On Thursday, May 2, 2019 at 9:31:43 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-05-01 08:33, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 3:54:31 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-30 15:14, wrote:
On Monday, April 29, 2019 at 4:35:24 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-29 16:02, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 29 Apr 2019 07:16:27 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2019-04-28 15:07, John B. wrote:

[...]


I've been told that the cheap tires in Thailand all made
from a rubber mix that contains a lot of carbon black,
which makes them harder and they wear less and thus are
very well regarded by those who can't afford to buy tires
frequently. Unfortunately hard tires also "grip the road"
less well and have minimal traction.


I do not need Tour de France level cornering performance
and found them to be quite adequate for riding. Especially
the MTB tires because there durability and sturdiness
counts a lot more than sqeezing the last tenth of an mph
out of a ride.

On both the road bike and the MTB I want beefy sidewalls
and so far tires made in Thailand gave me that, plus a
decent number of miles in terms of wear.

I really don't understand this fetish with how many miles a
bicycle tire lasts. After all, compared to something like
auto tires or egg beaters they are pretty cheap.


How would you like it if you had to switch out the tires on
your car every 2500mi?

Besides, it ain't cheap:

1. SUV, four tires, $70 each so $280 total, 1st set lasted
70000mi and still had half the tread. I only replaced them
because they were around 15 years old.

2. Gatorskin, $45, lasted 2500mi at which point the tread
surface was at bare minimum.

3. Vittoria Zafiro, $13, 2000mi.

Want more? I trust you can do the math.

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I don't remember those Zafiro's as having any armor layer.


They don't and I also ran them almost to the bone. Thanks to
thorn-resistant thick tubes plus a tire liners an armor layer is
no longer required on any of my bikes and I can squeeze out the
last mile.

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I did a nonstop 50 miles yesterday and almost 5,000 feet of climbing.
The roads used to be bad but now they are failing or on the very
verge. Riding down from Proctor to the golf course there are potholes
everywhere.


That's Jerry Brown's gas tax increase working for ya. Not. It's the
usual, the money gets siphoned off and in the end just helps stuff their
fat pensions. Similar to the high speed rail, a union boondoggle.


... I had two SOB's in the group that rode by of either side
of me so that I could not turn away from the potholes. It this is
what the group has become, I will cease riding with the group.


My max group size is five and we never ride paceline. Ever. On flat
stretches we usually cruise at 17-19mph and discuss stuff, trying to
solve all the policical problems of the world. Or tricks how to make
Linux work, et cetera.


... They
also decided to have coffee at the Clairmont Hotel. Riding DOWN Ashby
Ave. to the Clairmont is fine. But coming back up is really
dangerous. Ashby turns into Freeway 13 and where you have to turn
left the cars are trying to speed up to Freeway speeds. That they
would plan a ride like that is not surprising since there seems to be
a lack of thinking in that group all around.


I prefer to use my car on such routes though I don't mind the occasional
nasty lane ride if it is brief. Most other riders I know refuse though
so we can't go those routes or they want to walk it through via
pedestrian crossings and that takes forever.


So I continued up Tunnel road as they all went down Ashby. I had some
Propel in my water bottle and that was my complete sustenance. It was
far colder than I was dressed for. The glove on my left hand pinched
off circulation until I had to remove the glove. Then it was so cold
that the hand wouldn't recover.


Cold? For me to get cold it has to drop to 35F or less.


Got home and was pulling across the lawn and the tire caught in a
groove between the lawn and the pavement and I went down at nearly a
dead stop. That REALLY ****ed me off.


Oh yeah, those things are irritating to no end. Like when one in our
group, a real cycling pro, got out of his lock pedals a few milliseconds
too late and fell from standstill into a nasty rock pile. That drew some
blood.


But since I did the ride on the Basso, I shouldn't have any trouble
completing the Grizzly Peak Century Sunday since it has three rest
stops along the way and two of them are really good.


You mean, there is a brewpub? :-)


... Hopefully the
roads won't be as bad on that course as yesterday. They will have 76
miles and 6,000 ft of climbing. And since I have some home
improvements going in today and have been getting junl out of the way
I tripped across a good set of Bolle glasses that I can use. Thank
the lord and pass the ammunition. The set I've been using is now
scratched to the point that I can barely read the Speedo.


My dollar store glasses broke after only two years. Unbelievable! So now
I have a brand new $1 pair.


I've tried the cheap Chinese sunglasses and while the lenses are OK
they are half the size needed. Or they pull against your eyebrows so
that sweat drips across them and blocks your vision. And Oakley's are
WAY too expensive. A set of Oakley prescription - $700 here in
California.


I've got some with see-through side covers as a gift from a friend.
Though I can only use them on very sunny days because of the heavy gray
tint. On overcast days I prefer the amber kind which even enhances the
contrast.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

No brewpubs and now my brother isn't going to be riding with me. His son is back on hard drugs and the car he bought him with a little help from me is supposedly stolen but I think the kid sold it for drug money. The kid has also been thrown out of his shelter.

So brother got into an argument with me and doesn't want to ride. I can understand the stresses he is under. My younger brother only two years younger than me killed himself with heart failure from using drugs. My youngest brother swore that he would never let himself get in the same position my father was in always doing anything and everything he could do for David. And here he is in the same damn position.

The stress is so high that he is arguing with me about the names of street names here. His "Portuguese friends" straighten out his pronunciation. They must have originated in Mexico though since they were all using Spanish pronunciation.

Portuguese pronunciation is very English sounding since Portugal is a combination of Celts, Galatians and Romans. Two "L"s sounds like an LH. Or in common use a single L. Not at all like the Spanish "y".

Maybe I shouldn't have pressed that issue. He's getting pretty tired of being wrong about everything since the kid just exploded yet again.