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Before I bought winter cycling shoes, I could keep my feet warm with polartec socks.

https://www.acorn.com/p/acorn-versafit-fleece-socks-men-and-women-21208

These socks are cheaper than winter cycling shoes. I’ve also used snowboarding socks, which are nice and thick. I now have two pairs of winter cycling shoes, and like them a lot, except that they are a pain to get on and off. But once they are on, they keep my feet nice and warm. After many years of riding in the cold, they were a good investment.

@AFHokie 169757 wrote:

For me, the hardest days to dress for are when the temps are in the 30’s & 40’s and it’s raining. Without a hardshell you’ll get soaked and risk hypothermia, but with a hardshell you will start sweating…then risk hypothermia because you’re soaked in sweat.

Yeah, I agree with this. Even the expensive stuff that’s supposed to be breathable hasn’t worked very well.

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When I use a roof rack, I prefer the type where you have to remove the front wheel. That’s mostly out of habit — when I first got a roof rack, the type that held the entire bike (with the front wheel) were a little kludgey.

My car (a Rav4) is a little high, but you shouldn’t have as much trouble with your Subaru since it’s lower. Years ago when I got my first rack, I started with Yakima, and then switched to Thule for a while when I thought that Yakima was going downhill. I was probably being a bit picky, because both are solid brands. Now my Rav4 has Rocky Mounts, which are significantly cheaper. I can tell the quality isn’t quite as high, but on the other hand, Yakima and Thule are a bit overbuilt (IMHO).

My Rocky Mounts are mounted directly on the crossbars. One of the nice thing about modern SUVs is that they come with decent crossbars that you can mount the bike rack to. When I got my first Yakima rack, I mounted it to the rain gutters on the car.

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Burke Lake, Monday afternoon.

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@cvcalhoun 168963 wrote:

• Needless to say, as a nutso cyclist, the damage to the Garmin was a bigger concern than the damage to my body. With the Garmin now dangling from just one zip tie, I decided I’d better get another zip tie. I stopped by Ace Hardware, and bought a package of 8″ zip ties.
• After struggling with the zip ties for a while, I realized they were too short. So I had to go back and get another pack, this time 14″.

Tip: If one zip tie is not long enough, just daisy chain multiple zip ties together until you get the desired length.

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@RideTheWomble 168913 wrote:

I had a locker at East Falls church. Dealing with Metro convinced me they’d lost accountability for their lockers long before I got mine. I was originally assigned a locker with a bike in it, then I got a locker, but was issued the wrong key. When I finally got my locker, I had to contact THEM to renew, and basically had to reconstruct the records of me renting the locker. As of three years ago, they kept the records on paper, in a folder, in one person’s desk. If nobody has stepped up and made big changes, I bet they have no idea whether lockers are available, or not.

That’s a little sad, but based on my experience, I think it’s true.

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A long time ago a friend and I were hiking on a trail near WV and we encountered a guy riding a mountain bike in the buff. He was riding down the trail towards us. When he saw us, he abruptly stopped, put on his shorts, and rode past us as if all was normal.

Fortunately, we didn’t hear any banjos.

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I have used three or four (or maybe even five) L&M lights and have had no problems with any of them.

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@hozn 166580 wrote:

So what’s the advantage to a Shimano chain. I have always wanted a quick link, so I have never actually used one. But there must be some reason why people buy them. Price?

Supposedly the best shifting with Shimano components will come with a Shimano chain. There’s a lot of details in Shimano chains, cassettes, and chainrings, to the point that now chains are directional. Does this really matter? All but one of my bikes have Shimano drive trains, and I’ve used Shimano, SRAM, and Wipperman chains and haven’t had a complaint about my shifting. I don’t have the latest and greatest, so maybe we’ve reached the point that a Shimano chain really needs to be used on a Shimano drivetrain.

As far as wear or longevity goes, I don’t think there’s an advantage one way or the other. Actually, with a replaceable link, I’m more likely to take my chain off and give it a good cleaning, which increases the life of the drivetrain. When I was at my peak, which was when I only had one road bike, I actually had two chains that I would rotate – one would be in use, and the other would be cleaned. One odd thing that I found out during this time was that SRAM chains didn’t like Simple Green. I would soak one of the chains overnight in SG, but I noticed that the side plates started to crack. I don’t think that was necessarily a shortcoming of SRAM, but it did demonstrate that SG was harsher than I thought, and I stopped using it.

The pin in the Shimano chain has always been a bit of a hassle, but Shimano probably has some reason for using it (strength, performance, saves weight). Way back when (>20 years ago?), I think Shimano actually used replaceable link, and there was a lot of bitching and moaning when they started using the pin. That might’ve been when they went to 8 speed, or 9 speed.

BTW, if you are out on a ride and your chain breaks, you don’t necessarily need to have an extra pin with you (which also means you don’t have to carry pliers with you). Just fix the chain as you normally would, and that should be good enough to get you home. Shimano would warn against this, but meh. Another option is to carry a reusable link. The reusable links also have a finite lifetime, which I discovered during a ride.

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@huskerdont 166565 wrote:

There was a sheet with many languages but it did not discuss the pin.

I think Shimano publishes different versions of the instructions for dealers, OEMs, and consumers, with varying degrees of detail. I checked the Shimano site (via google) and found two sets of instructions that both showed how to break off the pin. I’ve actually found the Shimano instructions were sometimes helpful, and I’ve accumulated a shoebox full of them over the years.

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@huskerdont 166563 wrote:

You just grab the end with a pair or pliers and break it off. Not something I would have risked without first seeing it online. I don’t know what people did before the Internet.

We read rec.bicycles.tech and Sheldon Brown’s website.

Note that you can use a SRAM or Connex link on your Shimano chain instead of the pin. Makes it a lot easier to take off and give it a good cleaning.

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I looked into this when I worked at Fort Belvoir. I think the benefit was $20 per month, and it either wasn’t offered at my agency (Army), or the documentation was too burdensome for such a small amount, so I didn’t pursue it.

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@Steve O 164795 wrote:

A friend told me it’s also a good idea to keep spare underwear. He said it can be uncomfortable going commando all day.

Indeed. In my office, I keep an extra pair of underwear, and an extra pair of brown and grey dress socks. I have learned from experience.

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@Vicegrip 164620 wrote:

I have found that “easy” is relative. I have dear friends that are leaders in their profession, great parents and great friends but hamfisted, screw stripping, bolt breaking disasters when tools are involved. To us mechanically inclined it is so simple and clear.

When I had my first bike as an adult, I told a friend of mine I was going to overhaul my bottom bracket. This was in the old days before cartridge bottom brackets. He was shocked and said that when it came to the bottom bracket, that was too advanced for him and he took it to the bike shop. Well, he was a physicist and I’m an engineer, so I not took it apart and put it back together, I enjoyed doing it.

I’ve done just about everything on my bike, including overhauling a suspension fork. I actually look forward to overhauling my Chris King hubs, which gives me a reason to use one of the coolest tools ever, and there is a certain satisfaction from riding on wheels that I built myself, although I will admit that I can sometimes buy a hand built wheel cheaper from Colorado Cyclist than I can buy the parts and build it myself.

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I’m not sure about the city proper, but you’re on the edge of the urban sprawl and therefore can easily escape to the countryside. I’m starting my ride tomorrow in Catlett, which is a few miles (10 or 15 maybe?) south of Manassas. A lot of good rides start out of Nokesville, which is even closer. I’ve also started rides out of Haymarket, and if you go west, you’re close to Marshall, Warrenton, and Middleburg, where a lot of rides also start.

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