[Raymo853]

@hozn 166259 wrote:

Otherwise forget using a thread-on Lezyne pump head.

(Honestly, I have never understood why people go through the hassle of putting in sealant through the valve stem.)

Lezyne has a new design hose that no longer backs out valves. It is compatability with all the older pumps.

I put sealant through valve stems every month in every tire. Why? Some tires are so hard to seat and sealant dries up in a few weeks.

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[Raymo853]

@baiskeli 147331 wrote:

so why don’t they just put some grit paint down? Easy, cheap and effective, and a great boon to safety.

Knowing NPS, it might take a 5 years after deciding to do this to get it o the schedule. And deciding might take another 5.

Maybe a little pirate sand painting is justified?

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[Raymo853]

I am very impressed with it. The Strava data/gis people did a lot of good research before updating this. Strava is the first large group I have seen understand something I have been worried about for years, smart phone’s enhanced location. Many smartphones enhance your location by snapping to known geographic features. That is great for finding an address in a city with poor sight lines to the GPS constellation, but horrible when you want to analyze the data. It also gives many people, including GIS professionals, a false impression of how accurate smartphones are at calculating location. I have seen many propose using smartphones as survey instruments in the rural parts of the World and defended the choice by citing how accurately their iPhone shows their location while standing at the corner of 14th and F St NW.

I did find one funny thing, not a problem with their work but I suspect someone’s device. There is this very long ride trace in the extremely isolated high arid regions of Yemen. No way did anyone ride here: the cliffs are tall and steep, the closest town, road, or evidence of people is 10’s of km away, the nearest water source even longer away. Probably in the city of Thamud.

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Here is the location in the heatmap:
https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11.36/49.36777/17.18610/hot/ride

Here it is in the OSM:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=17.2358%2C%2049.3751#map=13/17.2659/49.3980&layers=C

[Raymo853]

My 35 Gravelking earned more affection from me yesterday. On a short ride each tire ended up with a dozen or so goat heads. Pulled them all out, heard a short hiss each time and all the holes sealed quickly.

Of course my affection may be better reserved for fresh Stan’s at twice the recommended amount.

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[Raymo853]

@streetsmarts 166927 wrote:

Do you use the free version of Ride with GPS?

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I pay for the middle level version. The main feature I was after was the ability to download and cache maps and routes. A feature I need out here in CO with no coverage during many of my rides like this plan for Saturday. After starting to pay and use it more, I was happy to find out how much better the plan/routing tools are. You can choose multiple map sources, quickly access Google street view (great for seeing if a road is gravel or not), and the automatic routing works so much better and takes only a few days to respond to OSM updates. One hint, changing the routing from cycling to walking helps for mountain biking routes. Strava seems to take years/never responds to OSM updates. I am still often routed on the trails and roads from years ago. I suspect Strava also weighs the collective ride data too much in the routing and the popularity switch does not seem to help much.

The part of Strava I like for planning is the heat map, and that has not been updated in nearly three years. I heard the lack of updates was because Paul Mach left. I am happy to see that according to a official note from just yesterday, Strava is planning to update the heatmap soon.
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115000064624-2016-Heatmap-comparison

And Strava’s segments at times are useful. Nice to see just how many people have ridden in a certain place and when. I really like using the Jonathan Okeeffe tools to see how many people have ridden in places, if they ever came back again, and what seasons seem to be off limits. Like this segment at nearly 10,000 feet, I am happy to see people have ridden in Nov, making me hopeful it will not be covered in 6 feet of powder when I am there this weekend.

[Raymo853]

The new Strava feed has convinced me to pair down the number of folks I follow.

I have read the next update will be putting primo people in everyone’s feed even if you do not follow them.

I have been using ride with gps more and more. The routing and planning tools and the map choices are radically better.

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[Raymo853]

@Raymo853 165409 wrote:

Suspect I will post to this thread every six months for years.

I bought two pairs of Panaracer Gravelkings SKs, 35s and 40s. I love them both. I have used both for commuting, gravel riding, and super rocky degraded washed forest roads. They have been amazing. Rolls great on pavement, handle gravel and dry trails perfect, and really encourage my leaning over in turns on pavement and gravel. Makes me sad I did not get dedicated gravel tires earlier.

Photos of the 35 vs 40. The 40 is wider, but most of the extra size seems to come in volume, which I like. The 40 is on a bigger rim, an Easton Heist 27 internal vs a Stans Arch EX2.

The 40s did get bigger after a few rides, like way too big. I went back to the 35s and the 40s are going to be saved for really crazy gravel/single track rides. The 35s are just perfect, would be spot on for anything out near Leesburg.

[Raymo853]

Suspect I will post to this thread every six months for years.

I bought two pairs of Panaracer Gravelkings SKs, 35s and 40s. I love them both. I have used both for commuting, gravel riding, and super rocky degraded washed forest roads. They have been amazing. Rolls great on pavement, handle gravel and dry trails perfect, and really encourage my leaning over in turns on pavement and gravel. Makes me sad I did not get dedicated gravel tires earlier.

Photos of the 35 vs 40. The 40 is wider, but most of the extra size seems to come in volume, which I like. The 40 is on a bigger rim, an Easton Heist 27mm internal, vs a Stans Arch EX2, a 23.5 mm internal?.

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[Raymo853]

Suspect I will post to this thread every six months for years.

I bought two pairs of Panaracer Gravelkings SKs, 35s and 40s. I love them both. I have used both for commuting, gravel riding, and super rocky degraded washed forest roads. They have been amazing. Rolls great on pavement, handle gravel and dry trails perfect, and really encourage my leaning over in turns on pavement and gravel. Makes me sad I did not get dedicated gravel tires earlier.

Photos of the 35 vs 40. The 40 is wider, but most of the extra size seems to come in volume, which I like. The 40 is on a bigger rim, an Easton Heist 27 internal vs a Stans Arch EX2.

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[Raymo853]

@rcannon100 161399 wrote:

[rant mode on]

The young guy doesnt get asked.

Back when I was young, that was not true. I also have needed help and had riders go by me without saying anything nor even looking at me.

I once did ask two young women if they needed help (Central PA near Penn State) and the one say yes but then her friend started screaming about how just because they were women they did not need help. So I left.

[Raymo853]

I remember a news article stating the Wilson bridge is opened for a ship every two days on average.

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[Raymo853]

Aren’t skilled craftspeople grand?

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[Raymo853]

@anomad 156488 wrote:

I like to put duct tape over the toe area vents in my shoes for winter. Equally effective at warmth and removing any doubt where I stand…

Years ago a Bike Rack DC Sunday ride, my duct tape shoe covers were a source of gossip in their double paceline.

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[Raymo853]

My $20 Amazon bar mitts. Great balance to my $125 Specialized ones my wife is using.

Not as nice, no hole for a bar plug to stabilize it but appear to be worth it at $105 less.

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[Raymo853]

I am quick to recommend the Garmin Oregon series, but they really are not for everyone. They are heavy and big and require some time to set up the maps.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/550460

The newest series, are fully ANT, wifi, and bluetooth connectable so all the modern H.R. monitors, speed sensors, cadence sensors, etc.. will connect. https://www.thisisant.com/directory/oregon-700

The batteries are just AA, I use 2400mAh rechargeables and they last for 10 hours, plus I can pause the machine and change out batteries mid-ride. The map set up it not too hard, I use Open Street Maps, the same maps used in Strava, and am very happy with them. Plus I can update them anytime and load up maps for any part of the Globe. I use this OSM generator to prepare my maps. http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

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