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Mostly, anyway. Weather makes them a slight bit more interesting. The end.

...and in with the new ---- helmet. Pretty similar in design and weight, but it is actually amazing to see how much the old one faded. I don't think it was ever as "yellow" as the new one, more a yellow with a slight green tint, but close inspection shows that the sun has definitely had a bleaching effect over the years. Very similar "guts" between the two despite many years between them.

...to not embrace Di2. Damn, this 105 seems a no-brainer and I am actually shocked to see how well it compares to Ultegra and Dura Ace.

From his latest Strava post: I was asked to do some stunt double work for a descent scene in a new movie coming soon called "Hard Miles" starring Matthew Modine. It took place in the beautiful Eastern Sierras in California (the site of my upcoming gravel event www.whiskeytangofondo.com). After the shoot of course I had to take a crack at Whitney Portal Road, and the producers were kind enough to film and edit it for me.

...but maybe not for everyone

...and wisdom to live by: Back pain is your body's way of telling you to cycle more For as long as anyone can remember, my friend Bernard has had a bad back. And for just as long I’ve felt that it was his most versatile asset. “Don’t attack me on the climb, not with my back… sorry I missed all those turns, my back, you know… I’d have had you in the sprint, but….” There have been days when I’ve had my doubts about it. I sometimes suspected that the poor performance led to the back issues, rather than the other way around. But not anymore. I’ve got a sore back myself, and I’ve had my eyes opened to my friend’s condition. The most aggravating thing about a bad back is the lack of sympathy. The full list of symptoms of lower back pain is 1) the patient will show signs of pronounced laziness and 2) they will complain they have a sore back. That’s it. Even if you take an x-ray there’s not a lot to look at. It’s a condition more or less designed so that no one will believe you. I don’t know how my injury originated. I gave up stretching, but that was in 2005, so it’s probably not that. It seems unlikely to be cycling, since I’ve been doing that for decades without hurting my back and the only chronic cycling injury I’ve ever had was that I used to get painful knees when I over trained. This would have been a very useful red light if I’d ever paid any attention to it – normally I just thought, “Ah. Sore knees. Really getting somewhere now,” and kept on going. Despite the evidence offered by Bernard, I’m certain that cycling must be a cure for lower back pain. Did the chiropractor not tell me to keep it mobile? How much more mobile than 200 miles a week does he want? More directly to the point, the weather has just warmed up and I didn’t plug my way through the winter gloom so I could sit about going, “Ow, my back,” all spring. I decided that for purposes of convenience, if not actual logic, that cycling must be a cure because the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. The question was whether I needed to change my riding? If the diet of mainly steady and tempo riding hadn’t already cured me, was it time for something else? The most obvious thing to try was to drop the intensity and compensate with more volume. This would, so my thinking went, put less stress through my lower back, while increasing mobility, maintaining blood flow and (something, something, something) promoting healing. That seemed like a likely direction. But another possibility was to do some shorter interval workouts on the turbo. My contrasting reasoning for these was that there’d be fewer shocks from the bumpy roads, the reduced time on the bike might be a good idea, and the higher forces might improve my core stability. Everyone knows that core stability is good for protecting an injured back. I compromised and did both, on the basis that I’d concluded cycling doesn’t actually cause lower back pain so doing more couldn’t do any harm. I added some stretches and gym work, because the chiropractor insisted. He didn’t actually mention cycling, which seems funny in retrospect, since it’s such a beneficial therapy. All this means is that to date the most direct consequence of having a back so iffy that I’ve had to type this column standing up is that I’ve doubled my training, added stretching and some gym work, and I’m heading towards being the fittest I’ve been in ages. Having a bad back is the best thing that could have happened to me. I’d have to say that none of this has increased the level of sympathy I’m getting for my total inability to do anything helpful round the house. But a price worth paying, I think.

..that I will complete this TdF challenge on strava. 42,000 feet is a LOT for one month of riding. More like 3 months of riding (or, at least, 2 months of nice weather riding)!

They have the CAAD 13 frame available in what looks like the Seaco paint job. $1,010

...or is he holding out on us?

...and should be at the start of the TdF!!! Two Canadians to help him out (Woods is a legit stage hunter):

Being a big guy I use different tactics from what I've read on forums a million times. Big guys must use down hill advantages to do well when it comes to hills. Can't count the times I've watched a big guy hammer down a hill thinking he's going to get ahead somehow. Stupidest thing I've ever seen and heard. Like any other rider, use flats and down hill to recover and conserve. A ton of times I've just done enough to hold on or keep in sight a group of riders I was with. Yeah, I could have squashed them on the flat and downhill but why when we have climbs coming up? Many times, a group of 25 hammering out and I'm conserving the back. Hit the turn around with a ten mile grind back. Even the skinny riders were killing themselves hammering other descent silliess. Hit the trur to head back then I kick up my efforts. 25 riders and every week at the back or even behind the first half then working my way back up through the scattered riders to finish th every week, consistently week after week. I found something that works and have been doing it for years. So today, starting my ride, imonth flats working into a pace but warming up. I thought I was alone but a mile later I see some dude coming up. A bit later I'm wondering why he hasn't passed me yet so I look back. Just as I turn y head halfway, I pick him up in my peripheral. He's ticked and zooming in right behind me. I was actually worried he was going to hit me from behind. As he rolls by he shouts, " COME ON BROTHER, LETS DO IT!!!". 😄 I'm just warming up and smart enough to know I don't want to hurt myself by pushing too hard too soon. I rode yesterday and a bit stiff at this point so I stick to my plan. So he rolls by and I think, good for him. He's a big guy and rolling really well. He might be a bit bigger than me but d say good 3 inches taller. So I'm impressed as we're riding up towards the mountains. Heading north and mostly 2-4% it seems at here upper section of this trail. He's doing well and I'm thinking, this dude is kicking azz! He gets 150 yards ahead barely see the guy at times but my legs are warm now about 4 miles later. So now I feel like I'm rolling. Then I noticed he's only 100 yards ahead. He's a big guy but not a sloppy big, just big. So I'm beginning to think WRONG TACTIC FOR A BIG GUY. I think he may have burned himself out a bit see we were heading up. With the occasional freeway underpass. For, I've done this with several other riders as well, much thiner and smaller guys. I just point it out as mentioned, read it on many forums by many big guys. This guy as well though looking super strong inside PA and physique chose the wrong tactic. He was hammering on the flat burning himself out for what was yet to come. So I s I'm gaining so I kick it up a bit not knowing if I'll catch him. He's still 100 yards ahead and only 3 miles to the top, the roughest 3. He goes under a double pass but when I go under, I come up the other side and noticed, damn, I closed off 25 yards in just that short section. The worst is yet to come. Not flat NY longer. Continous steps leading up and up. Maybe a flat section of 50 yards if you're lucky. Sometimes a step up, 10 yards of flat then another step up. These steps are about 10 percent peak but only 20 yards long. One right after the other and I really gets to you seeing there are about 20 in a row. But dsmn the guy is now about 10 yards ahead of me and I feel energized. I could have taken him at this point but I see another step up in 20 yards. I'll wait to pass him on the way up. So right as we begin the step up I pass him giving it just about all I have. But he hops right on and hours, ALRIGHT BROTHER, I NEED SOMEONE TO TOW ME TO THE TOP!!! Why is everyone always shouting at me?! 😄 He hopped right on so I thought I may be in trouble. Im pushing hard trying to hold my pace. We're on a flat section of maybe 50 yards so he's still there and I'm feeling it. Then I see a freeway underpass is next. But going down, one notices a double climb step up on the far side. This is going to make or break me or him. We go down and though my gut is busting, I give even more. I get to the top of both steps, about 30 yards of a short steep climb and he pops. I think I popped too but I gave it my all to ride him off my wheel so no bitching out now. I yooka deep breath, exhaled all the way out tummy like a bull frog as that's how you intake max oxygen. You look like Buddha but it helps recovery. So I did so then kicked it up again. Another 1/8 of a mile up the road and he's toast. I had to look back noticing he was 50 yards back. That ain't enough for me while I'm in kill mode so I packed it on some more. Another mile to open the gap even more. I see another gym ahead. Good looking rider so he's my next victim. He more than likely didn't care as he seemed to be struggling. . But I used him as a rabbit to put on an even bigger gap on the other guy,, my brother.. 😄 Now I was just about to the top of the trail. Looked back seeing the second guy about 75 yards back. I waited a bit to make sure the other guy was coming and he was, a few minutes back. I figured he was stopping here as is a popular stop for cyclists. Before h arrived I continued on up above the trail for a little more distance knowing he wasn't coming up this way. I had to laugh and chuckle with myself continuing on thinking he was strong but wrong tactic for a bigger. Should have conserved just enough of the flat to do well but keep something in the tank for the climb. 😄 Jst an awesome feeling when you're warming up and riders ride by shouting words of encouragement, some in victory, only to see that they're getting passed and dropped by someone they never expected to see again. 😁

I didn't know Kaitlin Armstrong is from Michigan Livonia is aboot 30 miles from me. https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/national/2022/06/08/livonia-native-sought-in-murder-of-cyclist-in-austin-last-seen-at-airport/

...someone addressed this problem! I'm tired of burning precious watts due to a less than optimal aero set-up. I wonder if it will work on @Square Wheels's super bike, too? We could geek out on the stats showing how much speed we gained with that doodad vs the losers without them.

...to full finger leather cycling gloves?

...for the US with Sepp Kuss, Brandon McNulty, Matteo Jorgensen, and Kevin Vermaerke are likely TdF starters. We'll see who else trickles in over the next week. Canada has Houle and Woods on the Israel team, as well as returning Antoine Duchesne.

...return to the Tour! I was worried about Sepp and the COVID riddled-Suisse team. Not a bad team. The five riders that will assist Wout van Aert, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard in the battle for green and yellow are Sepp Kuss, Steven Kruijswijk, Christophe Laporte, Tiesj Benoot and Nathan Van Hooydonck.

...will be interesting to see if Ewan can be more "hit" than "miss" - especially against some of the other sprinters and a motivated Wout van Wert going for green???? Gilbert going for a final stage win? Caleb Ewan will lead Lotto Soudal in pursuit of stage victories at the Tour de France, while Philippe Gilbert will make his twelfth and final appearance in the event. Lotto Soudal’s Tour selection is built around Ewan’s sprint, and his lead-out train will include Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Frederik Frison, Florian Vermeersch and Brent Van Moer. Tim Wellens, who was denied Baloise Belgium Tour victory in controversial circumstances at the weekend, and Andreas Kron complete the eight-man roster.

I have a general "rule" when out riding, and it is based around hating getting into a back and forth of passing with someone. So, my rule is to never pass a bigger guy near the top of a climb if there will be a downhill or even long flat coming up. I will wait until the top, see the pace they go, and decide whether I can cleanly pass and drop them at that point or if I should wait until the next climb. In general, I'm on the lighter side of recreational cyclists, so I pass most people on climbs, but if I don't reach them until the top, gravity and momentum are going to make their mass an advantage, and were I to pass them, they would then draft or pass me on the downhill/flat section. Anyway, on Monday's ride, the roles were FLIPPED! I was the "big guy" and the little guy was a big dude on a 50+lbs ebike. Where I normally scoot past folks on a hill, his ebike made it so he could hit and hold 20mph on any climb we encountered, but on the downhills, I would distance him easily. It was weird to have that "opposite" sort of ride. Dropped/passed on climbs but doing the dropping and passing on the flats and downhills. If he had one of those ebikes with the 28mph boosts, I'd surely have been in trouble across all terrains, but his less expensive one (with fat tires) was one with a seeming 20mph assist limit. Fun seeing that different perspective.

...this year, and gotta say, it was almost as more boring than a pancake flat TdF sprint stage. And, while it had two of @bikeman564™'s cycling folks - Frankie A commentating and Alexi V going for the win - it was really a race where once the four (then five) guys established a lead, no one really did anything interesting until the last hill. The woman's race wasn't any more exciting with the leader pretty much wrapped up 50+ miles from the finish.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/kaitlin-armstrong-manhunt-texas-cyclist-slaying-suspect-nyc-former-fugitive

I was looking at this pic yesterday because Gina said she had fat knees and couldn't ever wear miniskirts (discussion in skirt thread). She was 5'4 and 124 pounds. I searched for an average weight of a female racing cyclist. Seems she would have fit right in. She was 24 at the time. Back in about 2003, we rode with a forum member Chuck52 aka OldNewbinCa. This was after Gina had already recovered from donating a kidney and at about 41 years old. We held a good pace throughout. Near the end of our ride, about 35 miles into a 43 miler, we caught up to a tandem that wanted to mix it up. We were doing really well beating down the tandem riders when all of a sudden. Gina dropped off the back. Chuck shouted "Gina dropped!". So I sat up for a second to look back for her. Just then the tandem rolled up and the guy said "she got dropped back there!". As I looked back, Gina was on the wheel of the tandem then shouted "no I didn't!". Then she kicked it up and rolled around all 3 of us. 😲 Chuck and I picked it back up to catch her then we all left the tandem behind. Gina says she just had to slow for a second to catch her breath. She recovered well. I was shocked and Chuck said, "you really ought to get her into racing ". But Gina says she rides for fun and doesn't have a competitive bone in her body. That was around this time. At 24, right in there with the race specs. 5'4 124 pounds. My friends always laugh because when we. 3 of.us started riding, we would struggle to get to the beach in 50 minutes, 3 of us working together. I got her a bike 6 months later. Rode during the week around the neighborhood to get her used to the bike. Her first time, she was about 32 years old. She did the ride in 42 minutes. 😄 About a year ago she mentioned buying one of those carbon fiber racing recumbent. I said no you're not because I would never keep up with her. 🤣

So I have some friends Herb and Alyce who we've known for 15 years. Herb was seriously hurt in a cycling accident couple years back. Screws in his neck and shoulder, permanently disabled. Alyce still rides her upright and we ride together from time to time. Herb is on a CatTrike so good he's riding at all. The accident happened on the trail couple years back. Today I was to meet with Alyce today. I rode about 7 miles before we ran into one another. Along the way, I rolled by a couple on steel bikes who carry racks and that type of stuff. Nice bikes. I said hi as I rolled by and snapped a pic. They got a kick out of it. So I met upp with Alyce up the trail. We did our ride and when I got back to the parking lot the couple was there. They had told me their names a while back but I forgot. Alyce had already headed home. So we're chatting a bit, the way Mr Beanz does when the topic of trail safety comes up. . Then the guy says a couple years back they witnessed an accident. A couple riding hard, lady panicked when a cruiser bike swerved into their lane. Lady hits the brakes husband goes over the bars who last they heard broke his shoulder. They ha stopped to provide aid as they lady was frantic and the guy seriously injured. The lady wiped blood from the injured guy's face while husband secured injured guy's bike and controlled traffic till the ambulance arrived. Hey, that's my friends Herb and Alyce you're talking about. Herb actually broke his shoulder, fractured his neck and was paralyzed for a while. Plenty of rehab learning to walk again. X rays full of screws along his spine and shoulder. Too bad Alyce didn't stop with me at the end of my ride, she would have loved to meet them under better conditions. So I sent the picture to Alyce and she asked who the people were not recognizing them. I told her they were the people who aided them at the accident. She was pretty happy to identify the people who had helped them that day. She asked me if I knew how to contact them. Sorry I don't but next time I see them I'll give them your cell number if you don't mind. She said sure as Herb would love to meet them and maybe find some way to show appreciation for their help. So that is kind of a cool thing. I was told over the years by several riders they enjoy my pics videos, and material because they bring cyclists together. I know a lot of riders who have friends out there because they've recognized one another from my stuff. Just another cool little new friendship story created through one of my pics. 🙂 The couple and then Alyce and me on today's ride.

...finding it readily available Shimano making a "limited" shiny version of GRX, and yet I have't been able to get brake pads for my GRX brakes as they have been unavailable for MONTHS. Maybe they need to dedicate a line to making more replaceable bits, and less "special edition" stuff.

Couldn't ride yesterday as the thunder and lightning rolled in just when I wanted to ride, so I decided I would at least get out this morning for a short ride before work. I'll be in the car for the afternoon and visiting family for the weekend, so no chance for another ride until Monday at the earliest. Anyway - got up, kitted up, and went for a ride. LOVELY temps with some shade, and lots of folks out. BUT - damn, I need my coffee. Normally, for a rare morning "event" ride, I wake up early enough to drink some coffee ahead of time, but not today. Riding before coffee and breakfast is supposed to be "good", but damn, I was dragging. You folks who get out and exercise in the early AM are strange creatures I'm going back to sticking to afternoon rides.

Since I have been hanging with Nancy I have been spending a lot of time in the cities. I notice city people lock their bikes. The most common way I see is with a big ass U-lock through the Down tube, front wheel, and bike rack. I have a U-lock I picked up on clearance years ago. I thought I might want to take it on my ride next week. Heck no, that thing weighs a ton. I’ll bring my cable lock and hope for the best. There is safety in numbers. If a bunch of us ride into town we will watch out for each other’s stuff. I got an email showing the routes we will be taking. They are only showing an average elevation gain of about 1,000 feet a day. That should be easy if it is spread out. 1,000 feet at 8% or more all at once is a bit tougher.