Originally Posted by eabeaj

I'm no hero. Having a toddler just means you take your chances for a longer ride where you can get them!

Originally Posted by Ghazmh

Just curious what you guys would do; I had an awkward experience at my LBS yesterday and I can't decide if I want to take my business elsewhere or let it roll off my back. Last week when I picked up my R3 I also grabbed a pair of Shimano Carbon rim brake pads. I glanced at the rear calipers and kinda eyeballed the pads and said to myself I should grab a pair. The wheel manufacture sells their preferred pads online but lists acceptable substitutes that they say they have tested, the Shimano pads were one of them. Wanting to support my LBS I decided to buy them there instead. I got home and slid a pad out and quickly realized that I have a lot of serviceable life left. Without opening the new package I set them aside to return upon my following trip th the shop. Yesterday when I went to pick up my Roubaix from a tune up and shifter cable replacement, I went to return the unopened pads. The guy looked at them and said they are used. Having never bought Shimano Carbon rim pads before I couldn't tell if they in fact originally sold me used pads or he was flat out wrong. He accused me of trying to return used pads. I was pretty unhappy about being put in that position and said fine if you won't take them I'll just keep them. He snarkily said somethings about me spending a lot there and said he'd take them anyways (clearly not the same as accepting that they sold me a used product or perhaps he was mistaken). The kicker was when he brought out my Roubaix and told me the cost, it was below what the quote was when I dropped it off, they forgot to add the shift cables to the bill. I told him and asked that he add them to the bill. He didn't say much or convey any sense of concern that he maybe had judged me or my intentions wrong. I didn't open, mount or use the pads and ensured I paid for what I took home. I was and am still left less than thrilled by the encounter. I have gave them a lot of business in the past few years and really want to look elsewhere. When I dropped off the Roubaix I was conversing about my plans for a Di2 upgrade and discussed how the new cables would hold me over until the new Ultegra 8000 series Di2 hits their shelves this winter. They have a lot of staff members and some have been real snobby to me and some have been awesome. For some reason this coupled with the snobs leaves me itching to find another LBS.

I'm curious what some of you local folks have experienced or tolerated.

Originally Posted by jimmuller

Speaking of the Minuteman...

In Arlington Center the Minuteman Bikeway crosses Mass Ave. To continue east on the MM you have to cross Mass Ave and turn left. Arlington recently put up new traffic lights and painted bike lanes, very well-thought out too and effective. So now you wait for a stoplight, then follow a bike lane 2/3rds of the way across Mass Ave to a large green rectangle with a white bike symbol and left-turning arrow painted on the road, then wait for the cars' go-straight traffic light. Kinda' hard for even brain-dead drivers to misinterpret. But it's out in front of the stopped traffic. I figure that as a courtesy to the drivers whom I just pulled in front of I should move off promptly when the stoplight changes to pull over to the bike lane on the shoulder. It's all about watching the light and being ready. A bike can outrun most drivers to 5mph and stay even to 10mph, so with that head start if the cyclists are ready the cars are never inconvenienced.

Well, yesterday I pulled up to the first stoplight and waited alone for a few seconds. Then another cyclist younger and bigger than I (Dare I insult an entire decade and call him a millennial?) pulled up to my right and inched slightly ahead, then a few more fell in behind us. When the light changed the millennial to my right cut me off as we left the sidewalk but then idled through the intersection, veering left as if I wasn't there at all. Okay...

So I took a place in the big green square and waited. But now I'm thinkin', what do I do when the light changes? Let this guy go first as he apparently wants to do? But if he goes slowly like he just did I'll be stuck in front of a bunch of possibly impatient drivers, and being discourteous too. Better him alone than both of us. So I decided to jump on it. I knew the light pattern, I was in a good gear, and I can ride.

Now I may seem like just a 5'9", 160lbs gray-beard riding an old skinny-tube steel bike with DT shifters and toe clips/straps. Okay, I really am a 5'9", 160lbs gray-beard, but the bike was an Italian racer, hand-made with Columbus SL tubing, wearing high-performance wheels and tires. And I can usually slip my feet into the straps faster than most modern riders can clip in. When the light changed I checked that no driver was running the red, then I jumped on it.

The rider to my left fell in behind me quickly and I think that irritating millennial fell into third. I picked up my left pedal easily and seconds later heard the clicks of clipless pedals clipping in. I hammered the 80 yards to the right turn at the Kickstand Cafe then the left back onto the MM. The second place rider was quick too and stayed right on my tail. I couldn't see further back with my mirror. I didn't back down then because it's discourteous to cut in front of another rider then slow down. After maybe another hundred yards when the MM finally cleared enough for safe passing I pulled over, slowed a little, and waved the guy behind me around. As he went by he called back "You jumped all of us back there at the light. Good job!" About fiften second later as I was cruising comfortably that millennial guy shot past me.

He! I may seem like just a 5'9", 160 lbs gray-beard on an old steel bike. But things aren't always what they seem.

Originally Posted by mr_bill

Shoaling comes to Ahlington Centah.

-mr. bill

Originally Posted by autonomy

Was this a certain shop in a town that rhymes with "Ashmont"?

Originally Posted by Holy Spokes, Laura Everett

And through this brutal Boston winter [of 2014-2105], the Freds led the way out of the darkness -- I know this from personal experience.

....

One relatively dry evening commute in February 2015, a few days after the most recent snowfall, I decided to follow my usual route and gamble that the Southwest Corridor path was plowed.... But as soon as I transferred from Columbus... I knew I had gambled poorly. The bike path was a sheet of ice.

.... So I paused for a moment at the head of the bike path, considering the best of my sub-optimal options.

Just then, from around the corner, a bike pulled up alongside me at the light. He was the only other cyclist I had seen since I left my office. I decided to speak up -- maybe he had a solution. "The path looks icy," I said. "Just take it slow," he mumbled beneath his balaclava, "and follow me." The light changed, and he turned his bushy eyebrows forward, slowly crossing Ruggles Street, using the full "walk" sign to get across. I'm not sure why, but I followed. He seemed to know what he was doing.

He moved at a glacial pace, but still quickly enough to keep his momentum. His wide tires cut a trail in front of me, and I followed.... I could tell he knew these roads by heart. He managed to hit every light of every cross street at just the right time to roll on through. No panicked stops, no sharp turns.

"Thanks for the ride," I shouted from behind as I slowed to turn off the bike path onto Williams Street near my home. He lifted his left hand off the handlebar in just a flash of a wave as he kept going, never turning his head around, not saying another word.

I don't know his name; the only thing I know for sure is that he was a Fred.

.... I suspect he rode on to West Roxbury, Hyde Park, or somewhere in that direction further out. I don't know if I've never seen him again, or if I've seen him a thousand times and just haven't noticed. I keep an eye out for that maroon Raleigh and a man with eyebrows like squirrels, but that doesn't narrow down the pack of Freds by much.

Originally Posted by mr_bill

I know it's summer, but....



-mr. bill

Originally Posted by Ghazmh

After spending an awesome week changing my latitude in Margarittaville by that one particular harbor on the shores of the Cape I was ready to ride.

Originally Posted by jimmuller

Sounds like a great vacation! Good to have you back in town and riding.

I took the Gazelle out today for 54.1 miles. Mostly roads I've ridden recently, but Baker Bridge Road from Lincoln Center to rt 126 is always worth another run. Past all the semi-famous old architects' houses (look up Gropius House). Walden Pond must be a popular place. The state is apparently limiting the number of people by closing it temporarily. This is twice in a row I've ridden by and seen the "Re-opens at 1:30" signs.

Some nice pastoral scenes from Baker Bridge Rd.





The obligatory stop for lunch at Ferns in Carlisle. Lots of bikes out today. This was only 11PM, early for the usual rush.



So many wheels so little steel
So many folks yet so few spokes
For hands the brift, not brake and shift
Whence the glory? No sew-ups tell the story.

(But you can almost spot the Gazelle hiding in there somewhere.)

Originally Posted by mr_bill

Rosies in Inman Square