Bite My Crankset: the thread for bicycle-style conveyances

[jebreject]

Actually, I didn't quite do the whole 150. I was suffering from some pretty bad heat exhaustion towards the end of the ride yesterday, and despite downing a water bottle full of Gatorade between every rest stop and then at least one if not two while at the rest stop, I couldn't manage to stay hydrated. I felt like either puking or passing out, or both, and I ended riding in the SAG wagon for the last ~15 miles. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not finishing the whole 150, but holy shit, I still rode like 130 miles! If I can't be proud of that, what can I be proud of?

And next year, I'm going to kill the entire 150.

(And actually train for the ride, too, since that's not something I was very good at this year.)

[davy]

Rock on, duder, that's awesome.

[elpollodiablo]

Dude jeb that's a damn achievement. I recently did ~40mi in one day and it was certainly the most intense thing unrelated to drugs that I've done to my body since I was a teenager. You rule.

My steed also rules. I just got it out of the shop today.

I fucking love this thing. It's the best purchase I've made as an adult. I know it's kind of dorky according to prevailing trends what with its big seat and multiple gears and all, but it's been damn good to me and I like it a great deal. Recently I been toying with the idea of getting an additional single gear town bike because they are indeed very sharp in their simplicity and seem like a lot of fun, but this evening I wondered if that money might not be better spent making this guy even awesomer. What are some of the best bang-for-buck mods one could do to a bike like this? Disc brakes? Shifters? New derailleur? Config is essentially this: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/town/fitness/fx/7_3_fx/

[peacocks]

Actually, I didn't quite do the whole 150. I was suffering from some pretty bad heat exhaustion towards the end of the ride yesterday, and despite downing a water bottle full of Gatorade between every rest stop and then at least one if not two while at the rest stop, I couldn't manage to stay hydrated. I felt like either puking or passing out, or both, and I ended riding in the SAG wagon for the last ~15 miles. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not finishing the whole 150, but holy shit, I still rode like 130 miles! If I can't be proud of that, what can I be proud of?

And next year, I'm going to kill the entire 150.

(And actually train for the ride, too, since that's not something I was very good at this year.)

CONGRATULATIONS!

There's a good amount of sodium in gatorade. While it replaces electrolytes I think substituting it for water isn't the best idea. Maybe that's not what you were doing but I think drinking more water than gatorade would be good to do next time. We have water and gatorade out in the field and while gatorade gives me a little kick when it is oppressively hot I always feel I need to drink just as much water immediately afterwards to actually quench my thirst and cool off.

[jebreject]

Good call! I was drinking way more gatorade than water.

[The_Tourist]

you were eating, right?

there's calculations out there for body weight and all that to see how many calories you need, but in general you just gotta suck down dense food like clif bars and maybe some bananas or something. i eat every time i stop to rest on rides that long.  coconut water is also a good thing to have - electrolytes, potassium, and some calories.


i've been doing a small group ride a friend of mine organizes lately. it's generally under 20 miles, but involves tons of hill climbing and a mix of streets and dirt. it's a pretty fun workout. he grew up in the area (north east la), so he knows every secret path and back road. last week we did a bunch of climbing up to a landfill. we had to hop the barbed wire fence, but there's then a dirt path that goes along a ridge for a good few miles. it was pretty awesome. i was trying to avoid running over a centipede looking thing and a deer jumped out.

crappy cellphone pic of the first stop near obama's old school...



edit: i'm pretty sure the tall thing in the middle is mt. whatever it's called, which has the hollywood sign on the other side.

[jebreject]

I ate at almost every stop. Trail mix or bananas usually.

[milesofsparks]

crappy cellphone pic of the first stop near obama's old school...

more importantly, my old school.

[dumbfish]

My only memory of Oxy (Occi? Occy?) was playing the first half of a football game. The guy blocking me had entered school at 200 lbs with a full head of hair. He left Oxy at 280, bald, and an NFL prospect. One time he drove me from the middle of the field into our bench. Pretty sure that's illegal, but impressive anyway.  I got my one and only concussion that night, hence no memory of second half.
eta: This was about 1990, which means you were probably on campus doing something more fun than watching a football game at the time, mos. Also, Google says the 'roid-head fucker wasn't drafted.

[milesofsparks]

I was there then!  but I only ever went to one football game, and I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that happening.

in other news, the saga continues:
http://gothamist.com/2011/07/27/video_cop_doors_cyclist_gets_told_t.php
oh, Gothamist: "what do you expect when you get in the way of an important NYPD door opening?"

also, congrats Jeb!

also, we need a new biking thread.  who has a clever title?

[Javan]

kind of beyond the trail?

[El_Josharino]

Jeb. Nice. I think I saw somwthing about your ride when I was in CHI last weekend and it looked sweet.
Ragbrai has been nuts so far. Definitely the most brutal of the 3 I've done, mostly because of the heat. 60-75 miles a day in 110 heat indez will take it out of a dude who isn't in great shape. Still been a great time though, and found out that a 30-rack of High Life fits perfectly in my basket. Should have some dece stories when I get home in a few days.

[dumbfish]

What are some of the best bang-for-buck mods one could do to a bike like this?

Toe clips. Being able to pull on the upstroke makes an enormous difference.

[The_Tourist]

toe clips are definitely good. i don't feel right riding a bike without them.

also, that bike could be cool with some city bars, bar end shifters, etc. partly for looks, partly because i don't think straight bars are very comfy, partly because the stock shifters are probably a little janky... http://store.velo-orange.com/

[elpollodiablo]

What's meant by city bars? I wouldn't want to do anything that would change my basic stance. I like being upright.

[The_Tourist]

or townie bars or whatever you wanna call em...

http://www.rivbike.com/products/show/nitto-albatross-crmo-bar-55cm-254-clamp/16-205

http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/components/handlebars/vo-left-bank-handlebar-config.html

http://www.rivbike.com/products/show/nitto-dove-bar-clamp-254/16-123

[elpollodiablo]

Man, I wish I had the spare scratch for this right now:
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/bik/2513518969.html

[El_Josharino]

My fellow dudes and I have been talking about skipping Ragbrai next year and instead lining up a week-long bike tour through some wine country areas of California, probably hit up San Francisco in there for a bit, do some shoreline riding, beach bumming, etc. Shit's gonna be so sweet. Gonna have to get some paneers and such and starting training for riding with a load.

[The_Tourist]

you're also gonna have to start training for riding with a tim.


two friends of mine just left on a cross country tour. on tall bikes.
why? because they're retards. awesome retards.

[YojimboMonkey]

oh hey dudes I ended up buying a used bike at a swap meet that is pretty much identical to my old bike except it's been freshly fixed up and rides pretty much like new, whereas I'd put 20,000+ miles on mine in the past few years and it was almost completely fucked, to the point that when it was stolen I walked to the end of the block either way to see if they'd abandoned it once they got that far. And I couldn't have fixed my old one up this nice for as cheap as I got this. And I got Damian a new Giant hybrid for just as cheap that's very nice, though it has a front suspension which I don't like. But it fits Damian as he is in fact a giant, and it's going to be great for him for riding to and from school this year.

[clare]

excellent news Jim! I've been wondering if you'd got a new bike yet...

[Doctor Bob]

you're also gonna have to start training for riding with a tim.


two friends of mine just left on a cross country tour. on tall bikes.
why? because they're retards. awesome retards.

Is it the guys who got a fleeting mention on BSNYC yesterday?
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/08/life-on-open-road-buzzkills-and.html

This is their link: http://secondstorystory.tumblr.com/  (Not sure what's on the site as it's blocked in work.  Presumably nothing too NSFW.)

Also, Josh- is there room in the caravan for a pasty Irishman?

[elpollodiablo]

There was a dude in our neighborhood in Brooklyn who would ride his tall bike around. He must've really loved it to deal with the constant derision and snickering from all the neighborhood peeps who weren't white, professional twentysomethings.

[jm]

And, I imagine, some who were.

[elpollodiablo]

Well, yeah, but the kids in the Williamsburg Houses thought it was fucking *hilarious.*