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The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread

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The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread

Old 11-13-19, 07:58 AM
  #4201  
topflightpro
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Originally Posted by Flatballer
In North Philly for work today, walking streets for surveying.

Man. I hadn't realized quite how bad the heroin had really gotten in some places.

A flop house had burned the night before on the corner we were on, still smelled of house fire. I probably saw 50 used needles, and I wasn't looking for them. No idea if I stepped on any, I was trying to be careful but they were just everywhere, along with all the broken glass from the fire. I had work boots on, so not really worried, but still not nice place to be walking around, even during daylight.
At my last company, one of my coworkers was studying a supervised injection facility. He found it substantially reduced ODs and public injections, as well as assured proper needle disposal.

But the epidemic is bad in many places.
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Old 11-13-19, 09:26 AM
  #4202  
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@burnthesheep I looked at Zipp and Fast Forward and wheel builder and the carbon wheel pricing between models based on rim depth seemed somewhat rational. Retail pricing is generally a multiple of the bill of material with the multiple staying somewhat constant with final pricing adjusted due to markets and competition.
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Old 11-13-19, 09:44 AM
  #4203  
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Kinda what I thought. It just caught me off guard because I'm always a used buyer. I kept seeing ads and clicked on a few. That prompted the question. I'll still be a used buyer it seems. Lol.
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Old 11-13-19, 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
Kinda what I thought. It just caught me off guard because I'm always a used buyer. I kept seeing ads and clicked on a few. That prompted the question. I'll still be a used buyer it seems. Lol.
When I started racing, I belonged to a racing team that had a pro women's team. Each year, the pro team would sell their equipment. Some of it was not ridden or slightly used. I got very good pricing on wheels and other stuff from a trusted source. And we had team deals that were very good. Today, my racing team has team deals with manufacturers and we support and promote those sponsors. Although, the pricing is good, it is not as good as used. I assume you belong to a racing team / club that is supported by sponsors????
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Old 11-13-19, 11:29 AM
  #4205  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
At my last company, one of my coworkers was studying a supervised injection facility. He found it substantially reduced ODs and public injections, as well as assured proper needle disposal.

But the epidemic is bad in many places.
Supervised injection was certainly on my mind yesterday. They're working to put the first in the country in Philly I think, most likely within a few blocks of where I was. Lots of opposition, but yeah, the research I've seen seems very positive.
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Old 11-13-19, 11:32 AM
  #4206  
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I don't race enough to make it worth it for a team to hand me out a jersey. I don't feel like a couple cross races, one TT, and a couple road races per year is enough.

We have local "club" teams that you can get a pretty affordable jersey from and race for. But, I'm not aware of any stellar discounts of any kind through them.

I'd have to seriously up the race volume to make it worth someone's while. By like a factor of 3 to 4.

And Z-racing doesn't count. I'm trying to do one a week over winter in the fake world. TTT tomorrow night.


But........wheels wise......I'll post up what I'm trying to accomplish in the "racer tech" topic.
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Old 11-13-19, 02:15 PM
  #4207  
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Originally Posted by Flatballer
Supervised injection was certainly on my mind yesterday. They're working to put the first in the country in Philly I think, most likely within a few blocks of where I was. Lots of opposition, but yeah, the research I've seen seems very positive.
The one he worked with was in San Francisco.

There's a bit debate about them in the public health industry. Prevention researchers abhor them - they argue that such facilities offer implicit acceptance of illicit drug abuse and say more should be done to prevent. Harm reduction researchers like them - they argue that prevention efforts have not proven 100 percent effective, so we should do what we can to reduce the negative consequences of illicit drug abuse.
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Old 11-13-19, 02:24 PM
  #4208  
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
I don't race enough to make it worth it for a team to hand me out a jersey. I don't feel like a couple cross races, one TT, and a couple road races per year is enough.

We have local "club" teams that you can get a pretty affordable jersey from and race for. But, I'm not aware of any stellar discounts of any kind through them.
There are lots of clubs in the area and the members get pretty sizable discounts on bikes, parts and other gear.
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Old 11-13-19, 02:42 PM
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
There are lots of clubs in the area and the members get pretty sizable discounts on bikes, parts and other gear.

What is interesting is that there are many "racing" clubs where only a few members actually race. However, the non racers usually have access to the same deals with the exception that some deals may require a minimum number of races per year.

Part of the problem for cyclists joining teams or clubs is the lack of promotion of the clubs describing their features and benefits of membership.

When I started racing my thinking was simple. Get a coach, find a pro bike shop and join a racing team. And I became a member of BF and learned a lot from all concerned. YMMV.
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Old 11-13-19, 02:44 PM
  #4210  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
The one he worked with was in San Francisco.

There's a bit debate about them in the public health industry. Prevention researchers abhor them - they argue that such facilities offer implicit acceptance of illicit drug abuse and say more should be done to prevent. Harm reduction researchers like them - they argue that prevention efforts have not proven 100 percent effective, so we should do what we can to reduce the negative consequences of illicit drug abuse.
Interesting. The research I've done doesn't turn up any legal ones in the US yet. The one in Philly would be the first.

Maybe it was one of the clandestine ones that have existed at various times in places.
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Old 11-13-19, 03:21 PM
  #4211  
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Originally Posted by Hermes
What is interesting is that there are many "racing" clubs where only a few members actually race. However, the non racers usually have access to the same deals with the exception that some deals may require a minimum number of races per year.

Part of the problem for cyclists joining teams or clubs is the lack of promotion of the clubs describing their features and benefits of membership.

When I started racing my thinking was simple. Get a coach, find a pro bike shop and join a racing team. And I became a member of BF and learned a lot from all concerned. YMMV.
That's kinda a big point of contention for me; not that I race a ton, but we have people that don't race at all and have no interest to do so. They just show up for their free stuff and go. It more or less undermines the actual race team. I get why the shop does it; at the end of the day a casual rider showing up to group rides is going to put out more exposure than a racer. Everyone at races is already committed to a bike shop, but the easy group rides? That's where you get the numbers.

Next year we're going to have a nice team; 2 domestic pro caliber racers, and 4 other really fast guys, all great climbers. Unfortunately I'm 45+ and they're all under 30.
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Old 11-13-19, 04:03 PM
  #4212  
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My team has an expectation that you will race and there is a reimbursement scheme if you meet a minimum number of races, plus work at the race we put on, and do other team activities. But we also know that we're all amateurs and have families and full time jobs, etc. Sometimes members go to other teams or take a year or two off from racing, seems like eventually they all come back. We have a pretty solid group of 3's and 4's, a handful of 2's, and a couple of Juniors. It's a fun hobby and these are my friends. That's the most important thing.
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Old 11-13-19, 06:01 PM
  #4213  
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SDBC is a pretty good community. The club at large has over 800 members, the dues of which are used to partially fund the racing teams. Anyone can join, but there are race day and volunteer requirements like @caloso's club, which are different at the 4/5, 3, and 1/2 level. Good participation among the juniors, men and women's teams, masters not so much. It seems like a lot of the guys on the men's time rise through the ranks, then start having family or just get burnt out. There are good (great) master's teams in socal, but SDBC is not one of them hah. Must be a demographic thing. Plenty of aging club members, racers not so much.
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Old 11-13-19, 09:57 PM
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Didn't there used to be an Eating Status thread? Anyway, it's been a lovely afternoon of hanging out and doing chores at home and relaxing after my big ride (PTO day).

Made some chicken parmigiana from scratch, sauce and all. Did the standard seasoned flour/egg/bread crumb assembly line before frying in hot oil briefly and baking with fresh mozzarella and shredded parmesan. Did a three-stage (fresh) basil thing, once into the saucepan after onions and garlic to wilt briefly before adding crushed tomato, once on top of the chicken before ladling the sauce over and going into the oven, and finally a little bit fresh for garnish. Served with spaghetti.

My god this is good! Perfect after a big day on the bike and a massive deficit. Pairing with a glass or two of (California grown) Bordeaux blend red and I'm stoked.
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Old 11-14-19, 07:15 AM
  #4215  
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There's two around me I'd consider, mostly it's a proximity kind of thing and I see their riders on our weeknight workout rides already. XII State.

There's plenty of others, but they meet a bit too far for me to spend the time to make it to their group rides/practices or whatever.

I think my best bet is to pick that one that's more involved in cross and next year get the kiddos involved in that a bit. Both seemed like they enjoyed riding the practices I did and they could hang out with me at those events as they are very family friendly and I could contribute more that way. Both riding or support, since it's a one-stop-shop half day kind of thing.

In other news, I've been about to lose my marbles over Zwift and my phone. Huge battery drain. HDMI/power cable adapter not working off and on. Etc.... Tonight going to try the wife's macbook that has bluetooth. Keep it plugged into the wall and run companion/Discord on my phone for the race. I just hope the versioning works fine there and that there aren't any freeze-ups.
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Old 11-14-19, 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep

In other news, I've been about to lose my marbles over Zwift and my phone. Huge battery drain. HDMI/power cable adapter not working off and on. Etc.... Tonight going to try the wife's macbook that has bluetooth. Keep it plugged into the wall and run companion/Discord on my phone for the race. I just hope the versioning works fine there and that there aren't any freeze-ups.
When I started using Zwift about 4 years ago it would kill my full MacBook Pro battery in about 35 minutes. I trust it hasn't gotten much better.
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Old 11-14-19, 12:43 PM
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Ok, figured out a possible problem with what I was doing with the phone/Zwift.

The OEM iphone charger is too low a wattage to both keep it going and have an HDMI adapter plugged in.

I would need to go buy a stronger wattage wall USB charger to do that.

That would hopefully resolve the gym Zwifting issues. Hopefully using the macbook at home works better also.
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Old 11-14-19, 01:42 PM
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I may be in DC over the summer. What's the racing scene like there? Does the collective approve of it? I've done Tour of Washington County but nothing beyond that.
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Old 11-14-19, 01:58 PM
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C'mon, you've done this long enough and well enough that you don't need our approval

Quite a few crits, and not that many road races, at least when I was there. There's a weekly training crit series that I really liked. The main road races are Coppi, Miller School, and Page Valley, and it looks like the latter two (both about 2.5 hrs drive away) are no longer being held. MABRA is the local USAC chapter; the calendar really seems to have thinned...


It's also really hot and humid. One year a dude in my race (Coppi) actually suffered heat stroke, and this was the morning race. I think the organizers may have wised up to that and moved it to earlier in the summer.

If you have a car, quite a few of the races in PA (e.g. Millersburg) and NJ are not that far away either.
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Old 11-14-19, 02:05 PM
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Dude when I did Washington County I distinctly remember feeling like my brain was boiling for the last half hour. It was nuts!

RIP racing scene Even if there are weekly crits to play bikes in I will be mostly satisfied.
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Old 11-14-19, 03:27 PM
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oh man, the memories

i had ~2.5 liters for three hours, and still ran nearly dry toward the end, sipping warm water. Would have been nice to have someone hand me an insulated bottle...

I never understood why they decided to run the longer races in the afternoon, when they could have done it in the morning (when it's a lot cooler)
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Old 11-14-19, 06:18 PM
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
Ok, figured out a possible problem with what I was doing with the phone/Zwift.

The OEM iphone charger is too low a wattage to both keep it going and have an HDMI adapter plugged in.

I would need to go buy a stronger wattage wall USB charger to do that.

That would hopefully resolve the gym Zwifting issues. Hopefully using the macbook at home works better also.
That's probably not very good for your phone, cooking the battery like that; I bet it gets rather warm.
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Old 11-15-19, 06:38 AM
  #4223  
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TKP, also look south toward NC. While the calendar isn't nearly what it was five or 10 years ago, there are still some races going on.
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Old 11-16-19, 09:04 AM
  #4224  
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Saw Ford versus Ferrari at the Lot Theatre last night and attended a pre-movie event that displayed the cars used in the movie. Amazing movie and maybe the best pic of the year with excellent acting. The racing scenes are superb and it is a reminder about what racing is all about - the perfect lap. I am not so sure that Ford will love the image created for them in the movie. My first car was a 64 blue Mustang inline 6 stick shift. And I always wanted a Shelby.


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Old 11-16-19, 01:44 PM
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Very cool @Hermes. I always dug the classic blue/white striped Shelby Cobras.
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