Joerg Antidote

Sorry, Joerg, I needed a subject and "Ride Report" seemed too grandiose.

First ride of the new year: -5F and breezy, but at least the sun was
shining. Went to town, about four miles, for yoga practice, after
breaking out the ski bibs and the balaclava. I did wear my Adidas
sneakers, on Lou's recommendation, they worked ok but I'm almost
resolved to acquire a bicycle that can be comfortably ridden in big
rubber boots.

Once downtown had an espresso, and a load of pizza. Saw a stylish young
woman wearing some kind of clogs without stockings or socks, and another
one with a cable knit *backless* sweater. Hmmm. The local UPS dude was
wearing shorts, as always, but he did have on serious socks and gloves.
The postman was wearing what looked like a USPS-issue snow suit, with
red, white, and blue racing stripes.

Riding back I took the lane more or less everywhere, as there was little
alternative, between big piles of snow, parked cars, and frozen slush on
verges. If anyone was annoyed they gave no sign, until I saw a large
black pickup with two young Cambodian guys in it behind me, the driver
tap, tap, tapping on the horn. WTF? I look over at them, and the
passenger says, hey, you dropped something, and he hands me the
balaclava, which, having proven a little too much, I had stuffed in my
coat pocket.

--

On 2018-01-06 12:42, Radey Shouman wrote:
Sorry, Joerg, I needed a subject and "Ride Report" seemed too grandiose.

First ride of the new year: -5F and breezy, but at least the sun was
shining. Went to town, about four miles, for yoga practice, after
breaking out the ski bibs and the balaclava. I did wear my Adidas
sneakers, on Lou's recommendation, they worked ok but I'm almost
resolved to acquire a bicycle that can be comfortably ridden in big
rubber boots.


That is why even my road bike has big square MTB pedals. You can ride it
with army boots. I have done that in Europe when the weather turned
"Siberian".

Just swap out the pedals and you'll be fine. You can always go back to
SPD or whatever once the weather lets up.


Once downtown had an espresso, and a load of pizza. Saw a stylish young
woman wearing some kind of clogs without stockings or socks, and another
one with a cable knit *backless* sweater. Hmmm. The local UPS dude was
wearing shorts, as always, but he did have on serious socks and gloves.
The postman was wearing what looked like a USPS-issue snow suit, with
red, white, and blue racing stripes.


I am still riding around in a T-shirt and shorts. Of course, we don't
have -5F in California. It is mostly above 40F.


Riding back I took the lane more or less everywhere, as there was little
alternative, between big piles of snow, parked cars, and frozen slush on
verges. If anyone was annoyed they gave no sign, until I saw a large
black pickup with two young Cambodian guys in it behind me, the driver
tap, tap, tapping on the horn. WTF? I look over at them, and the
passenger says, hey, you dropped something, and he hands me the
balaclava, which, having proven a little too much, I had stuffed in my
coat pocket.


I had to look up what a balaclava is. Now I know. One of those camo
things for a "leaded withdrawal of a large sum" at the bank :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

https://www.google.com/search?source....0.6TASHCesvcc

In article ,
Joerg wrote:
On 2018-01-06 12:42, Radey Shouman wrote:

....

Riding back I took the lane more or less everywhere, as there was
little alternative, between big piles of snow, parked cars, and
frozen slush on verges. If anyone was annoyed they gave no sign,
until I saw a large black pickup with two young Cambodian guys
in it behind me, the driver tap, tap, tapping on the horn. WTF?
I look over at them, and the passenger says, hey, you dropped
something, and he hands me the balaclava, which, having proven a
little too much, I had stuffed in my coat pocket.

I had to look up what a balaclava is. Now I know. One of those camo
things for a "leaded withdrawal of a large sum" at the bank :-)

That's a narrow view of the world :-)

Aeons ago -- in the last millennium -- I used to have a part-time,
schoolboy job delivering newspapers. In winter I wore a wool
balaclava that mum knitted for me.

Now you can purchase cycling-specific balaclavas. For example see:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Madison-Iso...SS17_68834.htm

Balaclavas aren't just for bank robbers and members of the SAS :-)
--
Dennis Davis

Joerg writes:

On 2018-01-06 12:42, Radey Shouman wrote:
Sorry, Joerg, I needed a subject and "Ride Report" seemed too grandiose.

First ride of the new year: -5F and breezy, but at least the sun was
shining. Went to town, about four miles, for yoga practice, after
breaking out the ski bibs and the balaclava. I did wear my Adidas
sneakers, on Lou's recommendation, they worked ok but I'm almost
resolved to acquire a bicycle that can be comfortably ridden in big
rubber boots.


That is why even my road bike has big square MTB pedals. You can ride
it with army boots. I have done that in Europe when the weather turned
"Siberian".

Just swap out the pedals and you'll be fine. You can always go back to
SPD or whatever once the weather lets up.


Once downtown had an espresso, and a load of pizza. Saw a stylish young
woman wearing some kind of clogs without stockings or socks, and another
one with a cable knit *backless* sweater. Hmmm. The local UPS dude was
wearing shorts, as always, but he did have on serious socks and gloves.
The postman was wearing what looked like a USPS-issue snow suit, with
red, white, and blue racing stripes.


I am still riding around in a T-shirt and shorts. Of course, we don't
have -5F in California. It is mostly above 40F.


Riding back I took the lane more or less everywhere, as there was little
alternative, between big piles of snow, parked cars, and frozen slush on
verges. If anyone was annoyed they gave no sign, until I saw a large
black pickup with two young Cambodian guys in it behind me, the driver
tap, tap, tapping on the horn. WTF? I look over at them, and the
passenger says, hey, you dropped something, and he hands me the
balaclava, which, having proven a little too much, I had stuffed in my
coat pocket.


I had to look up what a balaclava is. Now I know. One of those camo
things for a "leaded withdrawal of a large sum" at the bank :-)

It's a sentimental thing about the Crimean War, but it tends to fog up
your glasses.


--

On Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 12:42:34 PM UTC-8, Radey Shouman wrote:
Sorry, Joerg, I needed a subject and "Ride Report" seemed too grandiose.

First ride of the new year: -5F and breezy, but at least the sun was
shining. Went to town, about four miles, for yoga practice, after
breaking out the ski bibs and the balaclava. I did wear my Adidas
sneakers, on Lou's recommendation, they worked ok but I'm almost
resolved to acquire a bicycle that can be comfortably ridden in big
rubber boots.

It was nice day here in PDX. I was in cleats and did a short-ish ride. I then drove my son around in the car on routes that we ordinarily ride together. He was visiting from Salt Lake and had a big accident when we were skiing on Mt. Hood on Christmas eve. Anyway, he ended up with a lot of hardware in both ankles (pilon fractures) and is now in a wheelchair for 12 weeks and living at our house. I have to fight him for the Velo News. My wife and I bundled him into the car along with his wheelchair and went over to Breakside -- great IPA. https://www.breakside.com/beer/breakside-ipa2/ Then we drove around the West Hills. I scraped the undercarriage coming up Brynwood -- which I rode last weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0lUZG8pku8 Go to 3:30 to get a sense of the grade. It's a killer.

This is a long wind-up for my platform pedal story. I used one when I was riding in an ortho boot following my ski fractures about ten years ago. I had to modify a giant MTB toe clip to keep the boot from slipping off the pedal. My orthos were horrified, but hey, if you can walk on it, why not ride? The downside about riding in boots of any kind is that you scuff up the crank arms.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Sat, 06 Jan 2018 18:43:16 -0500, Radey Shouman
wrote:

It's a sentimental thing about the Crimean War, but it tends to fog up
your glasses.

That's a ski mask. A balaclava has one big hole for your eyes, nose,
and mouth.

I knitted mine with a pouch for the chin, but found it more
comfortable to fold it inside and let my chin hang out. It rubbed on
my lower lip, and my breath condensed on it.

Most of the time, I wear wool scarves pinned under my left ear for
walking, and inside a triangular bandage-size scarf for cycling.
Wrapping the tails of the scarf around my neck keeps the scarf from
flapping around and obscuring my rear-view mirror. It's possible to
arrange a scarf to cover the same area as a balaclava. When walking,
I don't bother, since my hat can be pulled down over my forehead.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 2018-01-06 20:02, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Sat, 06 Jan 2018 18:43:16 -0500, Radey Shouman
wrote:

It's a sentimental thing about the Crimean War, but it tends to fog up
your glasses.

That's a ski mask. A balaclava has one big hole for your eyes, nose,
and mouth.

I knitted mine with a pouch for the chin, but found it more
comfortable to fold it inside and let my chin hang out. It rubbed on
my lower lip, and my breath condensed on it.

Most of the time, I wear wool scarves pinned under my left ear for
walking, and inside a triangular bandage-size scarf for cycling.
Wrapping the tails of the scarf around my neck keeps the scarf from
flapping around and obscuring my rear-view mirror.


Flapping around in the wind is important for the proper "Red Baron
Fighter" looks :-)

http://www.fredsullivan.com/wp-conte...97-da8352q.jpg

[...]

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 1/7/2018 12:40 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-01-06 20:02, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Sat, 06 Jan 2018 18:43:16 -0500, Radey Shouman
wrote:

It's a sentimental thing about the Crimean War, but it tends to fog up
your glasses.

That's a ski mask.Â* A balaclava has one big hole for your eyes, nose,
and mouth.

I knitted mine with a pouch for the chin, but found it more
comfortable to fold it inside and let my chin hang out.Â* It rubbed on
my lower lip, and my breath condensed on it.

Most of the time, I wear wool scarves pinned under my left ear for
walking, and inside a triangular bandage-size scarf for cycling.
Wrapping the tails of the scarf around my neck keeps the scarf from
flapping around and obscuring my rear-view mirror.


Flapping around in the wind is important for the proper "Red Baron
Fighter" looks :-)

http://www.fredsullivan.com/wp-conte...97-da8352q.jpg

But remember Isadora Duncan's fate!


--
- Frank Krygowski

On 1/6/2018 8:21 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 12:42:34 PM UTC-8, Radey Shouman wrote:
Sorry, Joerg, I needed a subject and "Ride Report" seemed too grandiose.

First ride of the new year: -5F and breezy, but at least the sun was
shining. Went to town, about four miles, for yoga practice, after
breaking out the ski bibs and the balaclava. I did wear my Adidas
sneakers, on Lou's recommendation, they worked ok but I'm almost
resolved to acquire a bicycle that can be comfortably ridden in big
rubber boots.

It was nice day here in PDX. I was in cleats and did a short-ish ride. I then drove my son around in the car on routes that we ordinarily ride together. He was visiting from Salt Lake and had a big accident when we were skiing on Mt. Hood on Christmas eve. Anyway, he ended up with a lot of hardware in both ankles (pilon fractures) and is now in a wheelchair for 12 weeks and living at our house.
....

This is a long wind-up for my platform pedal story. I used one when
I was riding in an ortho boot following my ski fractures about ten years
ago.

Yow. Skiing sounds pretty dangerous!

Then we drove around the West Hills. I scraped the undercarriage coming up Brynwood -- which I rode last weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0lUZG8pku8 Go to 3:30 to get a sense of the grade. It's a killer.

Any idea of the percent gradient?


--
- Frank Krygowski