datlas 

Speaking of cycling trips, we are going to Charlottesville in October and I hope to ride out to (and along) Skyline Drive. Any intel/tips??

LesterOfPuppets

Disc break brakethrough! Think of the weight savings.

LesterOfPuppets

They'll probably say it's for better cooling, but I'm all about the drillium moderne

seedsbelize2

Never ridden the Skyline, but driven it. It would be a nice place to ride. Send reports.

datlas 

I rode Skyline ages ago (1980's), my real concern is riding my bike FROM Charlottesville TO Skyline....details are sketchy but it looks like I will have to either ride on a very busy US Hwy or a gravel road, neither of which are appealing. I posted a query in "Southeast" regional forum but no bites yet.

Jack Tone 

That's what I would do. Assuming the cable is connected right and with no kinks, and the shifter works, the only way I can visualize this happening is that it was set up with the shifter in the 11th gear, so all the shifting did was loosen the cable more.

Dan333SP

I can help with this! You're right, riding TO Skyline/Blue Ridge Parkway from C-Ville can be sketch if you stay on US-250, but there are backroads that meander around the countryside that'll get you to one of the various roads that climb up to the ridge, the most interesting of which is probably the Wintergreen access road (State Route 664). It's very, very steep in parts and not my idea of a good time, though. I'd recommend just driving to Afton which is right where I-64 crosses over the ridge, you can park at a little abandoned hotel that sits about a half mile from where you enter Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive, lots of cyclists use that parking lot on weekends, can find it on google maps here- https://www.google.com/maps/@38.0306.../data=!3m1!1e3

From there, you can either go north and enter the park on Skyline (have to pay an entrance fee even on a bike, bring a credit card in your pocket) or go south on the Parkway, either way is absolutely stunning.

BillyD

That’s the spirit.

datlas 

Thanks for the tips. I will investigate. I might be able to have mrs datlas drop me off where you suggested, but also I am interested in good rides FROM Charlottesville since we will be there for a week, I want to get in a ride daily (alternating short/easy and long/hard/epic). Any further tips/suggestions??

Dan333SP

Can't speak to the roads around cville as I've only ridden there a couple of times, but generally any of the routes that leave the city proper and head south or west are great cycling roads. Traffic is generally lighter than what you're used to in Malvern too. Maybe a good idea is follow Ben King on Strava if you don't already, he grew up in North Garden which is just outside cville and has posted a bunch of epic rides all around that area.

Good example-

https://www.strava.com/activities/6241266341

He did this ride with Eddie Anderson who is another local world tour pro, he showed up to our training crit series a couple weeks back and humiliated many of us.

Mojo31

I saw a report yesterday of a motorist that ran into a guy on a bike, killed him, and the driver left the scene in Dallas. I saw video of the event from a neighbor's porch camera. It didn't look like a "cyclist" but just some guy trying to get somewhere on his bike early Sunday morning. The driver actually stopped, got out and checked the rider out, and then got back in the vehicle and left. Bad deal. Hope they get the guy that killed him.

seedsbelize2

Redacted. Far, far easier than deleting. Dan got in ahead of me, with better info.

seedsbelize2

Well a question ain't really a question, if you know the answer too. -- John Prine

If you have to have an earworm, this isn't a bad choice. Thank you.

seedsbelize2

I finished my week long blast in the wood shop and now I'm back to de-cluttering. Not fun.
This needs to be my mantra

genejockey 

After almost a whole week of not riding because it was >95, and a lot of the time >100, the temps finally came down, and for some reason my right knee started bothering me. This started Friday morning, IIRC. I rode Friday but cut it short because the knee wasn't feeling great. It was much better by Sunday, but I thought, "Do I want to be 30 miles from home, and have my knee starting to hurt, and have to decide between riding home in increasing pain on the one hand, or making The Call Of Shame and risking The Wrath Of Mrs. GJ on the other?" So I ended up Zwifting. The thing is, while it was cooler than it had been, it wasn't actually cool. It was probably between 75 and 80 in the garage when I started, and significantly warmer when I finished. And it's been about 3 months since I turned a virtual wheel, and I was out of practice. I tried riding with a group that was billed as a "D" ride - 2.2-2.5w/kg. The thing is, not Zwifting for so long, I'm not used to putting out constant watts for long periods. On the actual road, there's coasting, there's soft-pedaling, there's standing on the pedals - basically there's VARIETY. I guess I'll need to get back into practice for the winter.

Anyway, the knee didn't bother me, but I think I made the right decision. We'll see how it feels for tomorrow night's ride.

big john

You have winter where you live? Good luck with the knee. Pain sucks.

genejockey 

Well, it's really more a question of short days than weather. Too dark to ride after work, not enough time to ride before work.

Trsnrtr

It's great riding around Soler. In fact, the riding is great almost anywhere in Mallorca except maybe dead center of the island which is flat and boring. I was there in 2001 so my memory may be fading some but we rode near Soler a couple times. Lots of good short scenic climbs. Bonus: no bugs. I saw one dead spider in 8 days.

Trsnrtr

I need to dig out my old pics. Mallorca is cycling heaven.

Edit: They are severely degraded.

big john

Sorry, I forgot about that now that I live in an alternative reality.

datlas 

My cycling friend with the fancy cars has a house on Mallorca and is going there on Tuesday for a month.

#Lucky

seedsbelize2

The de-cluttering continues. This afternoon I found my long missing 8mm wrench. Woo woo
I also finally threw out my three soup cans filled with random nuts, bolts and washers. Cathartic.
I need to come up with a creative way to move these boxes of components along.

datlas 

Hey I was looking at my CX bike yesterday and noticed the front brake was rubbing on one side. It has cable-activated disc brakes. Is there an easy way to re-center this?? I know next to nothing about disc brakes. The rub is very slight. I pulled the brakes several times in the vain hope that it would self-center, but no dice. Looking down over the brake, I can see that the right side has 1mm clearance but the left side is touching the rotor.

Eric F

I'm only guessing that it's the same as hydro discs...

Loosen caliper bolts. Squeeze brake lever and hold. Tighten caliber bolts (progressively). Release brake lever.

BTW - The kids are calling those bikes "gravel bikes" now.

Eric F

A good friend was recently in Mallorca. It still is.