[Orestes Munn]

1. Not get hit by a motor vehicle

2. Keep my right elbow in and low when I’m going hard

4. Attack every hill

3. Make every commute hurt, at least a little

[Orestes Munn]

@americancyclo 100289 wrote:

You: Black Mercedes turning left, not in the turn lane.
Me: Law abiding cyclist trying to turn left. I assumed you were going straight, since you were in a travel lane and did not have a turn signal on. silly me.

So?

Simply incredible and lucky there wasn’t contact.

[Orestes Munn]

Sarong, on so many levels.

You: Gink on a recumbent (no beard!) turning left into the garage at work, right, dead, smack, in front of me without a glance in my direction.

Me: I, bringer of light and joy to all.

Perhaps I should have said something instead of just glowering at you while you locked up your yellow nerdmobile.

[Orestes Munn]

@baiskeli 100159 wrote:

100 miles,* 5 inches.** Just sayin’.

* Seagull Century 2005
** Rainfall total, Seagull Century, 2005

All you hydrophilic types have my admiration and respect.

Just had breakfast and went for a little walk up a hill in Scottsdale, AZ. Now this is cycling weather!

[Orestes Munn]

@Drewdane 100066 wrote:

Get wet. Learn to love it.

I have raced in small boats on the ocean and been wet for days. I have not learned to love it. I am weak and my (late) mother dresses me funny.

[Orestes Munn]

I’ll take cold, even last winter’s variety, over rain any day. I have shaken the dead crickets out of my Lake winter shoes and just bought those neoprene Bike Mitt things for two bikes. If we have a mild winter you can thank me.

[Orestes Munn]

Bearing “sealing” is a relative thing and no axle seal is watertight, but using a good waterproof grease can make a difference. As an extreme example, I have a feathering prop on my boat, which is always well lubed after a season of soaking, spinning around and being dragged through, salt water. The product I’m currently using on it is especially tenacious. Grit, however, is not a problem in that application.

[Orestes Munn]

Checked my shoes and I do, in fact, wear my cleats just about all the way back, but that’s still ballish.

[Orestes Munn]

@PotomacCyclist 99768 wrote:

Some people ask about midsole cleats on the forum, every few months or so. It’s another alternative. Most probably won’t need it, but for those who have issues with bike fit, nagging injuries or something else, it’s good to know about.

No doubt. I seem to be having Junior Member issues.

[Orestes Munn]

I’m guessing mid-foot approximates my foot position when I’m not using cleats, which is half the reason I use cleats in the first place. Having spent years learning to exert force in a circle by activating calf muscles, I think I’ll stick with the old school cleat position and let the tri-geeks get their annual bike fits (seriously?). …but then I suck, so maybe I’ve got it all wrong.

[Orestes Munn]

@wheels&wings 99614 wrote:

A Subaru Legacy? Sorry to hear. That’s what I drive (sedan version), but I promise I’m not a nun. I bought the car four years ago when a judge told me I wouldn’t get custody without it. “A suburban mom needs a car, not a stroller hitched to the back of her bicycle.” So much for my $500 double Burley.

As for scary cars, I’d put large white SUVs at the top of my list. I haven’t noticed the makes/models… I’m still not a “car person,” but three of my worst encounters were with such vehicles. The most memorable was on Valentine’s Day of this year. There was a huge snowstorm the night before. There was no shoulder on the roads — I took the full lanes. I was waiting at the red light to cross Connecticut at Florida, and this giant SUV pulled up, wanting to take an illegal right turn, yelling at me “fxxx’in bxxxx—get off the road!….” I think he was having a bad Valentine’s Day.

I see that some of us list pick-up trucks among our scariest vehicles. On-the-whole, I’ve found pick-up drivers to be patient and good-natured. I think there may be a gender dimension here… perhaps an element of chivalry as these guys are often from more traditional cultures. Or sometimes they just seem to enjoy watching a scrawny female in tights sweating up a storm. The reason doesn’t much matter so long as I get space on the road.

The nun in the Suby event must have been 30 years ago and I hold no generic grudge against either species. As to pickup trucks, working ones, at least, not the monster tire variety with the chrome stacks and unscuffed liner, my experience largely matches yours. This argues against a purely gender-related cause, but you may take it from a long-time member of the privileged gender that one needn’t be from a traditional culture to enjoy watching a scrawny female in tights sweating up a storm. In fact…Well, never mind about that.

A bad Valentine’s Day will do it to you. Ride safe.

[Orestes Munn]

Especially old ladies, little ones.

[Orestes Munn]

I carried pepper spray for a few years after I was run off the road and beaten by four teenagers in a car on my evening commute, back in about 1992. However, I stopped carrying it after a few peaceful years–knock on wood. I practiced whipping it out it from various carrying places, but never really had much confidence that I could deploy it effectively or that I wouldn’t gas myself worse than my antagonist. I was always a better runner than fighter.

[Orestes Munn]

Of course, the thesis is correct. However, if the kind of thinking it targets were not fundamentally immune to facts or standards of fairness, it would have disappeared long ere now. I think the roots of opinion on this and many other current political issues are very deep and lie in primitive concepts self-interest and identity, deep and primitive enough to be largely inaccessible to rational argument. They are easy to take advantage of, and very hard to change.

[Orestes Munn]

How about a little pig lead in the bilge? That’s how we sometimes even things up in sailboat racing.

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