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I think @Randomguy lives on the Upper West Side, and, essentially, by my reckoning, @ChrisL lives in LA! Heated seats in LA?!?!?! Yep - sounds about right Earlier this year, I was sitting in Los Angeles traffic lamenting that my pathetic seat heater has only three settings, and listening to a podcast hosted by an outdoorsman. At one point, the guest casually mentioned Henry David Thoreau, and the host all but jumped on him, repeatedly and derisively calling Thoreau a lightweight because his most celebrated work, Walden, didn’t involve Thoreau staying deep in the wilderness. “He was still walking home to his mom’s every other day!” the host insisted. “He was a total candy-ass!” I powerfully admire Thoreau, but I wasn’t angered. Instead, I wondered if this guy was aware of the naturalist’s storied toughness—his inner circle of friends knew him to hike for many miles, often with wet feet, and to have little use for those who couldn’t keep up—and if he believed that Thoreau would have cared much about impressing his peers with manly accomplishments. But I also wondered if I, too, might be ridiculed by the “people of the outdoors” for my own version of adventure. Am I doing this wrong? Maybe. I don’t have a story involving walking home to my mom, but I do have a tale of emasculation. In the late 2000s, I was living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, commuting around 11 miles by bicycle every day to Red Hook, Brooklyn, where I was building my first cedar-strip canoe in a rented workshop. (If I’m not employed at my first love, acting, then I’m likely engaged in my other first love, woodworking.) I was pedaling a Specialized Tarmac, usually in full cycling regalia, and relishing the opportunity to be out in the weather while getting in two killer workouts a day. There, in the most densely populated city in the country, I would fly all the way down the Hudson River bike path before cutting across the tip of downtown to catch the wide-open bike lane over the Manhattan Bridge. Some days I would stop at the pinnacle of the bridge and watch storm clouds moving in over the harbor, an edifying experience unavailable to the myriad souls in cars and subway trains. (You have to leave a little room for poetry, I guess, like a real candy-ass.) Once in Brooklyn, I’d cut south along the water to reach the shop. Much of the route was so amazingly free of automobiles that I would often fall into a meditative reverie, zipping along in silence, focusing on my form, my breathing, my pumping legs—always trying to shave seconds off my roughly 45-minute time as a matter of pride and principle, and to widen the gap over the next best method of getting there: two trains and a bus, which took an hour. This was just basic New York City bragging-rights stuff, knowing inside and out the most efficient and economical route to get from one part of the five boroughs to another. I especially loved the mile along Furman Street, which runs under the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway and was frequently deserted. Here I could truly lose myself in the pleasures of speed. Imagine my shock, then, when on a crisp 45-degree December morning, a Chrysler 300 full of young men and women materialized next to me, and the passenger-side male in the back seat loudly and cleanly spanked me. Whap! I’m telling you, he absolutely nailed my medium-large and spandexed ass, perched tantalizingly atop my seat. The jarring blow goosed me forward on my bike, while his crew hooted, as if a winning goal had been scored. Then the car sped away, nearly drowning out the triumphant cheers and laughter. I veered off the street and barely managed not to crash. Rage and humiliation washed over me. Only through luck had I managed to avoid a broken limb or worse. I was badly scared and welling up with tears. Cut to some months later, and I had moved back home to Los Angeles, which, somewhat counterintuitively, is a substantially worse city to traverse by bicyclethan New York. The streets of L.A. are wider, the population much more spread out, and the weather more conducive to cycling, to the point of being laughable. But there are very few good bike lanes, and getting to many places involves what we outdoor journalists call “uphill sections.” Nevertheless, when I was cast in a Comedy Central show that was shooting in Burbank, about a 30-minute ride north of the woodshop I had opened in Atwater Village, I was hell-bent on commuting by bike as much as possible. My route required using a long stretch of San Fernando Road, a somewhat muscular thoroughfare with two lanes of traffic in each direction and a solid row of parked cars along each side. My best option was to stick as close as possible to the parked cars, maintaining laser vigilance in case a door was flung open. Some drivers were extremely angry about having to share the road with a cyclist, so I was deferential with my gestures, erring on the friendly side with a Hello! wave or a palms-up gesture meant to convey: Hey, why don’t we try to make space for each other? I am actually a pretty friendly guy. Still, horns would blare, and some geniuses would swerve at me slightly. Even so, none of this prepared me for the evening when a man cut me off with his Corolla and got out in a pugilistic fury, ready to throw down over the temerity I had displayed by riding in “his” space. (The nerve!) Frightened, I loudly but carefully asked him if he really wanted to fight. He screamed in reply, “Get off the fucking road!” before jumping back behind the wheel and zooming away. Fortunately, the Comedy Central show didn’t get renewed, so we were denied the opportunity for a rematch and possible second spanking. The particular stripes of dumb in these two anecdotes strike me as having originated in the same fragile place as the urge to call a great naturalist and writer a candy-ass: A place of insecurity, fear, disappointment, and pain. A place of weakness. I sense that demeaning podcast hosts and cyclist-hating drivers come from a culture of bullying and aggression, one that so often misunderstands our need for outdoor adventure. For me, getting on a bike or into a canoe, or even just taking a hike, is not something I do to impress anybody with my toughness or masculinity. Quite the opposite: it’s what I do to escape those kinds of domestic and cultural stressors, to try and approach the world with empathy despite my human propensity to cause others pain. If it’s intrepid wilderness adventuring you seek, I humbly encourage you to read some Thoreau, especially The Maine Woods, which includes some deep trekking and even deeper thinking. If Henry is to be labeled a candy-ass, then I can only aspire to be called the same.

...but I wonder if he should have a Big Mac and fries once in a while? What do you think? Should he? Now that I’ve been cycling nonstop since I’ve retired, and really focused on racing the last five years or so, I’m down to 185, and on a long endurance ride, I’ll get down to 180. I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in now.

...wasted in support roles? As we've seen over the years - essentially since Lance, Hamilton, and Landis ruined it for Americans as leaders - would you say that all our top tier guys have been wasted as super domestiques or in full support roles?

@dinneR back story: I stumbled upon this youtube channel a while ago, of these two young California wipper snappers who race. Anywho, I seen this GLC video and though of you. This is so on my bucket list.

Last weekend, we had our normal dose of hot and humid weather in place. For Saturday, we opted for tennis and the pool with a couple of my nieces. That was a great use of the day before the rain moved in mid-afternoon. Sunday originally looked bad, then good, then back to afternoon thunderstorms, so I decided I make an attempt to get one of my longer rides in before the rain (and lightning) started. Of course, that meant riding during the warmest part of the day and that I would need sunscreen. So, I slathered up, got my stuff ready and bottles filled, and headed off on my ride. I chatted with a fellow for a bit at the start, but he turned around and warned me that storms were now forecast for a little earlier. I decided to ride to the 1/4 mark of my planned ride, and assess the weather. It was hot and HUMID. My gloves were soaked a few miles into the ride. I started drinking my water early and often, and eventually got to my "checkpoint" where I refilled my water and pulled out my phone. Stopping for those few minutes had me dripping in sweat. Jersey, shorts, gloves, and socks drenched. I wasn't hungry, but I thought it might make sense to eat some Clif BLOKS since I had some with extra sodium. The margaritas are SO SALTY TASTY. Anyway, I couldn't open the package!!! The sunscreen had rendered my hands a slippery mess, and I couldn't wipe them dry because I was soaked! I tried using my teeth and that failed too. WTF? After a couple minutes of cursing, I gave up. The sky to the west was getting uglier and I was getting more irritable. I turned around and rode home. Half the ride I wanted, but when I got home, I realized I made the right choice. A cold shower, some tasty food, and time to get the pup out before the rain worked out well for me. Sometimes, a short ride is good enough, and a clear downside of warm weather and long days is that sunscreen and sweat make opening things TOUGH! I went ahead and "notched" a bunch of my Bloks so they will be easily opened next time. Clif should do a better job as they try but don't succeed in making them easy to open with slippery hands.

Then there is these Six people, and I know three of them, did this insane ride

The Pyrenees beckon, and tomorrow will be bonkers - or at least I hope!

Do you appreciate positive comments from drivers while out cycling? I was driving home, saw an older gentleman on a roadie. No other traffic around as he approached the red light at an intersection. I was driving up behind him ready to make a right. As I approached he saw me coming up so he split the straight and right turn giving me room to make my turn. You'd be surprised how many cyclists will block the right turn. I always have my windows down unless it's rain. So I pulled up on his right and said, AHHH A CYCLIST WITH ROAD SKILLS! He got a chuckle out of it ten said, thank you sir, I try to be considerate to others around me. I told him I do the same, and have a good day. Then he rode off with a big smile 😀

Jersey from Twin Six. Regularly $105, on sale for $55. I got an email aboot a 50% sale and checked it out. This one is called stormchaser. I really like it This is my second jersey from them, great quality, and made in USA.

The team frame set is available linky

The sales team is having a rally tomorrow and they are raffling off some ebikes. They were boxed up so the facilities manager & I put them together. I took one for a hot lap, pretty fun little bike!

...has a member I don't know from here, so I clicked on him. Seems he is a Cleveland guy (is @Randomguy a Clevelander?). Anyway, Olé Levi Rides Again uses something called wandrer.earth to plot out how much of his Garmin/Strava rides are "new" miles and cover new areas. That led me to the wandrer site and the video about its creation in Atlanta. Pretty neat little video - start out collecting veggies, then mapping trees, to exploring new neighborhoods, to where it is now. Neat stuff. Seems to work really well for city folks. From his recent 64 miles ride:　 🎷🐛 57.59 new miles -- From Wandrer.earth The fun video at their site:

I generally think of feet for measuring things. Feet and then eventually miles. I only really think of yards when watching football. Of course, in the Tour, everything is metric, so they're talking meters of elevation and kilometers of distance. I'm generally fine with using kms, but meters is always annoying as I'm thinking in feet for elevation. I think that is a flaw of the metric system - no easy "foot" equivalent. Damn those Commies and their wacky distance measurements.

...but does it matter?

Wout pipped Matthews at the line. Matthews was a bit resigned to losing and seemed a little dejected. But, while watching, the first thing I thought of was that, for a sprinter, Matthews had the absolute WORST helmet on for aero purposes. Wout's is more streamlined, and Pogacar's at least is normal, but Matthews is like a big ass "head cooling" monster, and he'd definitely benefit from using a more traditional or a newer aero-type one instead. When you lose by a tenth (hundredth?) of a second, a thing like an aero helmet might actually matter!

...with solar, I'm gonna get it! The 1040 (1030 w/ solar) is too rich for my blood ($750), but since I ride mostly in the sun, it would be a nice boost not having to charge it all summer long.

...and I only have 16 hours of riding on the books. That just a little over 1 hour per day. Some folks have close to 10 hrs a day!!!! The leader might be doing an event or fundraiser, but man is 125 hrs on the bike in 13 days a LOT of bike time.

With rain in today's forecast (Tuesday), I figured it made sense to ride yesterday afternoon (Monday) despite feeling a bit tired from Sunday's ride. I figured, get out, take it easy, and just enjoy the ride. Anyway, I saddled up and got going. It was busy out as the weather was BEAUTIFUL. Through the series of stoplights & road crossings, and around quite a few cyclists, I was just wrapping up my warm up when a young guy zipped past me. In my mind, I said, "Once I get rolling, I'll see if I can chase him down", and he got a nice gap ahead of me and passed another guy pretty far ahead of me. I lost sight of him as the other guy was in the way, and I started to increase my pace in hopes of pulling back the young guy. Well, whoever he passed sped up a bit, so even though I was gaining on that new guy, it was a slower close, and I really lost view of the original guy. As I caught up the the one guy, it turned out he was on a bike with aerobars, and had been trying to hang with the young guy too. He seemed beat when I passed him (just before a nice overpass). I kept cruising along hoping I'd see the young guy not too far ahead, but some slower traffic kept me from getting a nice boost from the descent off the overpass but I could just pick him out ahead of me. Anyway, just where the descent flattened out for for a long 1% down stretch, the aerobar guy came past me at full steam (may 30 or so?), and really made the most of the descent and following decline to catch the young guy in the distance. I HATE that stuff - poke poke then ZOOM - but with aerobars, that's sort of how they ride. I always think, "I'd love a TT bike for the pure speed", but then I remember that almost all TT/aero folks are seemingly miserable and rarely smiling or in a "chatty mood". Not my vibe. I think he passed the young guy, and those two seemed to "go at it" for a while pushing each other to go faster, but I just stuck to my own rhythm knowing the downhill portion of the route was almost over, and some longer climbing sections were on the horizon. Fast forward five minutes or so, and I see a rider ahead of me and recognize the aero guy's position. I close the gap, nod, and ride on. About 1/4 mile later, I spot the young guy on the side of the trail, reading a sign. He looked like he had been there a little bit, but I couldn't tell. I waved and kept going. FFWD another 5 miles or so, and I turn around, swap bottles, and get going towards home. Ahead of me, I see the aero guy finally arriving - about 3 or 4 mins behind - and give him a wave too No smile from him. About 1/4 mile later, I see another young guy turning around ahead of me to start going my direction. This guy hops in behind me, and then zips on past at a small 5% rise in the road, and, of course, I say to myself, "He might be fun to play with", and step up my pace to catch and then match him. I sit back maybe 50' and hold that steady - drifting closer at road crossings, gapping back while passing slower folks. He eventually notices me back there, and in typical cycling fashion, hammers a bit to shake me. I just ramp up a bit and he settles back down, but since he knows I'm back there, he does that more and more often. I can see his form, though, and can tell he's not comfortable - head bobs and more arm movement than optimal - so I'm in the he'll pop or pull off soon mode, and that makes it even easier to keep the pace. If I thought he'd keep it up for another 30 miles, I might have dialed back, but knowing he wouldn't, I'd let him hammer and get a gap, and then I'd just cruise back up to my spot. It was a bit of an interval game, rather than my normal steady state ride for fun. As we hit one more overpass with a nice descent into a steady 1% up (where the aero guy zipped past earlier in the other direction), he hammered, I followed, he hammered again, I matched, he hammered again, I matched, and then he signaled he was done and turning off into the car park. I gave him a "Great work!" and a thumbs up and carried on my way. Super fun. Then, with just a couple miles to go, after a stop at a light where I caught a pack of riders, it was another chance to chase, pace, and pass. Again, fun having a series of carrots to use for incentive, and my "easy" ride turned into more of a fun & mixed intensity sort of thing. Rarely are there enough folks out and about who are pushing a good pace, so yesterday was sort of a perfect storm of nice weather and folks itching to ride. I love the long days of summer!

...would have to be Geraint Thomas' new sunglasses. Gone are the white Oakley's and replaced with some other model (brand?)! He was easy peasy to spot with his white shades.

Yesterday when we were out my daughter asked me how often I stop when I'm out for a ride. I was pretty impressed with how she did on flats but she has to stop and catch her breath pretty frequently when the road goes up. And when I was her age I stopped often, because I generally tried to push too big a gear, as she does. When I ride solo, once in a while I stop to smell the roses or take a photo, but generally I am moving except for traffic lights and stop signs (well... er... I find I'm getting a little loose with stop signs). My goal is to keep the wheels turning (but on a really steep hill I might have to stop and take a few breaths). For example, on yesterday morning's 21-mile ride Strava shows "moving time" only 3 seconds less than the "elapsed time" - though I expect Strava has a little bit of a delay before it realizes that I stopped. Maybe I'd have a little more energy at the end of a ride if I took say a 5-minute break every hour, got off and stretched my legs. What do you do?

How did I miss mention of that on the Tour coverage???? Daniel Oss broke his neck when he collided with a fan! Back on stage 5, at that. Cobbles suck in a Grand Tour. Cyclist Daniel Oss has been forced to retire from this year’s Tour de France with a broken neck after he collided with spectators. The Team TotalEnergies rider crashed into fans at high speed while they were lined up along a cobbled street during Stage 5 between Lille and Arenberg. Footage shows Oss getting knocked off balance after clipping one fan before colliding with another who is leaning out to film the race on a phone.

...whether to be "matchy-matchy" on the tandem vs going with your own style vs your partner? I think the matchy-matchy tandem folks are about 4:1 vs the non matched couples on tandems. Where do you fall? I think I would try to match, but then I start to think I'd hate that OFF the bike - ie at stops - so maybe similar but not quite matched? Similar colors, but not identical jerseys?

What's preventing you from watching the Tour live this year?