Bicycles!

All this talk pushed me to go for a ride in the nearby park without the kids.

Winds of 14g23 kts were nice for kitting, not so much for biking.

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My goal was to do 10 km, I did 15. I do have an issue with my seat post that won't keep the seat position/tilt, making it super uncomfortable to ride. Since the problem started last Friday I keep trying to tighten the bolt in charge, but it doesn't hold. Might need a few new parts to fix this.
 
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Put in a short stint in on some Arkansas singletrack. It's so much more demanding than riding the not-a-road-bike around the relatively flat lands I've been riding around my area. That brings my week total to 130 miles/208 km for the week.

I hope I can come back next week. ?
 
God dammit. 190 kms in one go is far, far beyond my reach... I couldn't even manage half, and certainly not at that pace.
I'm taking it easy now until I've completely healed and get some extra inner tubes I can take. So 40-50 kms at 23-24 kph average for now.

Then again, I do ride 2-3 times a week now, so my total for this year is finally getting into some decent numbers (nearly 1500 kms since April).
 
Went for a short sprint tonight, 10 km at an average of 22 km/h. That brings my total for August to 97 km.

If I can get the seat post fixed (it went tilt up again within the first 2 km), I'll try to go for short rides in the nearby park every evening weather permitting.
 
Getting back up to speed. 41 kms over largely rough terrain (gravel, sand, mud) at 26 kph average speed...
Noice.
 
Today, I was again doing my usual route of about one hour. Looking at the speedo, I realized that while I don't really feel like I'm going faster, I am, by about 2 kph on certain segments compared to the past years. Sadly, today's time was ruined by bad luck with traffic lights, but well, that can't be helped.
 
I did a thing today: Ride for Black Lives Los Angeles 2020.09.05

Starting point:
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Taking up some space:
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Doggo:
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Not a bad turnout:
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O hai:
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At the end:
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See bottom right
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Rolling shot:


Solid ride (did the southeast half thrice, lulz):
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Edit: Forgot to mention this was a Fuji adventure—the beater bike is back!
 
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So... err... I might be outing myself as a nerd here :D But I recently got myself the cheapest smart trainer I could find, ghetto-modded it with an old 120mm 220V PC fan from the 80s (the body is friggin cast iron ffs!) to keep it from overheating, and headed out into the madness that is Zwift... which is basically a cycling MMO requiring you to do the actual work. With a bunch of routes, achievements, group rides, races and structured workouts, it's surprisingly addictive. Also: the amount of people using it all over the day is perfect - there's always a bunch of people around on the roads that you can ride with or draft off. Bonus: it runs just fine even on a potato, hardest part is getting all the dumb tech to connect properly (bluetooth is the devil yo).

Also: since the routes are virtual and Zwift has their own virtual world mapped onto some pacific island (there's also replicas of real places like London - although everything south of the Thames somehow turns into green rolling hills), the routes on strava look utterly ridiculous :D
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Bike Setup (yes, the motivational poster is in the wrong place...) and ghetto-mod to keep the trainer from melting:
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and some random screenshots from my virtual rides :) (strategically chosen so you guys don't see my usually ridiculously high heart rate - I usually average 170+ bpm on my rides & runs. see also the colored bar at the bottom for power and compare to the tiny screenshot inside the strava workout up top).
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I did a thing again today: Ride for Black Lives Los Angeles 2020.09.07

17 minutes late (give me a break: it was a long day already, and the starting point was 15 miles from my place), but somehow they hadn’t left yet:
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I find chill group rides strangely zen:


Nicely spaced out:


Checkpoint jams:


Idk, my bff Jill:
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Last checkpoint before the end, near my first post-college job (way back in 2011):
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Ride finish:


The red anti-fascism machine + some overworked legs:
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Such an odd experience to see Staples Center quiet:
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The whole Downtown Los Angeles was eerily quiet, actually:
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Strava screenshot, for the lazy and/or non-users:
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Oof. Imma go get some sleep.
 
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How is riding with a facemask? I tried jt for shits and giggles a while ago, and while it doesn’t completely block airflow, it does limit it.

Also, it gets wet and sweaty quite fast, which is ew if you go for longer rides.... I don’t live in a criwded city or ride in groups so I don’t bave to wear one, thankfully.

Also also, finally did some proper MTB riding, albeit ridiculously slowly (didn’t feel like reinjuring myself + my 9yo son was with me). Did all the ridiculous hills and ramps with no issue, but did run out of talent on one and couldnt unhook from the pedals in time. So now I have a blue ass...
 
How is riding with a facemask? I tried jt for shits and giggles a while ago, and while it doesn’t completely block airflow, it does limit it.

Also, it gets wet and sweaty quite fast, which is ew if you go for longer rides.... I don’t live in a criwded city or ride in groups so I don’t bave to wear one, thankfully.

I only wear the mask on these group rides, and it's fine. The group moves pretty slowly (around 13mph average) and my masks are spacious enough that it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't sweat if that were all the riding I did. I don't wear the mask on the way to and from the group ride, or solo, when I'm pushing harder.
 
After a few years without a bike, I borrowed my brother's and took a quick ride (forgot my laptop charger and didn't feel like walking or taking an Uber for a 2km round trip).
Cycling with a mask was OK, but my glasses fogged immediately.
Boy, it felt good and I want a bicycle again. :D
 
On the way home from work, the chain on my trekking bike broke. Ah fuck. :( Luckily, I was stranded only a few hundred metres from a bus stop, walked there with two minutes to spare until the bus that goes directly to my block arrived, so I basically lost at most 20 minutes compared to riding the rest of the way.

Anyway, looks like I need a new chain and therefore also front and rear sprockets and probably also a new rear derailleur. After 13 years and over 11,000 km, I can live with this, to be honest. I will inquire at local shops about parts and work pricing tomorrow.
Damnit. Just in the middle of a city-wide organized three-week "use bike instead of car" challenge. :(
 
Thanks for the unintentional reminder, I just remembered I wanted to check the chains on my bikes regularly, I even set up a monthly reminder, but conveniently ignored it on Sunday...

After 2200 km of riding the chain on my gravel bike lengthened a bit, I have a tool to measure the elongation which showed it already lenghtend between 0,5% and 0,75%. Since the chain is cheap-ish (not even 30 Euros for a Shimano CN-HG701) I already bought a replacement with the last order of bike parts so I was able to change the chain. Now it's fit for another 2k or so km. :) I'm too lazy to clean the chainset, otherwise I could surely squeeze a couple km more out of a chain...
 
Mind = blown
It's a bit daft, I'll admit... but the gamification aspect just works.

After 13 years and over 11,000 km, I can live with this, to be honest.
That is crazy good mileage... basically a miracle the chain survived that long! And while I'd usually say swapping the cassette with the chain is the way to go, at 11Mm - yeah, you can probably also go with a new crankset :)

I'm too lazy to clean the chainset, otherwise I could surely squeeze a couple km more out of a chain...
I'll say! I never bother with my everyday bike (which I don't really use, because 60km commute -.-), but giving it a quick wipedown and re-lube every other month would surely already help. Also: how many km on your cassette? If the chain is really worn, it'd probably be a good idea to swap that as well - otherwise the worn teeth will amplify chain wear a lot (quite a vicious circle you can get into)...
 
So... err... I might be outing myself as a nerd here :D But I recently got myself the cheapest smart trainer I could find, ghetto-modded it with an old 120mm 220V PC fan from the 80s (the body is friggin cast iron ffs!) to keep it from overheating, and headed out into the madness that is Zwift... which is basically a cycling MMO requiring you to do the actual work. With a bunch of routes, achievements, group rides, races and structured workouts, it's surprisingly addictive. Also: the amount of people using it all over the day is perfect - there's always a bunch of people around on the roads that you can ride with or draft off. Bonus: it runs just fine even on a potato, hardest part is getting all the dumb tech to connect properly (bluetooth is the devil yo).

Also: since the routes are virtual and Zwift has their own virtual world mapped onto some pacific island (there's also replicas of real places like London - although everything south of the Thames somehow turns into green rolling hills), the routes on strava look utterly ridiculous :D
View attachment 3558473

Bike Setup (yes, the motivational poster is in the wrong place...) and ghetto-mod to keep the trainer from melting:
View attachment 3558475View attachment 3558474

and some random screenshots from my virtual rides :) (strategically chosen so you guys don't see my usually ridiculously high heart rate - I usually average 170+ bpm on my rides & runs. see also the colored bar at the bottom for power and compare to the tiny screenshot inside the strava workout up top).
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First off, eizbaer!! ? I've not seen you in a while, man, hope you're good!

Nice setup you got there, and the bike looks nice too. I've beedn thinking about getting the cheapest smart trainer, too, to make the winter trainer rides a little less dull.
Secondly, I should come here more often,there's actual activity in here :mrgreen:

Awesome effort there Eye-Q. I wouldn't dare tryto do that much. I do want to get an imperial centurythough. I almost did in July, but my spoke snapped and I stopped at 135 (which is just 2 km shy of my longest ever ride). Then I had some health issues so haven't been riding as much as I'd like to.
But my rides are usually 50-80km. The pace varies with terrain, of course. This weekthe weather is great, but of course, I have a bit of a cold, typical...

Anyone here with Strava that's not in the FG club yet?

And speaking of mileage (kilometerage?) I'm at 2124 this year. Not a lot, but not bad, given my previous years. My goal was 2500, but I'll try and make it to 3k this year.
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