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AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:



 
 
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  #351  
Old December 15th 15, 02:42 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Jakob Krieger
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 145
Default AG: Fuel: some assembly required.

- Joy Beeson / Mon, 14 Dec 2015 17:16:53 +0100


I finally got around to eating the almond butter, and it turned out
that it would have been a poor choice for packing in a lunch: I
required a smooth, flat table and a plastic table knife to squeeze the
last tablespoon out of the envelope.


I wonder what metric people would say?


As we are used to computers more than to soup
(or at least don't eat solids by using a spoon),
we'd say »the last bit« (or: bite).

In daily life, one would say »the last couple of grams«,
as well.


Cubic centimeter and
milliliter are too small, and deciliter is too big; ...


According to cooking literature, a tea-spoon is about 5 ml,
and a table-spoon 15 ml.

An american cup is about 1/4 liter (250 g of water).

As a liter (l) of water weighs 1 kg, 1 milliliter (ml) weighs
1 gram (g). As liter is a derived measurement (1/1000 m³ =
1/1000 cube meter), 1 cube centimeter (cm³ or cc) is exactly
1 ml. So, it isn't that complicated.

Centiliters and deciliters are not commonly used
(on some drinking glasses for strong stuff, you find the filling mark
labeled '2 cl' or '4 cl' - that's about the only place to find 'cl').
For fluids, small amounts are either calculated in milliliter or
liter numbers, big amounts are calculates in cube meters.


... if I haven't
misremembered somewhere, a deciliter would be about two-fifths of a
cup, and the whole 326-gram (1.15 oz.) envelope was only a tad more
than an eighth of a cup, assuming that almond butter isn't a whole
bunch less dense than water.


No. We got rid of all these ancient measuring units and introduced
the metric system exactly to stop this harrasment.

Almond butter and similar fats have a density of ~ .9, so a
glass containing 362 gram has a volume of about .4 liters,
which makes about 1.6 US kitchen-cups or 27 table-spoons.


Calculating: a cc is a microstere, a liter is a millistere ...
dekamike? (I once wrote a story in which the vernacular term for cc
was "mike".) (Perhaps liter would have been "milly", but nobody had
occasion to say it, so we will never know.)


Sorry, in Europe, 'Ster' is a cube meter of stacked forest wood
(which is less than a cube meter of full material, because of the
gaps in the stack). Nobody uses these expressions except when
dealing with firewood.

A 'cc' (better: cm³) is 1/1000 liter or 1/1000000 m³, and the
expression is mainly used for car engines.


Metric system is very easy; smaller units are broken down from
bigger (or main) units by factors of 10. So a millimeter is
1/1000 meter, and a kilometer is 1000 meters.

Wtf is good about calculating with multiples of 1/64 inch,
while an inch is 1/12 foot, and a foot 1/3 yard,
a yard 1/1760 mile (which is 1/55*32 - incoherent as can be),
while a nautical mile makes 6076 feet 125⁄64 inch?

Not talking about a foot with a foot length. While an average
male foot is about 10 1/2" long, a foot with a foot length
needs size 13 or 13 1/2, already considered as over-sized.

Or weight: The lowest unit, 'dram' is 1/16 ounce (why not
stay concludent in 1/12 grid like with length?), and an
ounce is 1/16 pound (gratulations!!! twice 1/16), and a
pound is 1/14 stone, a stone 1/2 quarter or 1/8 hundredweight
(which makes 100 pounds - the first decimal factor, very good),
which is 1/20 ton.


Sorry, using such a messed-up system, there is no reason
to ridicule the metric one.


A kilometer (walking / driving unit) is 10000 centimeters
(desk ruler unit). A mile (land, not sea / air) makes
63360 inches. Whow, how simple to handle is this?




Our bike screws have 5, 6, 8, or 10 mm thread diameter,
[not 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8"]
the fitting wrench tools have 8, 10, 13, 17 mm opening width
[not 3/8" - 7/16" - 1/2" - 9/16" ...
why aren't they signed 6/16" - 7/16" - 8/16" - 9/16" ...
that would be a little bit coherent, at least].



Rumor says, US congress has opposed introducing the metric
system »because it was made by atheists«.

In fact, it was made-up by very very catholic French guys.
All they opposed was their emperor's claim to have received
absolute power by god himself - what for the others was
shere blasphemy, and this lead to French revolution.




jk



--
no sig
Ads
  #352  
Old December 20th 15, 03:18 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Faster than a speeding turtle


Amazingly, there exist people who object to wearing
cycling-specific clothing on bicycles -- some of them running in
circles and screeching hysterically about it.

The ones who say "wearing Spandex makes you look as though you
were trying to dress up as Superman", I'll ignore with the contempt
they deserve.

Besides, *good* cycle clothes don't contain a trace of Spandex or
any other brand of elastane except in the waistband and the
back-pocket closings -- they get their stretch from being 100% wool.
But machine-washable wool has become unobtainable -- hence my
years-long project to put hundreds of dollars of labor into renovating
a jersey that cost less than sixty dollars in the first place.

Then there are those who shout that we shouldn't wear cycling
clothes because it gives beginners the idea that they can't ride their
disposable Walmart bikes without spending hundreds of dollars on
special clothing. Say What?
Sure, it would be irresponsible to tell beginners that they can't
ride in their blue jeans, but nobody is doing that -- in fact, when I
began, an experienced rider advised me "don't ever try wearing black
shorts, because you won't be able to ride in anything else if you do."

Entities who say that I should be uncomfortable in order to set a good
example are no different from entities who say that I should wear
crippling shoes because it is stylish to look easy to catch.

Wear what's comfortable and ignore the fashion critics.

http://wlweather.net/pagesew/IMAGES/LINJERSF.JPG

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.



  #353  
Old December 20th 15, 06:45 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default AG: Faster than a speeding turtle

On 12/19/2015 9:18 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

Amazingly, there exist people who object to wearing
cycling-specific clothing on bicycles -- some of them running in
circles and screeching hysterically about it.

The ones who say "wearing Spandex makes you look as though you
were trying to dress up as Superman", I'll ignore with the contempt
they deserve.

Besides, *good* cycle clothes don't contain a trace of Spandex or
any other brand of elastane except in the waistband and the
back-pocket closings -- they get their stretch from being 100% wool.
But machine-washable wool has become unobtainable -- hence my
years-long project to put hundreds of dollars of labor into renovating
a jersey that cost less than sixty dollars in the first place.

Then there are those who shout that we shouldn't wear cycling
clothes because it gives beginners the idea that they can't ride their
disposable Walmart bikes without spending hundreds of dollars on
special clothing. Say What?
Sure, it would be irresponsible to tell beginners that they can't
ride in their blue jeans, but nobody is doing that -- in fact, when I
began, an experienced rider advised me "don't ever try wearing black
shorts, because you won't be able to ride in anything else if you do."

Entities who say that I should be uncomfortable in order to set a good
example are no different from entities who say that I should wear
crippling shoes because it is stylish to look easy to catch.

Wear what's comfortable and ignore the fashion critics.

http://wlweather.net/pagesew/IMAGES/LINJERSF.JPG


I note that Jan Heine (of _Bicycle Quarterly_ and Compass Bicycles) is
now pushing cycling knickers.
https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/co...pass-knickers/

I'm not sure where they fit on your spectrum of "comfortable" vs. "fashion."

--
- Frank Krygowski
  #354  
Old December 21st 15, 04:58 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Faster than a speeding turtle

On Sun, 20 Dec 2015 00:45:00 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I note that Jan Heine (of _Bicycle Quarterly_ and Compass Bicycles) is
now pushing cycling knickers.
https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/co...pass-knickers/


Blog bookmarked.

I'm not sure where they fit on your spectrum of "comfortable" vs. "fashion."


I don't have to decide -- they don't come in women's sizes.

"Synthetic" is only slightly more specific than "fabric". Sometimes I
don't get on at all well with polyester -- I once had to Goodwill an
absolutely gorgeous dress because it contained a small percentage of
polyester -- so I need a little more detail before mail-ordering a
synthetic garment.

---------------------

http://wlweather.net/pagesew/LINJERSY_files/25NJB.jpg

I don't know how many years I've been wearing knickers, but I've worn
out at least three pairs.

And a pair lasts more than one season.

Just made use of the ammo box -- twice, because I tore a pattern off
the "my pants" nail while getting down, and had to plug the iron into
the outlet in the ceiling to mend it. Um, three times because after
ironing a patch onto the pattern, I had to hang it up again.

Anyhow, the knickers pattern says I made the cotton-linen pair in 2009
and my current pair in 2011. I made at least two pairs of pure linen
before resorting to a blend. (Sometimes a blend of cotton and linen
is better than either used alone. This fabric was not one of those
blends.)

I wonder whether the pattern I used for the earlier knickers is still
on the nail, but I can just barely reach it even when standing on an
ammo box, and I'm not that curious.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
http://wlweather.net/N3F/ -- Writers' Exchange

  #355  
Old December 27th 15, 04:49 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Staying Awake


To stay awake between noon and three o'clock, I need a hefty jolt of
caffeine. By good luck, I never became habituated to caffeine, so a
pint of cold tea will do the job.


The summer before last, I put tiles band-sawed from a brick of tea
into a glass saucepan, filled the pan with water, and brought it to a
boil. When it was boiling, I'd put in some lemon grass and a sprig of
cinnamon basil (or whatever I found in the garden that I thought would
ameliorate the taste of boiled tea), put the lid on, and allow it to
cool. Then I'd strain the tea into a pitcher, refill the pan, boil
the leaves again, strain this batch into the pitcher, and throw out
the leaves.

I would divide this strong tea into bottles, freeze them, and just
before an all-day ride I would fill the head space of a bottle with
fruit juice and put the bottle into my cooler, to be put into the
front bottle cage at noon. It would be about half frozen at this
stage, and thaw quickly in the summer heat.

Come fall, it came time to make tea and I realized that the tea
wouldn't thaw fast enough now that the heat was bearable. The dime
dropped, and I put two heaping teaspoons of loose tea into a bottle,
filled it, put it into the back bottle cage, and left it at garage
temperature all night. (Some folks call cold-brewed tea "sun tea",
but the sun is strictly optional; it brews just fine in a dark
refrigerator, but takes a few hours longer than it does at ambient on
a hot day.)




Last summer I brewed my tea one bottle at a time. I'd put tea into a
stainless saucepan, fill a bottle, empty the bottle into the saucepan,
set it over the lowest-possible heat, when it came to a boil maybe an
hour later, I'd turn off the heat, put on the lid, allow it to cool,
then chill it until time to strain it into a bottle. I might freeze
as much juice as I thought would replace what had boiled away and what
had soaked into the leaves, or I might empty the saucepan into the
bottle and then fill the bottle with juice. Or I might freeze a
little tea in a disposable bottle, fill it up from the saucepan, and
freeze any left-overs for next time.

I really, really wish that Marsh hadn't stopped selling Smith Brothers
Caffeine drops.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.



  #356  
Old December 27th 15, 06:42 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
John B.[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,202
Default AG: Staying Awake

On Sat, 26 Dec 2015 23:49:42 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:


To stay awake between noon and three o'clock, I need a hefty jolt of
caffeine. By good luck, I never became habituated to caffeine, so a
pint of cold tea will do the job.


The summer before last, I put tiles band-sawed from a brick of tea
into a glass saucepan, filled the pan with water, and brought it to a
boil. When it was boiling, I'd put in some lemon grass and a sprig of
cinnamon basil (or whatever I found in the garden that I thought would
ameliorate the taste of boiled tea), put the lid on, and allow it to
cool. Then I'd strain the tea into a pitcher, refill the pan, boil
the leaves again, strain this batch into the pitcher, and throw out
the leaves.

I would divide this strong tea into bottles, freeze them, and just
before an all-day ride I would fill the head space of a bottle with
fruit juice and put the bottle into my cooler, to be put into the
front bottle cage at noon. It would be about half frozen at this
stage, and thaw quickly in the summer heat.

Come fall, it came time to make tea and I realized that the tea
wouldn't thaw fast enough now that the heat was bearable. The dime
dropped, and I put two heaping teaspoons of loose tea into a bottle,
filled it, put it into the back bottle cage, and left it at garage
temperature all night. (Some folks call cold-brewed tea "sun tea",
but the sun is strictly optional; it brews just fine in a dark
refrigerator, but takes a few hours longer than it does at ambient on
a hot day.)


With a good dose of sugar you would be producing something akin to Red
Bull energy drink :-)



Last summer I brewed my tea one bottle at a time. I'd put tea into a
stainless saucepan, fill a bottle, empty the bottle into the saucepan,
set it over the lowest-possible heat, when it came to a boil maybe an
hour later, I'd turn off the heat, put on the lid, allow it to cool,
then chill it until time to strain it into a bottle. I might freeze
as much juice as I thought would replace what had boiled away and what
had soaked into the leaves, or I might empty the saucepan into the
bottle and then fill the bottle with juice. Or I might freeze a
little tea in a disposable bottle, fill it up from the saucepan, and
freeze any left-overs for next time.

I really, really wish that Marsh hadn't stopped selling Smith Brothers
Caffeine drops.


There used to be a "No-Doze" tablet sold that I used when sailing to
stay awake. I wonder whether they are still sold.
--
cheers,

John B.

  #357  
Old January 2nd 16, 04:46 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Fitzall Hosiery


After you put on a stretch-to-fit stocking and get it settled into
place, pinch it at the big toe, stretch it, and let it spring back.
The stocking will fit much better.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.



  #358  
Old January 10th 16, 04:49 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Joy Beeson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,638
Default AG: Trek Pure


A few years ago, I bought a Trek Pure model of "comfort bike" so that
I could exercise a sprained knee without putting any weight on it.
It's been useful several times since: It makes an excellent granny
walker, and if a hill gets too steep to draisine, the extra-high
handlebars and the deep notch in the middle of the frame make it a
good rolling cane. I rode it around the block one day when I needed a
walker to get to where I'd parked it, and at least twice I've bungeed
a cane to the back.

And it's also a dandy toy: it sits in the garage ready to go, and if
I feel like a little spin, I can hop onto it in whatever I happen to
be wearing, as long as I'm willing to leave the house in it. If the
pants I'm wearing are already shabby, I don't even pin my ankles to
keep my hems from rubbing on the sprocket guard.

If I'm feeling poorly on a Sunday, I'll ride it wearing floor-length
skirts -- but I do have a special pair of pedal pushers to wear
instead of pettipants on those occasions; I have to hike the skirts up
quite a bit, and don't want to show white ruffled underwear.

The Trek is so un-fussy about footwear that I took a lap around the
block barefoot. The pedals got to feeling rather rough before I got
back, so I've run back for sandals ever since, but I also insist on
wearing footgear for walking. (Tried leaving home barefoot once;
found there's nothing to walk on but sharp gravel and hot asphalt.)

So the Trek would seem to be the ideal just going someplace machine --
if one could go someplace on it.

During my first rehab, I rode one point six miles to the grocery store
twice, going by way of the emergency room seven tenths of a mile
farther away the second time. The first trip was an achievement and
the second was an expedition.

I've lost count of the times I've walked to that grocery, but I think
that the number of trips by Trek Pure will stay at two. If I'm
feeling good, I've got a real bike, and if I'm feeling bad, I have a
car and a truck. Or I can phone for pizza.

Why? For openers, it's so slow to start moving that going through a
stoplight is terrifying; if I ever do ride it out of the village
again, I'll get off and take the sidewalk to the pedestrian crossing.

The Trek doesn't climb worth a nickel; I have to use its bottom gear
on slopes that I had never been aware of on my Fuji. And that bottom
gear is fairly low; the problem is that one can't apply any force to
the pedals -- which is a major feature when the machine is used for
rehab; you can't strain anything without trying to.

The "comfortable" upright posture forbids you to use any of the large
muscles in your legs, and the "flatfoot" feature means that the seat
is so low that I get only half a stroke of power out of each rotation
of the pedals.

And there is only one way to hold the handlebars. When I get tired of
that position, the ride is over.

With the drop bars on my Fuji, I can sit up when the going is easy,
shift to the tops of the hooks and lean forward a little, or get down
on the drops and lean forward a lot. Male riders have an intermediate
position on the brake hoods, but since I have small hands, I have
"junior" brake levers, which have no hoods.



--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.



  #359  
Old January 10th 16, 05:41 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default AG: Trek Pure

On 1/9/2016 10:49 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

A few years ago, I bought a Trek Pure model of "comfort bike" so that
I could exercise a sprained knee without putting any weight on it.
It's been useful several times since: It makes an excellent granny
walker, and if a hill gets too steep to draisine, the extra-high
handlebars and the deep notch in the middle of the frame make it a
good rolling cane. I rode it around the block one day when I needed a
walker to get to where I'd parked it, and at least twice I've bungeed
a cane to the back.

And it's also a dandy toy: it sits in the garage ready to go, and if
I feel like a little spin, I can hop onto it in whatever I happen to
be wearing, as long as I'm willing to leave the house in it. If the
pants I'm wearing are already shabby, I don't even pin my ankles to
keep my hems from rubbing on the sprocket guard.

If I'm feeling poorly on a Sunday, I'll ride it wearing floor-length
skirts -- but I do have a special pair of pedal pushers to wear
instead of pettipants on those occasions; I have to hike the skirts up
quite a bit, and don't want to show white ruffled underwear.

The Trek is so un-fussy about footwear that I took a lap around the
block barefoot.


I've found that I love having one bike set up so I can jump on it
immediately and ride, no matter what clothing I'm in.

OK, most of my bikes use platform-ish pedals that allow me to ride them
using almost any shoes I own. But when I built up this three speed, I
left the toe clips off, so I can ride it in backpacking boots if I choose.

And about pinning pants angles: I fitted a double chainring crank, but
ground the teeth off the outer chainring. Now it's just a ring, but it
keeps my pants out of the chain just fine.

It's not that pinning pants cuffs takes a long time. It's just that its
nice to remove that one little step, and totally eliminate the
occasional "Wait - where's my safety pin?" irritation. Similarly,
clipping on my eyeglass mirror is normally a three-second operation; but
the handlebar mirror on this three speed eliminates even that step.

Of course, it's got hub dynamo lights (quirky ones, I'll admit) and a
basket on the front and a rack on the back. So it's great for
instantaneous trips to the local stores, etc. And the upright
handlebars are sort of a pleasant change. They either allow or force me
to take things slowly.

So the Trek would seem to be the ideal just going someplace machine --
if one could go someplace on it.


Yep, there are tradeoffs. I don't think I've ever done more than ten
miles at a time on this bike. Horses for courses, they say.

But it's been kind of fun to have a different, quirky bike that I can
jump on and ride in literally two seconds.

--
- Frank Krygowski
  #360  
Old January 10th 16, 05:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default AG: Trek Pure

On 1/10/2016 11:41 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/9/2016 10:49 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

A few years ago, I bought a Trek Pure model of "comfort bike" so that
I could exercise a sprained knee without putting any weight on it.
It's been useful several times since: It makes an excellent granny
walker, and if a hill gets too steep to draisine, the extra-high
handlebars and the deep notch in the middle of the frame make it a
good rolling cane. I rode it around the block one day when I needed a
walker to get to where I'd parked it, and at least twice I've bungeed
a cane to the back.

And it's also a dandy toy: it sits in the garage ready to go, and if
I feel like a little spin, I can hop onto it in whatever I happen to
be wearing, as long as I'm willing to leave the house in it. If the
pants I'm wearing are already shabby, I don't even pin my ankles to
keep my hems from rubbing on the sprocket guard.

If I'm feeling poorly on a Sunday, I'll ride it wearing floor-length
skirts -- but I do have a special pair of pedal pushers to wear
instead of pettipants on those occasions; I have to hike the skirts up
quite a bit, and don't want to show white ruffled underwear.

The Trek is so un-fussy about footwear that I took a lap around the
block barefoot.


I've found that I love having one bike set up so I can jump on it
immediately and ride, no matter what clothing I'm in.

OK, most of my bikes use platform-ish pedals that allow me to ride them
using almost any shoes I own. But when I built up this three speed, I
left the toe clips off, so I can ride it in backpacking boots if I choose.

And about pinning pants angles:


Make that "pinning pants ankles." My engineering brain's habits
wrenched control away from my writing brain.

I fitted a double chainring crank, but
ground the teeth off the outer chainring. Now it's just a ring, but it
keeps my pants out of the chain just fine.

It's not that pinning pants cuffs takes a long time. It's just that its
nice to remove that one little step, and totally eliminate the
occasional "Wait - where's my safety pin?" irritation. Similarly,
clipping on my eyeglass mirror is normally a three-second operation; but
the handlebar mirror on this three speed eliminates even that step.

Of course, it's got hub dynamo lights (quirky ones, I'll admit) and a
basket on the front and a rack on the back. So it's great for
instantaneous trips to the local stores, etc. And the upright
handlebars are sort of a pleasant change. They either allow or force me
to take things slowly.

So the Trek would seem to be the ideal just going someplace machine --
if one could go someplace on it.


Yep, there are tradeoffs. I don't think I've ever done more than ten
miles at a time on this bike. Horses for courses, they say.

But it's been kind of fun to have a different, quirky bike that I can
jump on and ride in literally two seconds.



--
- Frank Krygowski
 




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