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holllly fuck what is this sport. out of control.

this is what happens when you discover the last strap on your friends rack is broken and you have to ride home from a race with your bike on top of you.

I've been really busy with life lately, so I haven't been riding as much. I'm looking to rack up the miles again soon though!



(with the homies. +10pts if you can guess which one is me)

I'm thankful for bikes this Canadian Thanksgiving

courtesy of

Week 1 movember

yay snow

rode through the south camping on beaches all the way.

amazing how much better shape you get in 2 weeks of riding.

really sad to head back up north. biking in the cold is so miserable

somebody design c-t jersey(kit?) with raf shirt, will buy

(seriously)

" We allow you to use as many colors as you want for one low price. Have a 5-color design? No problem, it's included in the price. Have a 50-color design? It's still the same price! Why limit your design to between 1 and 5 colors when you can now have unlimited colors for even less?"

hey all. my sister won bike (rocky mountain metro 50) in a raffle and said she'd give it to me for free. thought itd be a good opportunity to start cycling to class. anyways, could one of you bike nerds give me an honest appraisal of this bike? obviously i'm going to ride it anyways but i'm still curious. will it b a good bike for the short commute i have from my apartment to the university??

yes

RM is good stuff, all the components are their own (which is pretty standard at the low end and I trust them more than I would most brands in that regard) or cheaper shimano stuff (which is all very reliable/makes sense for this kind of bike).

I dunno what sort of conditions you'll ride in but you may want different tires though. and fenders if you plan on riding when its wet out.

My apc jeans don't fit anymore bc my thighs have gotten so big

Finished the strava festive 500 and my legs are dead. Also didn't clean my bike for the 6 days of riding so here is what it looks like now

I like the look of this Giro Windshirt. It's made of epic cotton so a bit waterproof, and there's a zip under that hidden placket.

Looks like just the jacket to wear cycling into town at 5pm then zip up when you ride home in the dark at 11 pm

Can you tell me more about it? I'm interested in this epic cotton technology, You say it doesn't breathe that well? Does it at least repel water decently? One of the infinite Outlier style cycling companies springing up in the UK makes some trousers outof Epic Cotton and I consider them sometimes.

My rides always involve hills and the shirt gets a bit sweaty in areas like forearms and pits from riding. It definitely does repel water decently, similar to Outlier offerings. I think I wore it to a bar once and my friend spilled some beer on my back and I didn't even know. I haven't worn the shirt in real rain though, just drizzles.

My poor dirty winter beater. The chain needs some love after I left it alone without wiping it down for over a week.



edit: - it's almost entirely surface rust, i just haven't cleaned it haha

I did three centuries in December so that was fun and I started off the new year with a nearby annual new years ride. I thought it would be chill but it turned out a BUNCH of pros/cat1s/cat2s showed up AND the ride was literally several hundred people large. We literally had a peloton going on.. The pace was pretty spicy.. Needless to say, I was pack fodder haha.

so I'm ordering a bike and it says it's 80% assembled, I need to attatch the brake cables, fit the bars, stem, front wheel and pedals. what tools do I need to do this. is there a skate tool type thing? is there always a tool in the box?

not 100% on what the brake cable install would need (i assume they're already attached at both ends and you just run it through the mounts and attach the lever/caliper) but the bars/stem will use allen keys (hex keys) and the pedals either will use those as well or need a pedal wrench (or allow for both). if the front wheel is QR then you just attach it by hand. if not then it will either need allen keys or 2 wrenches, depending on what they've used.

it won't come with a tool (unless they specifically said so), there's no skate tool equivalent for bikes because they're so much more complicated. closest thing is a multi tool which come in various sizes/#s of tools depending on how heavy you want it to be/how much you need, but they never have absolutely everything, only the stuff you'd use on the go (barring like your bike completely coming apart)

I think I have a puncture. Do people seriously fix punctures themselves? I did it twice last summer and it was a huge ballache. I can only imagine it being more of a ballache at 2 degrees centigrade so I'm thinking of just taking it to the bike guy near work.

if you already have a spare tube just change it. more you do it the better you get anyway

new bike day is raad

I got another puncture and fixed it myself this time. Feels good except the anti rotation washer (http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer_ ... tionwasher) had fractured and broke in two when I took the wheel out. I guess because of the massive torque strain it goes under when I tackle Cambridge town's awesome hills. I jammed it back in and tightened the wheel. I'll get it fixed but I was going to ride it until then. Presumably the wheel isn't going to fall off and kill me next time I try to do a double peg stall or superman? Anyone know?

prepare for the dumbest shit you will read today (i don't plan on posting the rest of the day) http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/02/ ... re/385300/

That time of the year again

my #squad showed up big time last night. 18 riders strong! it was a ridiculously fast ride. average including stops and 3 flats was 19mph. guess who i am (smiling)

Got some bike Qs for the bike fiends because I want to get a new commutery type bike, but I already have a city bike with mudguards and a chain cover and all that so I want something a bit faster for the dry weather.

Q1: Roughly, what's the deal with different handlebar configs? Particularly flat bar relative to drops? I mean I know what it looks like but what type of difference does it make to urban riding (in general) They seem inherently less stable?

Q2: I'm under the impression that disc brakes stop a bit better in the wet. Are all the other brake types basically the same in terms of efficacy? Assume the quality of the brakes is whatever gets fitted to a £500 bike.

Q1: Flat bars v Drops. The main advantage of drops is that they give you multiple hand positions (flats, hoods, and in the drops) and these hand positions can vary from a relaxed position to an more aggressive position (in the drops). Flats/risers give a much more relaxed and comfortable riding position and a bit more a stability in steering, with the drawback that you can't change hand positions so anything more than 5 or so miles can start to get painful because you can't adjust your hands to switch how the pressure is falling on them. I don't feel like drops are much less stable but they're definitely a more aggressive riding position.

Q2: Dick brakes generally speaking will retain more stopping power when wet when compared to cantis/vbrakes/calipers with brake pads. This can be alleviated to some extent by not using shit brake pads and springing for some nicer grippier ones. In terms of modulation and stopping power I'd say dick brakes > road calipers > vbrake = cantilever. People love to argue vbrake vs canti's but for the most part vbrakes are an upgraded version of traditional cantilever brakes, generally you'll get a bit more brake modulation with a vbrake compared to a canti's, canti's (especially cheaper canti's) can sometimes feel like they're either on or off, without much middle ground modulation.

Hopefully this helps, and hopefully other people will chime in because I'm sure I've forgotten something.