Thread: Chain waxing
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Old June 13th 18, 01:11 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
AMuzi
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Posts: 13,447
Default Chain waxing

On 6/12/2018 5:53 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/12/2018 5:49 PM, James wrote:
On 13/06/18 04:33, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 10:18:45 AM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-06-11 19:24, Frank Krygowski wrote:

Unlike you, my braking is not a constant series of
"last second"
emergencies. On that ride, as on all others, I planned
ahead and slowed
sufficiently with ease. I probably came to a complete
stop only a few
times during that ride home.


The main concern here is loose dogs running into your
path, from ranches
and other properties. Sometimes from behind bushes. Then
there are wild
animals, some of which would easily win first prize for
utmost
stupidity. They look you in the eyes _while_ running
straight into your
path. How do you plan ahead for that? Who is your
crystal ball manufacturer?

My first seven years of avid adult cycling were in a
small town and the
surrounding countryside in the U.S. deep south. That's a
place where loose dogs
abounded and had as many rights as people; just ask their
owners.

It was abnormal to do a bike ride and not be chased by at
least one dog. On
many rides we were chased as often as once per mile. We
were chased by packs
of as many as 12 dogs. And for extra spice, there were
times we defended
ourselves from attacking dogs (perhaps by using Halt or
throwing rocks) and
owners yelled at us "You leave my dog alone!"

I know all about dogs chasing bikes. Yet I never recall a
panic stop
necessitated by a dog. That's more Joergian fantasy.


My wife collided with a dog that suddenly changed
direction and ran in front of her on a shared path. She
went over the bars.

Last week when I left home early in the morning, I had one
wallaby cross the road right in front of me while its mate
bounded along the road beside me before turning away, and
then another took fright at me passing and (thankfully)
darted away rather than across the road in front of me -
as they are prone to do.

My brother was with a bunch where a wallaby tried to go
under another rider's bicycle. That didn't end well. A
kangaroo was videoed recently bounding into a cyclist on a
road near Brisbane, IIRC. A local fellow was taken off
his motorcycle recently, by a wallaby that collided with
his bike on a corner within 100m of our house.

I'm not saying it happens often. Rare actually. But it
does happen.

I've hit the brakes a few times recently in fear of a
wallaby trying to escape in front of me. I take it as a
part of the environment in which I live.

Your environment is obviously different.


Oh, and here's part of the problem, probably mentioned befo

Humans are evolved to live in small tribes or villages. Our
evolution has probably not really caught up with the idea of
a large city, let alone global communication.

In those small tribes or villages, if a person heard that
someone's baby was taken by a leopard, it meant that one's
own baby was at risk. That leopard tale would generate very
appropriate fears and defensive strategies.

But now we have true global communication; and people
emotional evolution isn't up to it. We hear about someone on
literally the opposite end of the earth having wallaby
problems while bicycling, and many people seem to say "Damn!
I'd better get better brakes on my bike! No telling where
those wallabies will pop out next!"

Some skeptics look instead at the data on bike crash causes
and say "I might hit a dog once every million miles; less
often if I watch out for them. I think I'll just watch out
for them."

But math is hard.


It is indeed.
Then again, dingos really did eat her baby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_...ia_Chamberlain

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971


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