[GuyContinental]

@Tim Kelley 49234 wrote:

The best piece of advice I’ve heard for riding your bike faster is to just pedal faster.

The one I got in MTB racing was “brake less”

In this case, an over/undergeared fixie should probably do the trick (depending if you want cardio or anaerobic/bad knees)

[GuyContinental]

@Dickie 49221 wrote:

… hangs head in shame!

Next time… like Wednesday. Bring a waterproof phone case

[GuyContinental]

My first ELITE! Woo-hoo, all you have to do is get kitted up and go for a toxic swim in the pre-dawn darkness!

[GuyContinental]

Did my first early morning CX commute through LFP of the year! Tried to talk Hozn and Dickie into it but both had silly work/life excuses… Saw Lena and her blue-tire friend Mark on the WOD, set some PRs and went for a brisk and unplanned swim at the Difficult Run crossing (there be dragons in the weeds I tell you… dragons!). Took 2:10 to get to work and I’m going to smell like Difficult Run all day (no shower) but it was worth it!

[GuyContinental]

@Dickie 48971 wrote:

Out of curiosity, I have been seeing the same guy for years riding on the Custis and W&OD trail with a “Trail Patrol” vest on. Is he self titled, or at some point was there an actual appointed person(s) to patrol the trails?

I know who you are talking about, in fact he’s one of my daily “Bobs” I watched him run the Fairfax/Glebe intersection yesterday (lots of people run it during the left arrow cycle) and grimaced a bit, one probably shouldn’t sport the vest if one isn’t going to do the PAL thing and set a great example for drivers/cyclists at a major intersection… (there’s some scofflaw hypocrisy on my part but I always wait out the lights on Fairfax)

On the patrol front, there were two bike officers on the W&OD near rt28 on Tuesday- first I’ve ever seen out there. FWIW, they also rolled the intersection of Church and W&OD

[GuyContinental]

Hozn and I passed a fat-biked, WB, Dirt around Gallows at around 5:15… given his deep and super-serious expression I suspect that thing is harder to ride than it looks

[GuyContinental]

@jabberwocky 48862 wrote:

Shimano brifters? I had the same issue with various shimano hoods for a few years, until I went with Sram on my road bike. Srams are much better with small hands IME. Shimano tends to set the pivot point for the brake levers pretty far down, which means small hands are largely gripping above the pivot and its hard to get leverage (plus the levers are too far from the bars). Srams pivot much higher and (at least the Reds) are adjustable so they can be pulled closer.

FWIW, my wife’s Ultegra STI has rubber shims that put the brifter in reach of her tiny hands. I use SRAM on my CX but have to say that the Shimano hoods, although large, provide a far better platform for grip.

[GuyContinental]

@dcv 48827 wrote:

+1, I use mine on long descents. braking on the hoods or in the drops for extended durations hurts.

or maybe rule #5

With the upgraded ft brakes (Paul Minimoto) I have much less hand fatigue in the hoods, where the interrupters really come in handy is with logs- I find it pretty hard to get a good lift by pinching hoods whereas my fingers wrap around bar top.

I also like that the interrupters make my CX look like Johnny Five

[GuyContinental]

@jrenaut 48782 wrote:

One note on interrupter brake levers – they came on my Bianchi, and I’m going to take them off next time i change the bar tape. I don’t use them, and they get in the way. One of them actually gets stuck on the headlight mount if I actually do use it. When I get around to doing it, you’re welcome to have them, though I’m not sure how helpful that is – I don’t know what hardware you’d still need to install them.

I’m pro interrupters but only because before I figured out the right brake (Thread of CX brake Woe) I sometimes rode CX on things that I really shouldn’t (like rock chutes) . I still sometimes use them when towing trailers or in tight urban situations but could probably do without. However, the hand position is very close together so I wouldn’t consider it any sort of a transition from wide flat bars (ride with your hands pushed up to the sides of your stem and you’ll see what I mean…)

[GuyContinental]

@Vicegrip 48786 wrote:

The track is Summit Point and I found it to be a lot of fun on the bike. I expected it to feel slow but it does not. it is a fun loop on a bike with some good hills to work at.

Ha! I saw that on my feed and briefly wondered what you were up to…

[GuyContinental]

Mesmerizing! I can definitely see my picnic stop at the basin…

A bunch of folks in cars on 66 and at least one taking off at DCA

[GuyContinental]

@dcv 48723 wrote:

Saw Culimerc as usual, maybe guycontinental too (black jersey with offset white stripes?).

Yup, first time on the late plan (I’m usually out the door before 6) in over a year, and in my Pepe Lepew black/white kit. I thought that was you but I was deep in flowery springtime thoughts.

I was amazed at how many folks were out and heading WB… even grabbed a wheel up out of Hunter Mill (that makes it the second time in 150+ trips) although I think that the “wheel” may have eventually regretted his decision to pass since I sorta didn’t let go and kept pushing the pace while chattering away from behind. Muhahaha…

[GuyContinental]

Awesome day with the family yesterday- 2 kids, two single-wheel trailers, cherry blossoms and about 5 million of our closest friends at the tidal basin.

Happy as a clam, completely clueless that his mom had never towed anything (ever) and was about to head down Custis with canti brakes… wheeeeee!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2666[/ATTACH]

After fighting through the hordes we found a glade of tress devoid of people- ate lunch of banh mi (provided by Hozn and family)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2668[/ATTACH]

Ahhh post winter pudge
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2667[/ATTACH]

We killed the poor little dude… (and mom made it back up Custis more or less intact)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2665[/ATTACH]

Not fast, not ambitious but a darn good time. A guy could forget that we live in a swamp…

[GuyContinental]

@Bilsko 48491 wrote:

I think we calculated this morning that with 2 people, you’re pedaling on about 500lbs of total load. It could be worse.

You are clearly forgetting the lift potential of an angel wing…

[GuyContinental]

@jabberwocky 48497 wrote:

I don’t think most road derailleurs will shift onto a 34t cassette (some will work with a 32, but it can be finicky and isn’t officially recommended). And a road triple only goes down to a 30t small ring, whereas most MTB cranks have a 22t small ring.

Granted, you could just run a full MTB drivetrain aside from the shifters.

This is getting gear-heady but lots of CX folks run long cage MTB RDs with STI (Red/XO works perfectly on the same ratio) and you can definitely get a FD and MTB triple to work with an STI shifter. Also, Apex long cage RD will work off-the-shelf with a 32T. I have a big ol’ box of MTB parts and a little box of road parts and have built up all sorts of frankenbike drivetrains.

I can definitely think of a few times (e.g. kid in tow on the Custis) where a granny on the CX would have been nice…

[Author]

Posts