I’m pretty sure that’s a rat, but it’s impossible to say for sure except for the individual who actually procured that critter for the ad.

It's also knowing the likely size of the tubes in that rack.

A juvy rat looks just like a mouse, you can’t tell by size.

Those tubes look like 12x75mm tubes, which is what goes in a rack like that. Mice are 50-100mm long, so that's the right proportion relative to the tubes, whereas rats are 200-400mm and would totally dwarf the tubes.

Compelling evidence.

Did the final workout of Zwift Academy last night. 3 repeats of 400W for 30", 135W for 1', 230W for 4' and 250W for 3', with 5' at 135W in between. The first one was, if not easy, definitely doable. I looked forward to seeing the gate, but I could have kept on at 250 a while longer.

Second set was more of a chore.

Third set, I made it through, but felt AWFUL for the first 30 seconds after the end, which is kinda the point, I guess.

Looks like there will be some rain/occasional showers most days of my upcoming trip. :( I am going anyway.

I used to have a pet rat. It was white. It developed mammary tumors. My mom had it euthanized while I was touring Europe after my sophomore year of college.

I had a black and white one when I was about 9-10. Cool little guy. It had tumor issues, too. :(

ANOTHER thru axle size? Must be more aero skinny forks for the roadies

Sounds more like one of them track bike sizes, for when 100mm is just too wide.

When I was too young to remember directly (like 3 or 4) one of my older siblings brought home a pair of hooded rats from school one summer - George and Georgette. G&G did what rats do, and soon there were more, so each of the kids got one. I apparently had one, but I have no memory of it. I don't know how long this lasted, but I suspect all the rats one day were sent to a farm upstate, where they could run and run, as the saying goes.

I had guinea pigs when I was younger. They're very cute, friendly, cuddly, and will actually greet you with what we used to call "greeching". They live a long time, it turns out, so we found a family with younger kids to take on my group of 6 when I headed off to college.

IIRC, it's a common problem with rats.

My girl was sweet. I got her from a friend who was quitting school and could not bring her home. She lived on the bookshelves in my dorm room. I built a ramp so she had a split-level pad. Made her a shoebox house for her to hide in and gave her an old sneaker to gnaw on. I liked how you could feed her anything. Even pizza. I would sneak vegetables out of the cafeteria to make sure she got her share of healthy food.

I had a hamster once.

Mouse:





https://www.disneyclips.com/images/i...ey-mouse66.png

Rat:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kF3tZYr1u...0/Rat_Fink.jpg

Cute, but unreasonably fragile.

LPLO struck again. Sad!

See? I told you it's the ears and eyes. Compare and contrast:

Eyes:Ears:

A friend and I were finishing a ride when she spotted a hamster walking in the gutter. We were on a busy street so she stopped and picked it up. I asked what she intended to do with it and she said she couldn't take it home because of her cats. Besides, would she carry it in her pocket? We were near a traffic light so we started asking people in cars if they would take the hamster. They looked at us like we were from outer space. My friend took the thing out into a field and released it.

Once.

We had a rabbit, which was cool, but it was no dog. I got in a lot of trouble because I convinced the neighbor kid that it was a cow, and he went home and told his Mom we had a cow in our house.

Good times.

Mrs. GeneJockey, who never had a dog while growing up, but did have cats, said after several years of owning her first dog, "Cat are a lousy substitute for dogs". To be fair, the dog was a Golden Retriever, which would be a really difficult dog for any cat to sub for.

I had no idea people had rats as pets.

I’ve had a long list of different pets, but not a rat.

My coolest pet was a Burmese Python. He ate rats. Every Christmas I’d give him a rabbit.

I had a red tail boa. Socrates. He ate mice and then rats. He wasn't big enough for a rabbit. Either way, I don't think I have the skin for the bunny screeching sound at my own hands.

Did he ever bite you? Socrates was pretty good but hated getting startled.