[cyclingfool]

When my wife and I were expecting a couple years ago, I was always annoyed by the inclusion of cycling in the activities to avoid list with other activities I considered far more dangerous. I’m glad (but not surprised) that Europeans take a less paranoid, less “you’re-going-to-kill-your-baby-if-you-do-this” approach to their advice on cycling for pregnant.

I’ll spare everybody my commentary on the birth-industrial complex in this country brought to you by your “friendly” OB-GYN that completely overmedicalizes everything about what is a perfectly normal and natural biological process. 😡 Oops, too late.

[cyclingfool]

@Rando Guy 74589 wrote:

So you really are a cycling fool?

Yessirree.

@Subby 74582 wrote:

There was still ice in spots on the WOD and I still needed a balaclava…so let’s not go full nudist earth bike commuter just yet.

Don’t worry. I wasn’t totally nude. I’m not that foolish. I was still wearing a codpiece… and a pair of full-fingered gloves. :p

[cyclingfool]

@MattAune 74575 wrote:

I must be doing it wrong. I saw no sun, very few bikes, and in no way could I have not worn full tights.

Part of the tights thing is just me being a freak. That and when you’ve spent a couple days acclimating to (near) single digits, mid thirties feels toasty! Most people out this AM had on tights. Some had on balaclavas, and a couple looked like they were wearing as much clothing as I did last Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Different strokes for different folks, right?

Oh, and while my grad school schedule is about to force me into an earlier work schedule, I generally don’t leave home until around 8:30… for now.

[cyclingfool]

I only #kidical on weekends, too, and nowehere near as often as I’d probably like in an ideal world, but I already retroactively hashtagged yesterday’s ride to the park. Great contest idea.

[cyclingfool]

Not me on the stealing. Though any one of those signs and the debate/result they represent would only be a great souvenir of a triumph of rational decision making for the greater good over NIMBYism and hyperbole.

[cyclingfool]

Exposed legs! Ah, how nice it was to ride with legs exposed from knee to ankle! No tights!!!

It might not have have made me faster, but it sure made me FEEL faster.

[cyclingfool]

@Dirt 74535 wrote:

…the “Eschew Obfuscation” bumper sticker…

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4470[/ATTACH]

[cyclingfool]

@cyclingfool 74245 wrote:

Highlight of watching: there was an AP video reporter taping the launch from the same spot. He did a brief interview with me after the vapor trail had dissipated. I doubt it’ll be picked up by anybody, but I plan to keep searching to see if it shows up somewhere. Anyway, it was fun to be interviewed.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x19glfy_privately-launched-rocket-heads-to-iss_tech

I’m a movie star! 0:41.

[cyclingfool]

Rainy ride home. It was a ride characterized by dying batteries and a minor mechanical issue… I forgot to charge my primary headlight’s battery at work today, so I had to run it at low power to try to nurse it home. Didn’t quite make it, but I did at least bet back to where there were streetlights to see by, and I had my lower power headlight. GPS batteries all but died, in fact I thought they had, but surprisingly my whole track was there when I hooked it up to my PC.

The mechanical issue was a left crank arm that seemed to be coming loose mid-ride. I pulled to side of trail and tightened it up a few hundred feet short of the 4MR on the MVT. Thanks to whomever stopped to make sure everything was OK. Perhaps it was one of you, in which case I say nice to have met you.

[cyclingfool]

@JoeB 74448 wrote:

I don’t find that sleazy at all. Similarly, sometimes you grab a bikeshare to go to lunch, then you get a little lost, then you find that you’re stuck in a traffic circle and just can’t get right, then you realize you’re already at the closest bike dock so you just park the bike in the exact same dock you took it from and you walk there.

See, e.g., http://www.strava.com/activities/105323394

100 Miles of Nowhere, er, 1.6 Miles of Nowhere?

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2012/04/17/register-now-for-the-2012-100-miles-of-nowhere/

[cyclingfool]

Your basic Shimano 520 MTB SPDs. Before SPDs (and between bikes) I used Nashbar alloy cage pedals w/ plastic toe clips and straps, which I still keep around in case my Shimano ever bite the dust unexpectedly or I decide to forego SPDs (on a bike tour potentially, say). Recessed cleats on sneaker-style MTB shoes are great for walking around off bike.

[cyclingfool]

@Jason B 74370 wrote:

Soooooo jealous on the Rapha jacket, waiting for my PI to die before i take the plunge.

Keep falling and you’re bound to tear it before too long.

[cyclingfool]

@Terpfan 74349 wrote:

Yah, I went a few feet before skidding some on my own driveway in slush/ice and decided to postpone riding until this evening. I decided attempting the downhill at Beacon Hill or any nearby ways to get downhill seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Discretion is the better part of valor.

I made my way in and rolled the dice with my regular tires instead of remounting my studs, but my commute if pretty darn flat except for over and underpasses, so I just took it easy around them, especially given that bridges freeze first. Roads were fine, but last airport overpass headed north on the MVT had a nasty ice patch about three five wide and forty feet long or so that looked like it was just wet pavement until you were on it. I was taking it slow and easy and have nice fat tires, so it wasn’t an issue, but someone making better time on skinny tires might have been caught unawares. That said, I only saw one other cyclist on my entire commute in between 8:45 and 9:30.

[cyclingfool]

@rcannon100 74333 wrote:

Rod, I thought Maryland was on the left side….

@Rod Smith 74335 wrote:

You might be holding your map upside down. :p

Maryland – la rive gauche

[cyclingfool]

Got the app. It’s nice and simple.

Sadly I left for lunch yesterday sans phone, however. Only had my GPS, but at least I had added the launch site as a waypoint and could determine it’s direction from my viewing location. Nighttime launches are more spectacular, but this one was still neat.

[Author]

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