[jabberwocky]

For the bike, the top thing is to relube the chain after rainy rides. Most chain lubes don’t handle rain well and will be mostly washed off. Second is all the bearings (depending on how well those are sealed). Headset, hubs, bottom bracket. Obviously not every ride, but pay attention to them; riding in the wet will accelerate the service intervals. Well sealed bearings can go a long time though, even with regular rain riding.

If the frame is steel, make sure it has been internally coated to prevent rust, and recoated at the recommended interval.

Rain can also be hard on cables (it gets into the housing and corrodes the steel cable, which increases resistance).

[jabberwocky]

It was cold and wet this morning. At least no drivers did anything crazy.

[jabberwocky]

I use the drop bar moose mitts, and they work on the flats, hoods and drops. More open in the back than some, which I suppose could make them less warm, but I’ve used them down into the single digits coupled with normal full finger carpenter gloves and been ok.

[jabberwocky]

I put the moose mitts on the bike this morning. They were glorious.

[jabberwocky]

@elbows 99657 wrote:

Also, I wonder if #7 is in the wrong spot.

It should be correct (at least it was the last time I was out there, which was a month or two ago). Thats the trail that cuts right as you descend from the ice rink lot. It has a bunch of berms and rollers and table jumps. There used to be a huge mess of trail in that whole area, but some was destroyed when they built the new fitness center and then the past few years have seen all new trail built and the old stuff closed. Its actually easier to navigate that section now because its just a loop, whereas before it was a big spiderweb of intersecting and criss-crossing trail.

I think I’m gonna be out on Sunday. I’ll double check it while I’m there.

One thing I’d like to do is get that uploaded to Maprika. Once I do that it would be viewable for free on any smartphone (with the app) and it would display your current location.

[jabberwocky]

I never worried about slight chainring eccentricity on my fixies. Just check the tension at 90 degree rotations and make sure it isn’t too tight and you should be good. The chain doesn’t need to be super precisely tight. You want a small bit of play (it shouldn’t be under tension on the stand). Just make sure it isn’t loose enough to come off. Fixies throwing a chain is sort of unfun.

[jabberwocky]

@lordofthemark 99575 wrote:

First off, Va’s liberal gun laws don’t just effect Va – they effect neighboring states as well, a simple statistical relationship between state gun laws and state crime rates will miss that.

Why would gun availability in VA affect (for example) NY, but not VA?

@lordofthemark 99575 wrote:

Plus there are public safety impacts other than crime – http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/11/14/2945661/study-guns-suicides/

The US has a decidedly average overall suicide rate for a first world nation, despite our much higher firearm ownership.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

[jabberwocky]

@hozn 99566 wrote:

Is it? This has been mentioned a couple times, but folks keep forgetting to include the link(s) to the studies that link this violent crime rate with gun control laws. What about the differences in population density or unemployment percentage or even racial diversity? All these (and numerous other differences) irrelevant?

I would not make the argument that the gun laws make any difference either way, and would completely agree that other things (what you mention as well as poverty levels, access to good education, etc) are what drive it.

[jabberwocky]

@lordofthemark 99560 wrote:

Most illegal guns in DC, and up and down the east coast, IIUC, come from Virgnian. Its not like there are guards at the border to prevent gun smuggling. I would also suggest that DC has concentrations of urban poverty that Virginia as a whole does not have. (More on topic, if I read the Alexandria crime map right, there have been quite a few assaults and at least one rape in recent months on the Holmes Run Trail, where concealed carry is possible, IIUC)

As I said, I don’t see concealed carry as some sort of crime solution. I believe the crime rate in Virginia has always been lower (at similar ratios) to MD and DC, predating the creation of CHL laws in the 90s. Its just, you can look at VA liberalizing gun laws, while DC and MD makes things stricter, and see all 3 basically track the national average exactly the same as before. I find it hard to say that those laws are in any way useful or effective, nor that the VA laws are harmful. Its all emotion from both sides, which makes for poor legislation. Though I guess people can feel good about it, and legislators can say they Did Something™.

@skins_brew 99561 wrote:

lmftfy…..

Apologies, I should have specified “by someone in legal possession of a firearm”.

[jabberwocky]

@dasgeh 99544 wrote:

My initial point was to a claim that guns were like helmets in that they may be able to keep you safe, which I refuted by bringing up the very real possibility that guns could make an attack situation worse (by causing injury to the victim or a bystander). I’ll give you that someone could concoct a crazy circumstance where a helmet makes an attack worse, but experience, logic and statistics all tell us that it is far more likely to happen with a gun than with a helmet.

Honestly, if you’re going to be accidentally shot in this country, its much more likely to be by a cop than a CHL holder.

We have quite a lot of general info on CHL laws affecting crime rates (in that we have a variety of states that have passed them while adjacent demographically similar states have not, and can compare overall accidental shooting and crime rates before and after) and the reality is that they don’t really change things either way. I don’t buy them as some sort of crime solution, but I also don’t see them making things worse. If DC passed (or, more likely, lost in court and were forced to allow) concealed carry, I seriously doubt it would have any impact at all on either crime rates or your chances of being accidentally shot in the city. Its not like DC is some sort of gun free panacea now. Its worth noting that, of the 3 major jurisdictions (DC, Maryland and Virginia), Virginia has by far the most liberal gun laws and also by far the lowest violent crime rate.

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@dasgeh 99466 wrote:

My point, which you seem to have missed entirely, is that guns amplify the violent force of an individual and therefore should be regulated more than, say, knives.

Guns are more regulated than knives. And more regulated than other dangerous things (cars, power tools, poisons, etc).

And yeah, guns are unquestionably dangerous. They have the same issue a lot of technology has: they magnify the impact a person can have on people around them. True of guns, true of computers, true of cars, true of basically all tech. Its a good thing when used for good purposes, and bad when used for bad purposes. I’m a gun owner, and have nothing but contempt for people who are careless with them, just like I’m a driver who has nothing but contempt for drivers who drive carelessly.

[jabberwocky]

@dasgeh 99410 wrote:

Helmets can’t be used against you and don’t injure and kill innocent bystanders and kids who find them a get curious. BIG difference.

I don’t think potomaccylist meant they are directly comparable, just that when talking about self defense, firearms can be thought of like helmets. Helpful in specific situations perhaps, but need to be considered as part of an overall plan to actually be useful. You don’t throw a helmet on and think that solves your safety problems on the bike, right? Obviously we discuss safety issues here on a daily basis. We wouldn’t tell someone concerned about riding safety to get a helmet and do nothing else, and I wouldn’t tell someone worried about self defense (for whatever reason) to get a firearm and do nothing else either.

[jabberwocky]

@baiskeli 99369 wrote:

I’d need to see such studies.

Me too. I have no particular dog in that fight, but I’ve never seen anything that showed concealed carry laws affected crime rates much either way. I don’t see it as some sort of crime solution, but nor do I see it as something dangerous. FWIW, a few states (texas and florida, I think) tracked crime commited by CHL holders vs the general population when their laws were enacted, and found they were less likely to commit crimes than the populace at large. Which shouldn’t be surprising, since anyone with a CHL is by definition someone who can pass a background check.

@baiskeli 99369 wrote:

The problem I see in that situation is a false sense of security – they may have thought that carrying a gun was all they needed to do to protect themselves. I imagine having a gun in your hand makes alot of people do stupid things that backfire, as was just suggested in the Zimmerman case.

Right. We are getting even further off topic here, but as a gun owner, I’ve talked with a few people considering a firearm for defense for various reasons (stalker who had made threats, previous robbery, etc). I told them it can be part of a solution, but you need to learn how to use it safely, know the various laws around their use (both for practice and for self defense), practice relatively frequently, and understand that their usefulness as a defense tool is very much dependent on your situational awareness. Its not a magical anti-crime talisman. If you’re going to treat it as such, you are probably better off without it.

[jabberwocky]

@baiskeli 99342 wrote:

Why must it be concealed? Seems an openly carried gun would be a more effective deterrent.

Most people I know who carry much prefer concealed because they would rather not advertise they are carrying. Some people react weird to it. Its not “I want to show everyone I’m not to be screwed with”, its “I have it as an absolute last resort”.

This whole thing is a weird conversation to me. I know some people who carry on the MTB when riding in remote locations, but its a really hard thing to do on the bike in such a way that the firearm is secure but available. Same with running. We have a pretty big advantage in speed on the bike. Generally, if something is sketching me out, I’m heading the other way before I’d ever consider drawing a firearm. I don’t have a problem with it, but I don’t think its the solution to the problem this thread was premised on.

[jabberwocky]

@Orestes Munn 99278 wrote:

Prii are really bad, aren’t they? One might think…but no.

Mixed experience with pickups, especially in recent decades.

Moms in minivans is ad feminem, but yes.

I commute and work out in MD, so I’m not aware of the tag effect. In my experience, there are few more dangerous signs than a FL plate.

In my experience, Priuses are top in the “doing really thoughtless stuff” category. Rarely outright aggressive, but just seem to be always distracted/not paying attention and almost never want to slow down for any reason. Lots of passing too close, running stop signs/lights, left/right hook type stuff.

Mercedes drivers are almost always entitled pricks. ’nuff said. Oddly, despite their reputation, I almost never have issues with beemers. Other luxury brands (infiniti, lexus, audi) are usually worse.

Pickups are more varied, but I get a lot of aggressive wannabe-alpha-male behavior from them. Could just be that the only people driving giant pickups in Great Falls and Reston are people with manhood insecurity issues.

Moms in minivans I just mean the ones with kids commuting in during morning rush hour. Always distracted, always in a hurry, always annoyed that someone on a bike is preventing them from getting their precious kids to school on time.

MD plates I don’t see very often in VA, and when I do it seems they are always being idiots.

@acl 99276 wrote:

School bus. It tends to be about 50/50 for me they are either extra solicitous and give tons of room or they pass terrifyingly close. Unfortunately, I can’t take the extra room from the super careful ones and add it to the terrifyingly close ones. So when I see one I anticipate the worst.

Ugh. I hate school busses. I actually try and time my commute to avoid them (the one advantage is there aren’t that many and they stick to a rigid route and schedule). You’d think a vehicle that spends so much time holding other people up would be more patient.

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