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The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread

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The Water Cooler, Scuttlebutt, Chit Chat Thread

Old 01-31-18, 06:46 PM
  #2351  
big john
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Originally Posted by TMonk
In the aftermath of me riding my bike into a moving car last week I learned that my Giant TCR Advanced ISP is totaled. Major bummer - it's a boutique carbon bike that may be the nicest riding bike that I'll over own and I'm OK with that. I also have a Venge Expert (race bike) that will see all of my miles for a little while.

Currently deciding between repairing the top tube on the TCR or saying **** it, cashing my chips in and going back to steel for my daily driver. I had planned on doing that before I bought the Giant which was admittedly a splurge purchase.

The Giant is a great bike and rides wonderfully but I'm hard on my stuff and always kinda worried about it a little too much in the back of my mind. A steel bike can ride nicely too (with right geometry) and be infinitely more resilient towards chips, dings, dents and the like. So I'm torn...

Advice/Opinions appreciated

Could you transfer the parts from the Giant to another frame? How about the fork? You can get a steel Soma frame cheap and people say they ride nice, my friend likes his almost as much as his Moots.
I have a steel Gunnar frame and it is a lot smoother than my Seven on the rough roads.
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Old 01-31-18, 07:01 PM
  #2352  
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Naw the Giant fork/HT is super fat at 1.25" and only compatable with Giant/OS2 headsets. The 11 sp Ultegra group that was on there will get transferred to the new frame, whatever that ends up being.

If I do go steel I'll get something a little fancier than the Soma, although it is a high value frame and I have a racing teammate who owns one. Right now I'm thinking the Ritchey Road Logic, or maybe the Gunnar, or custom. The Ritchey would be cool because it could compliment my steel Ritchey MTB
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Old 01-31-18, 07:02 PM
  #2353  
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Originally Posted by Ygduf
my place got around that by making 8 previously-hourly positions also exempt, but requiring them to be in place 8am-5pm m-f with semi-regular weekend work as well. It's a whole different set of headache.
Semi regular weekend work sounds awful. I work a decent bit on the weekends, but usually on my own schedule unless that's when a customer can get an outage so I'm on site somewhere.
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Old 01-31-18, 07:12 PM
  #2354  
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Your jobs suck - I work 37.5hours/week at best on salary; but if I work overtime I get extra. If I report for work on a weekend -even for a bit- they give me 4.5 more hours of vacation leave.
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Old 01-31-18, 07:20 PM
  #2355  
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Originally Posted by Enthalpic
Your jobs suck - I work 37.5hours/week at best on salary; but if I work overtime I get extra. If I report for work on a weekend -even for a bit- they give me 4.5 more hours of vacation leave.
Your job sounds like a dream. My previous job was pretty cushy, never an hour over 40, flexible on working remotely sometimes, a good portion of the 40 hours could be spent just chatting or in meetings that didn't matter.

Now I work about every single minute of my 45 to 50+ hours, I get stressed if I'm in a meeting because I have too much to actually do, and I eat lunch while working. I wish my work days could be longer without impacting family life, which is a weird place to be.
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Old 01-31-18, 07:30 PM
  #2356  
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Originally Posted by Flatballer
Your job sounds like a dream. My previous job was pretty cushy, never an hour over 40, flexible on working remotely sometimes, a good portion of the 40 hours could be spent just chatting or in meetings that didn't matter.

Now I work about every single minute of my 45 to 50+ hours, I get stressed if I'm in a meeting because I have too much to actually do, and I eat lunch while working. I wish my work days could be longer without impacting family life, which is a weird place to be.
I only gross 71K CND... after our high taxes, union dues, and superannuation (pension, extra heath (dental), etc.) I don't get paid much. I hang in because I can retire at 55 with a penalty or at 60 with full pension.
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Old 01-31-18, 07:36 PM
  #2357  
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All of these jobs sound awful.

Maybe having to work just sucks.

Yet another reason why I wish I was talented enough to be a pro athlete...
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Old 02-01-18, 12:50 AM
  #2358  
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Originally Posted by TMonk
In the aftermath of me riding my bike into a moving car last week I learned that my Giant TCR Advanced ISP is totaled. Major bummer - it's a boutique carbon bike that may be the nicest riding bike that I'll over own and I'm OK with that. I also have a Venge Expert (race bike) that will see all of my miles for a little while.

Currently deciding between repairing the top tube on the TCR or saying **** it,
...
Advice/Opinions appreciated
How bad is “totaled”? Top tube crack? I’d get it repaired. Riding a bike now that’s been repaired.
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Old 02-01-18, 03:13 AM
  #2359  
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Originally Posted by rubiksoval
...

Yet another reason why I wish I was talented enough to be a pro athlete...
I think the pro cycling job is the least pleasant of all.
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Old 02-01-18, 05:39 AM
  #2360  
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Originally Posted by Doge
I think the pro cycling job is the least pleasant of all.
I've spent just about every extra dollar I've ever had since college to either ride a bike or travel the world, so being paid to do the two at the same time would be very, very pleasant for me.

Of course, I do agree if there's no fall-back plan/degree/career so you don't have that axe of unemployment and potential homelessness hanging over your head at every race start, then that'd be very stressful, but that's not specific to just cycling.
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Old 02-01-18, 07:36 AM
  #2361  
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Originally Posted by Flatballer
My the branch manager asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to try for the supervisor position vacated by my old boss after I and others complained about him. I was overwhelmed with a project and home life and in a down cycle of my depression so I said thanks but no. I'm regretting it now. It was mine to have and I might have set myself back. But when it's not actually going to pay more, and probably be even more work, it's hard to want that. He said there will be other opportunities, including a group manager role, so that's fine. I think that's something I'd be more interested in since it would be more of an advisory role with only a couple direct reports.
.
FB, I don't mean to pry, but are you doing anything to try to resolve the issues with your home life? For as long as I can remember, you have mentioned issues at home. This goes back several years. IIRC, you even moved to your current location to help appease your wife. It doesn't sound like things have improved much. I'm no expert, but there have been many posts of yours that to me sounded very unhealthy.
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Old 02-01-18, 10:16 AM
  #2362  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
FB, I don't mean to pry, but are you doing anything to try to resolve the issues with your home life? For as long as I can remember, you have mentioned issues at home. This goes back several years. IIRC, you even moved to your current location to help appease your wife. It doesn't sound like things have improved much. I'm no expert, but there have been many posts of yours that to me sounded very unhealthy.
Things are actually good between us and my daughter is great and stuff, it's mainly just that my wife is pregnant and had a fall a few weeks ago so she's in a ton of pain and I'm having to juggle my big project and trying to work from home and working late into the night so I can be home early to help with my daughter and put her to bed and make dinner and clean up and stuff.

Just trying to take care of my daughter and wife and house and job all at once, and there aren't enough hours in the day, and I still can't help my wife not be in constant pain, which sucks.

My depression is just something that comes and goes. The treatments I've tried have been worse than the symptoms, so I just deal and try to do mental health stuff for myself.
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Old 02-01-18, 11:29 AM
  #2363  
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Originally Posted by hack
How bad is “totaled”? Top tube crack? I’d get it repaired. Riding a bike now that’s been repaired.
Yeah it's a TT crack. It's creaky as all hell now. Do most carbon repair shops have the ability to x-ray or otherwise tell if there is damage elsewhere that's not visible? That's what I worry about.

The advantage of repair is that it would be the cheapest option - about $500 after all the smoke clears. I'm not paying for matching paint (it's a black frame) so I don't mind a visible patch on it. Also I'd get to keep riding such a wonderful bike.

Regardless of whether I go new steel or repair, I'm going to make an appointment to visit the guy (he's in San Diego) and discuss options.
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Old 02-01-18, 12:31 PM
  #2364  
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Originally Posted by TMonk
Yeah it's a TT crack. It's creaky as all hell now. Do most carbon repair shops have the ability to x-ray or otherwise tell if there is damage elsewhere that's not visible? That's what I worry about.

The advantage of repair is that it would be the cheapest option - about $500 after all the smoke clears. I'm not paying for matching paint (it's a black frame) so I don't mind a visible patch on it. Also I'd get to keep riding such a wonderful bike.

Regardless of whether I go new steel or repair, I'm going to make an appointment to visit the guy (he's in San Diego) and discuss options.
Not sure if everyone has an X-ray option. The place I’ve used up in Santa Cruz (Spyder) does and found a couple non obvious cracks when he repaired my bike. $200 for the inspection and repair. Bike is black as well, so no paint match concerns.
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Old 02-01-18, 12:36 PM
  #2365  
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Originally Posted by rubiksoval
I've spent just about every extra dollar I've ever had since college to either ride a bike or travel the world, so being paid to do the two at the same time would be very, very pleasant for me.

Of course, I do agree if there's no fall-back plan/degree/career so you don't have that axe of unemployment and potential homelessness hanging over your head at every race start, then that'd be very stressful, but that's not specific to just cycling.
https://www.amazon.com/Draft-Animals.../dp/0143131249

Full disclosure, Phil's a friend of mine.
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Old 02-01-18, 12:42 PM
  #2366  
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Originally Posted by kensuf
https://www.amazon.com/Draft-Animals.../dp/0143131249

Full disclosure, Phil's a friend of mine.
I raced Phil in college and he was a total dick. That plus his absurdly duplicitous stance on doping ensures I'll never read his books.
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Old 02-01-18, 01:07 PM
  #2367  
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Old 02-01-18, 01:36 PM
  #2368  
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How many rolls do I need to make a Venge?
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Old 02-01-18, 06:27 PM
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Originally Posted by furiousferret
How many rolls do I need to make a Venge?
A Chinese knock off would take 14 rolls, a true copy would take 22.

I once covered rear wheel with packing tape to make a "disk wheel". It's like those wheels (name escapes me because I can't remember anything) that the Coors Light team used, they had disks as well as v-shaped rim fairings. Braking wasn't ideal but the rear wheel doesn't do much braking anyway.
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Old 02-02-18, 10:09 AM
  #2370  
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After the latest round of antibiotics, an inhaler, and a chest x-ray, doctors are thinking that what is causing my chest issues is silent reflux, which is like acid reflux without the heartburn. Basically it can kick stomach acid up into your chest, which makes you feel like you've got bronchitis, can lead to asthma and scarring, etc. It's likely partly stress related and partly diet. This makes sense to me because the symptoms get better when I ride less because I eat less, I generally drink a lot of coffee, eat too late, it started a month or two after my dad died, yadda yadda.

I'm definitely going to make diet modifications in hopes of avoiding medicine. Have any of you had to deal with this before? If so what did you do to make it better?
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Old 02-02-18, 10:25 AM
  #2371  
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Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
After the latest round of antibiotics, an inhaler, and a chest x-ray, doctors are thinking that what is causing my chest issues is silent reflux, which is like acid reflux without the heartburn. Basically it can kick stomach acid up into your chest, which makes you feel like you've got bronchitis, can lead to asthma and scarring, etc. It's likely partly stress related and partly diet. This makes sense to me because the symptoms get better when I ride less because I eat less, I generally drink a lot of coffee, eat too late, it started a month or two after my dad died, yadda yadda.

I'm definitely going to make diet modifications in hopes of avoiding medicine. Have any of you had to deal with this before? If so what did you do to make it better?
Most of us don't have as complex requirements in our diet

Penguins eat krill (a shrimp-like crustacean in the Family Euphausiidae), squids, and fishes. Various species of penguins have slightly different food preferences, which reduce competition among species
I think a lot of it is stress. I have a friend that is going through the same issue with his father and he's getting anxiety attacks, etc.

When my mom died I had similar issues and I had to drastically change my outlook in life to be more care free about things. That's good and bad, but I would have exploded if I didn't do that. The only time I ever had heartburn was during that time.
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Old 02-02-18, 10:34 AM
  #2372  
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Just got back from Tromsø (https://www.visitnorway.com/places-t...norway/tromso/). This city is not over-hyped. Airfare was cheap. Down side is beers were $15. Across the board, other than airfare, prices are double what a USA trip costs.

I went there to see the worlds most northern brewery (not true anymore as there is one in Longyearbyen) and see if I could catch the northern lights. We did some Nordic skiing. I wanted to rent some studded tired MTBs which were real cool but got vetoed for snow shoeing.

First night we got to see the northern lights so trip was "complete". Last day/night we were told with the full moon not a good chance of seeing them - so stayed "home". Then they showed up above our hotel, with all the light noise and obviously not as clear as had it been dark, but pretty cool. The pros get much better pictures, but my cell phone got this (and 50 more).
20180131_224351.jpg
From inside our room - (can really see the lights, but we could).
20180131_230626.jpg

On the beer...https://www.graffbrygghus.no/
Alcohol laws tax ABV of >5% beer at something like 40% (vs normal 25%) when purchased locally. We had this great session (low alcohol) IPA and I wanted to find the place that made it. We stumbled (Google - "find brewery near me") into a shack and Marius invited us in. I impressed him by identifying the hops in our first taste - Citra (not hard if you know IPAs). He says the Europeans are looking to follow the USA brewers for craft beer and sources most his stuff from the Pacific Northwest.
I didn't verify that claim with any Germans, Belgians or Dutch. This 22 year old kid's beer passion is contagious. Coming to USA maybe - via Portland Maine.
20180128_131203.jpg
20180128_131324.jpg
20180128_132603.jpg

Last edited by Doge; 02-02-18 at 10:44 AM.
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Old 02-02-18, 10:43 AM
  #2373  
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That looks like a fun trip @Doge, and spending thousands just to visit a brewery is such a SoCal thing to do. The Northern Lights is definitely on our bucket list. So jealous.
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Old 02-02-18, 10:48 AM
  #2374  
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stuff may be expensive there, but there's a reason why it's one of the happiest countries on earth, which I'll leave at that lest I veer into P&R territory lol
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Old 02-02-18, 10:56 AM
  #2375  
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Originally Posted by furiousferret
That looks like a fun trip @Doge, and spending thousands just to visit a brewery is such a SoCal thing to do. The Northern Lights is definitely on our bucket list. So jealous.
I'm not pretending it was cheap, but the airfare part was shockingly inexpensive.
The LAX->OSL airfare $154/person one way. $242 for the return. Then $64 from OSL->TRO
Anyway both wife and I <$1K RT airfare. It is the rest that cost.
Had it just been me - I'd have done the whole thing for < $1K.

Last edited by Doge; 02-02-18 at 11:02 AM.
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