mph(I think) on flat ground was interesting.

mattm

that's awesome.

but as a QA person, I wince a bit because something like 10% of bug fixes result in more bugs! i'm sure you won't do that though.

also I hate those bugs that come from execs and VPs; they are usually not a big deal if joe schmo or joe tester filed 'em, but coming from a VP all of a sudden the priority gets bumped. the worst ones have no logs or anything, and just say "this is broken" and that's about it.

mattm

went to the district awards banquet tonight - got 1st place in the p/1/2's BAR! getting on stage under bright lights with 100 people staring at you is pretty much my idea of a nightmare, but i didn't pee my pants or anything so it's all good.

do other districts do an end-of-year ceremony thing? I don't remember that from WA - then again I was never in the running for it there.

gsteinb

Congrats. We do one in NJ but it tends to be held pretty deep into the winter.

mike868y

they started doing one of these for new england last year. i think it was in the winter once cx season is wrapped up.

topflightpro

We don't have a district end of the year event - or if we, I've just never been invited or heard about it.

Regarding e-Bikes, I would love one for a commuter bike. Being able to go a decent speed without working too hard or getting too sweaty would be awesome.

And in other news, I arrived at my hotel in Atlanta late last night for a conference. Somehow, the only rooms left were on the 60th floor. I've got a great view, but the truth is, I have a bit of vertigo and sometimes get dizzy/nauseated in high places. I am trying to avoid looking out the window.

big john

I agree 100%. People who don't know how to ride in a group can suddenly keep up=sketchy. This is why our club doesn't allow them.
This particular guy was a good rider in our club for years and he developed some heart ailment, (not dangerous, just uncomfortable), so he doesn't want to hammer anymore. He's safe on the thing and stays back or sometimes he will pull (free motorpacing) and he's cool, so we're OK with it.
While he was pushing me he said his heart rate was 120bpm, so it's some work when you want it.
He has by-passed the governor so it will go over 40mph.

Ttoc6

Washington had an end of year meeting this year. Sounded like it was more a "get together and ***** about the race directors" than a meeting though.

Utah had a dinner at a restraunt in slc. Free food, prizes, nice trophies and the people were very nice. I like this way better

big john

Crap, it's raining.