carpediemracing 

I opened my violin case for the first time in years. Tried to tune the violin. Junior put his hands over his ears. haha.

I was a much better violin player than I ever was a bike racer, but I stopped at about 19 years old.

I was thinking I'd want to start playing a little, if only to give Junior an idea that such a thing is possible.

Junior got a toy drum set from his great grandparents. I actually want to learn how to do some basic drum stuff now.

Of course there's the whole time thing.

topflightpro

I kind of put the guitars away when I got married. They really got put away when we got a dog, who would go nuts and bark like crazy the minute I'd start playing.

I'm not that bad.

TMonk

@topflightpro you should try to find some time to play! Bummer about the dog though.

Although I still play the piano, this is very much the same case for me as well. Funny how your passions and talents don't always align.

great idea!

rideaz

My son picked up guitar when he was 15, it was loud but he's really good. He would ask me what my favorite songs were and learn to play them. A family friend gave him an assortment of guitars. He's busy with school, work and a girlfriend now but he was in his room playing the other day and I realized how much I missed it. :-)

carpediemracing 

I think Junior is in the copy stage. I put some moisturizer on my ankles after a long day of standing. He asked for some and carefully put it on the same way, watching me.

My brother's son was about the same age as Junior when my brother broke his leg. My brother found sliding up and down the stairs to be easiest/quickest when in the house, instead of dealing with his crutches. His son slid up and down the stairs in the house for probably 6 months, exact same way as my brother.

I feel like if I started doing surgery in the living room Junior would learn to become a surgeon. Or something like that.

topflightpro

Doesn't GStein need his appendix removed? Seems like a win-win to me.

TMonk

lol

furiousferret

I was looking over the bills to the accident and it's almost at 100k. Luckily I have pretty good insurance and it's going to be somewhere between $50 to $2000 out of pocket. Depends if I have to pay for the ambulance ride.

Just a friendly reminder to get the best plan you can out there. IMO, mortality numbers are exaggerated in this sport (though it does happen) but the chances or breaking something are pretty good.

My lungs only hurt when I cough or sneeze, the biggest issue now is the arm, which I can't even raise over my shoulder and has a painful pop every 1-2 days.

Flatballer

This sounds normal to me, but I'm not a doctor.

furiousferret

Oops! Edited.

revchuck 

Must've been the meds...

furiousferret

That's probably more true than I'd like to admit.

TMonk

That's a pretty big range haha.

Deductable/Premium arguments aside, the biggest factor to health insurance IMO is the annual out of pocket max. Make sure it's not too high! You can deal with the routine visits or small stuff, but when your ass gets seriously injured or hospitalized for a while you gotta make sure you're not financially ruined from it.

Glad to hear that you're getting better FF.

Flatballer

The office sounds like a TB ward today. Myself included.

hubcyclist

Totally, out of pocket max is really the reason to have insurance, to protect people from financial ruin. The attitude of many is that insurance is to pay for routine care, but it's not, or rather it's not originally intended to do that (although I am personally a supporter of low cost-sharing for critical services/medications). People sweat the deductible/premium stuff when it's basically a wash, you either decide to pay higher premiums for lower cost sharing or lower premiums for higher cost share.

When my son was born prematurely, our hospitalization would have easily been in 100k range without insurance, fortunately our out of pocket max was 5000, because even paying the normal percentage for services would have been a lot more. Fortunately I save the insurance a lot of money by being healthy and not going to the doc even for routine visits lol

TMonk

I hear ya!

aaronmcd

This bike shop.
Visit 1: clean and lube freehub, lockring comes loose next week.
Visit 2: replace cables and derailleur hanger, cables are routed weirdly but work.
Visit 3: Replace derailleur, I woulda done it myself but I suck at adjusting the rear derailleur. He says my derailleur hanger is bent and the screw is stripped. This is the brand new one he replaced last week.

Gotta find a better mechanic.

TMonk

I take it you hadn't messed with any of the screws on the derailluer, He better be fixing that situation for you on the house!

tetonrider

or... just do your own work. it's not rocket science--these systems are easy/trivial! you're obviously a smart guy.

plus, you are not beholden to someone else' schedule and for the price you pay for service you can often buy the right tool, which you then have forever.

one other thing: i meet many people who are completely confused by derailleur adjustment. (they get the whole righty-tighty thing, but it doesn't make sense to them that loosening the adjustment lever adds tension to the wire.)

my recommendation is always the same: install a new derailleur (or install a completely new cable). when you do this, it tends to make more sense rather than random turns of the dial. it's amazing how often the light clicks for people.

aaronmcd

I've installed new derailleurs and new cables several times, which is how I know how much of a pain in the ass it is to adjust! And you're right about the schedule thing, which is why Ive typically done this stuff myself. I dont have time to set up a mid day appointment two weeks in advance and take a couple hours off work/find a ride from the shop or whatnot.

But if the time thing is easy, I realize that usually the mechanics have done this a thousand times and automatically know exactly what to do. Whenever I do it I spend way too much time figuring it out, then of course I don't remember 97% of it a few months later and spend almost as much time again. Plus the mechanic has a stand, and a place that is allowed to get greasy, doesn't have to dig around for tools, etc.

Plus derailleurs are ridiculously finnicky. I've never had one that actually shifts click up, click down, through the whole range, whether the shop does it or I do it (unless maybe the levers, derailleur, hanger, cables and housing are brand spankin new). But the mechanic usually gets it closer, and with a bit more ease.

tetonrider

look: i'm horrendous at remembering faces/names, but that's really because i don't prioritize it.

if you figured out how to get to this forum you have more than enough skills to figure out derailleurs. it's about the simplest thing imaginable: a cable is pulled or released and the derailleur moves. if you were here i'm sure in 2 minutes i could show you it in a way that would make perfect sense, that you would retain.

maybe you should get di2. think of all the time and trips to the shop you would save -- you can't afford not to! ;-)

seriously though: bike doesn't perfectly shift to an easier gear? 1/8 turn CCW. repeat 1/8th turn if nec.

doesn't perfectly shift to a smaller cog? 1/8 turn CW.

if you spend more than 5' on this (should be <30"), then shift to the small cog, screw in the barrel adjuster, and unclip the cable.

re-attach and you are probably good to go, or within 1/8th turn.





something's wrong. if this is the case you have a misaligned hanger. out of the box, every shimano derailleur that i've installed, which is many, for many riders, is basically dead-on. you occasionally need a 1/8th turn when on that first or 2nd ride.

go electronic, though; i know a few folks who could never 'get' the RD adjustment thing, but they understand the adjustment mode of di2.

i'm good about keeping my bikes in top running condition (not *clean*, but the parts that matter are tip-top), and that means pretty much zero maintenance unless riding in the rain.

aaronmcd

To reiterate, I've done it many times. The guy offered to do it, undo cable, replace part, readjust if I stop by so I did. And yeah, it's a pain to adjust all parts not just the barrel adjuster unless you do it so often you don't have to re-figure it out each time.

The problem I always have with the basic adjustment is 1/8 turn, not enough, 1/8 turn, almost, 1/8 turn, good! Then the other way it shifts a few gears and then doesnt. 3 more 1/8 turns and it is good. But then back down and it won't shift. Maybe brand new everything it works, but after a few months of riding no way in hell.

And yes, rain is a pretty common thing. Maybe the price I pay for riding in rain is messed up shifting and worn bearings.

aaronmcd

But the current issue now, with new everything but shifters, is it takes 2 clicks to start shifting the opposite way. Like it doesn't pull or slack the cable enough on the first click. I thought it was cables/housing but maybe it's the shifters somehow?

shovelhd

Sounds like too much friction in the cable. BB cable guide maybe?

dz_nuzz

Check the seating of the housings as well