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Dirt, I am sure you’be considered it, but perhaps road tubeless? It is not a cure-all but in my experience it works pretty well and sealant can help seal things up to 40-60psi (but not more, in my experience) — good enough to limp home.

I have had great luck converting a variety of road rims to tubeless with just yellow tape (2 layers for high psi), the setup seem generally less picky than mtb. Hutchinson is supposed to be releasing their 700×28 model any day now, but it won’t be cheap.

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@jabberwocky 50149 wrote:

I hadn’t thought of most of these, but a lot of them are really good ideas. Strava definitely has a very interesting dataset (who is riding, when/where they ride, their pace, ride frequency, etc). It would be really cool to see that put to use.

Yeah, I’ve talked w/ GuyC a lot about this, but the marketing potentials are HUGE here too. I appreciate the ad-free experience, but I think they could actually partner with companies and do things like send you a coupon to universalcycles when they notice that your chain has 3k miles on it. Or coupons to local bike-friendly businesses that you ride by … that are open when you ride by them. The potential is really endless given how much data they have about me.

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Fair enough. I’m not trying to say it’s Strava’s fault per se, but I think it’s reasonable to suggest that the tool enables behavior (or more of it). I just think that when you create a competition, then [competitive] people will do things they wouldn’t have otherwise done — maybe just push themselves a little harder. And pushing yourself harder on a bike — especially down a hill or on a technical course — is going to increase the likelihood of accidents. I agree that ultimately people are responsible for their actions, but I think Strava should have some responsibility to see that they’re not enabling dangerous behavior (which I think they have done by providing an easy flagging mechanism). I view this as essentially a lesser degree of the responsibility that a race coordinator might have to make sure that a course is safe.

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@jabberwocky 50104 wrote:

Meh. To be honest, while there are a lot of stupid segments on Strava, I don’t really see it as my job to play segment police. The reality is that the people who would blow a light across a major highway to get a pointless virtual trophy would probably be doing it without Strava anyway. Its not like those people suddenly came into being when Strava came onto the scene.

The reality is that any segment can be dangerous if people are riding aggressively to get KOMs. The real world isn’t a race track. It has stop signs and lights and other people who aren’t out there racing and dogs and kids and cars and… you get the picture. I’m fine with people making whatever segment they want, because its ultimately up to the people riding to ride responsibly.

Well, the way I see it, segments only exist for KOMs (or leaderboards). I think that if getting on the leaderboard would require unsafe or illegal riding, then it’s perfectly legitimate to flag a segment. You’re right that idiots existed before Strava, but by setting it up as a competition Strava makes it much more likely (and therefore frequent) for riders to start “trying for” these potentially unsafe segments. Don’t get me wrong, I love Strava. I love segment goals — and perpetually chasing Tim’s times on my neighborhood hills But I also do feel a sense of some responsibility to note when segments are setting up unsafe competition; flagging a segment takes all of 5 seconds.

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@Tim Kelley 50102 wrote:

Including off road sections too?

Personally I think so, yes. I realize that there is a type of racing called downhill racing, but I don’t think we want to encourage amateurs to be doing that on their hardtails — especially on multi-use trails, which I think means everything in this area other than Fountainhead. My friend broke his collarbone in LFP last year on a Strava inspired negative-grade segment effort. Another acquaintance went into a coma and cut off most of his ear (helmet strap, but helmet surely saved his life) racing down a hill in Patapsco. It’s really easy to fall on off-road trails — misjudge how close to the trail that tree is, come upon a rock that wasn’t in the trail the last time, etc. When the fall is a slow-speed fall (like me clipping my bar and plunging into a mud puddle on Tuesday), then it’s not such a big deal, but when you add 20+mph speeds to the mix the consequences go way up.

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@creadinger 50022 wrote:

I don’t have the body to compete for strava top 10s climbing. So just because idiots do stupid things you think all downhill segments should be banned? For big guys like myself competing on fun downhill or flat segments is my only chance to get on the leaderboard. I’m no daredevil and I would never risk a crash and do something stupid just for strava cred, but knowing how I fare among others is really interesting. Right now I’m 1 second off a three-way tie for KOM on a mostly downhill segment in SE. It’s a wide road, mostly straight, no intersections = very low risk. What is the harm?

I wish there were wattage top 10s – I might have something there!

I guess I would suggest here that any segment that puts you over the speed limit to be on the leaderboard should be considered hazardous. I don’t think Strava should ban all negative grade segments, but I wouldn’t complain if they banned all segments of significant negative grade. They have already eliminated negative grade segments from the premium segment goal-setting feature.

No one needs negative grade segments to be competitive, unless the intent is to compete over high-speed bike handling and “daringness” instead of fitness. A flat segment should suit a non-climber body type just as well, no?

I think the more general point here is that people creating segments have a responsibility to ensure the competition they are encouraging is safe, considerate — and legal.

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@jabberwocky 50055 wrote:

I have no issue with DH segments. Most of them are safer than many on-street segments that go through stop signs and lights and such (which is a lot of them). Some guy created a segment a few months ago that uses a section of my commute home (which I know about because it gave me the KOM when he created it). It goes across Baron Cameron drive. The only reason I got it was because, since I ride it every day, I occasionally get lucky with the light and cross without slowing down.

For instance, look at the Fairfax County to smith switch segment on the W&OD:
http://app.strava.com/segments/2191132

6.7 miles, crosses (by my count) 8 at-grade road crossings. Every one of those has a stop sign, and a few are fairly high-traffic roads (Spring St, Crestview Rd).

You should have flagged that segment (if you did not). I just flagged the one you linked too. You are right. A segment that short should not include multiple stop-sign crossings. (I would not, OTOH, flag the segment that runs the length of the W&OD since I don’t think that is going to cause people to run lights.)

In general, I am happy to flag any sprint segments that go through lights or stop signs. There are plenty of great segments out there that are challenging without encouraging cyclists to do stupid dangerous (and illegal) things.

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I also have the Enduro bearing press tool if anyone ever wants to borrow it. The bearings are cheap (and better than stock), though I have had some issues with the gxp replacement bearings I bought not having the right seals/spacers. No issues with shimano.

I do like the Chris King BB on my commuter. I have the grease fitting and have purged the grease several times. It has probably 6k all-weather miles on it without issue yet. I think most gxp bearings last me somewhere around 6-8k miles (on the commuter), though, so it’s not exactly setting any records yet. I do not like that the bearings aren’t replaceable. Of course, I also agree that the CK BB is almost certainly not worth it. For $140 you can buy 5 shimano or gxp bottom brackets. Having broken my previous frame, it is questionable whether my commuter/CX bike will last me the 30-40k miles I need to validate the purchase (I would imagine my next one will have PF30 or something else).

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These might work too?

http://m.duluthtrading.com/store/product/mens-work-jeans-5-pocket-ballroom-jeans-86069.aspx

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Yes, great to see you! (And see you at happy hour tmw!)

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@consularrider 49362 wrote:

Gasp. during Bike to Work Week! Horrors of horrors.

Yikes – double tragedy!

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I am disappointed I will miss the happy hour in my neighborhood next month (out of town)!

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This sounds fun; depending on the time (i.e. if I can be home before the day is too far gone), I am interested. Will PM to get the lowdown.

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I am sorry I missed out on that. Sounds dramatic! I am probably not gonna be able to build my cx wheels by weds (waiting on the right size spoke nipples), but I can do cx every day next week! . Or I could be slow and ride my mtb on weds.

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@jrenaut 49110 wrote:

This is a big reason why I wear gloves. Even the fingerless ones help in keeping the wedding band safe. I actually wouldn’t mind fingerless-except-for-my-ring-finger gloves. On long rides I usually leave it at home.

Yeah, I guess the fingerless ones I had/was wearing didn’t cut it — but fingerless except ring finger would be awesome. I experimented with some plastic spacer/insert pieces to make the fit more snug but that was just really uncomfortable (my knuckles are just disproportionately large). Full-finger gloves work fine, though, so I have settled on that as the solution.

I am just glad I hadn’t selected the platinum ring …

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