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...or a bald faced lie? That's like 5%!!!!!

...I have a great comeback (I think it is!) to the dopes I pass on rides. Yesterday's ride took me on a super pleasant journey in BEAUTIFUL weather. As I was rolling home, there was a man I've seen before riding farther ahead of me, but doing a "smell the roses" pace in the 15mph or slower range. I rolled up and passed him giving him about 5' of space. He muttered his "signal/alert before passing" comment since I hadn't given him any notice as I swung out and around him to pass. I responded with a chuckle (my normal response) and my new Maxx-inspired "What? Another LAW!". That made me chuckle even more, and I will work to perfect it some more.

Just as I'm coming into a stretch of peak fitness, the days are getting shorter, the temps are getting colder, and the weather is getting spottier. Sort of sucks. How many days until Spring?

This is pretty neat-o See Inside the World’s Longest Purpose-Built Cycling Tunnel | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

by watching this video

...and see what you can find: FTR, @JerrySTL or @TrentonMakes might like that red extension doodad.

....and likely killed a little critter because of it. A couple days ago, after a ride, I mentioned seeing a kamikaze chipmunk that darted - for no obvious reason - just in front of me on a ride. I didn't hit it, but commented to my wife later on that it was rare to see chipmunks. Lots of squirrels, snakes, deer, groundhogs, and rabbits, but few chipmunks this year. Anyway, my ride last night, about 5 minutes in, a chipmunk dashed from the right side and either hit my front wheel head-on or maybe (didn't feel a bump) got crunched by it. It is slightly possible it knocked itself out, but more likely it brained itself or broke its neck. In any case, when I looked back, he was all four feet pointing up on the trail and not moving Not a good way to start a ride.

...but, really, "On your left" falls on deaf ears these days. Jef (and Pastis) are dating themselves a bit.

...on my ride yesterday and will need the Cafe's support to achieve it. I state to all those listening here today that I WILL stop at the local Dairy Queen this year (2023) and have something tasty from their menu. Please offer any suggestions you might have so that when I finally fulfill this vow, I choose the best option available. Thank you for you support.

...that is driving me nuts is part of the recall? Shimano has issued a global recall of its Hollowtech 11-speed road cranksets, with more than 760,000 affected in North America and 2.8 million globally. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) says the recall applies to cranks sold over an 11-year period, from January 2012 through August 2023, after a reported 4,519 incidents of cranksets separating. The USCPSC says the incidents have resulted in six injuries, “including bone fractures, joint displacement and lacerations”. Shimano has begun a “global safety and inspection and replacement programme”, expected to start from 1 October, for all customers with affected models. The recall affects the following models: Ultegra FC-6800 Dura-Ace FC-9000 Ultegra FC-R8000 Dura-Ace FC-R9100 <- mine is "FC-9100" so maybe off the hook? Googled, and IT IS SAFE! Dura-Ace FC-R9100P The recall affects both cranksets specced on complete bikes and aftermarket. My crank is on the list and NC is one of the affected batches. I really need to clean it, but if I get a new one, may I won't have to! Hambini has talked about this for a WHILE. Mine - safe! Unsafe:

that's impressive so glad I got to meet him, he's very nice.

Years ago, after being frustrated with the never ending bottle cleaning required due to drinking Gatorade on rides, I went cold turkey and swapped to just plain water. Water, water, water, except on organized rides where plain water tasted like the hose. Super easy to clean and never sticky and if you forgot one in the garage, it didn't turn into a Petri dish. Anyway, I sweat A LOT. And I noticed I was starting to cramp more often than years gone by. Similar riding. Similar pacing. Similar weather. So, I begrudgingly switched to added electrolytes in my bottles for rides. LOTS of sodium. A bit of sugar. Right now, the Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier has been working out as a slightly less expensive option vs Skratch. Skratch has more sugar and slightly less sodium, so I prefer the Liquid IV stuff. Skratch does have a "high" sodium blend for super high sweat days, so I might grab some of that for next years most humid rides. I think I can taper back to just water soon as the weather cools, and I will be super happy to not have to deal with cleaning the bottles so aggressively.

...riding an ebike through the Pyrenees???

On Monday, I went out for my normal afternoon/evening ride. Normal route, pleasant weather, normal pace, normal everything. Came home, parked the bike in the garage, and went about the evening. On Wednesday, I went out for my normal afternoon/evening ride. Normal route, pleasant weather, normal pace, normal everything - EXCEPT THE HORRENDOUS CREAKING FROM MY BOTTOM BRACKET! WTF??? Nothing changed. It was all pretty much the same as it ever is. Why on Earth would the creaking start - seemingly for NO APPARENT REASON - pretty much from the very start of the ride (literally after a few hundred yards or so where I first stand to pedal up over an overpass). If the weather holds today, I ride a similar ride, and I am not going to be happy if the creaking is the same or worse.

....story on Sepp's mother during the Vuelta. The TL/DR version is she was on a remote hike in the Dolomites so isolated from the day-to-day race intrigue. Sabina Kuss never missed her son Sepp’s bike races. Often, this meant waking up in the early a.m. darkness at her home in Durango, Colo., and turning on the TV, where she and Sepp’s father, Dolph, would sit for hours, watching their son compete in dramatic races like the Tour de France. Sometimes, when a TV camera found Sepp riding up a mountain, Sabina would go to the screen and pretend to nudge her son up the climb. “I’d push his bottom up the hill,” Sabina Kuss told me the other day. “It was hard to not reach out and touch him, especially when I could see his face.” A talented cyclist herself, Sabina was the one who had gotten Sepp on a bike as a child, and she tried to watch every minute of his racing–until this past month, when Sepp’s team, Jumbo-Visma, asked him to ride in the Vuelta a Espana, the last of cycling’s three annual “Grand Tours.” Sabina Kuss had a conflict, right in the middle of the race: She had arranged to go on an epic 14-day trek with friends through the Dolomite mountains in Italy. The trek, Alta Via 2, is no polite trail hike. Backpackers spend double-digit days traversing the mountains, often on demanding, rocky trails, staying at night in huts called rifugios. Access to the outside world is minimal. Wi-Fi can be hard to find. Sabina figured it would work out OK. Before the trek began, she got to Spain and saw Sepp race two early stages. Sepp’s job at the three-week Vuelta appeared to be the usual: help a teammate win. At 29, Sepp Kuss was one of the best “super domestiques” in cycling–a support rider talented enough to win occasional stages, but largely paid to pace and protect star teammates during grueling, long events. Jumbo-Visma had taken two favorites to the Vuelta: Primož Roglič, a three-time Vuelta winner who in May captured the Giro d’Italia, and Jonas Vingegaard, who in July had won his second consecutive Tour de France. Each time, Sepp was at their side. The Jumbo squad was chasing a sweep of the three Grand Tours, which no team had ever done. Sepp, who was also on his third Grand Tour of the season, would help his teammates get there. Sabina Kuss said goodbye to her son, and went off into the jagged Italian mountains. It was on her second day in the Dolomites that Sabina realized this bike race she left behind was getting interesting. She and her hike companions, Janna Erickson and Emily Deitz, both from Colorado, had arrived at their mountainside rifugio for the night when Sabina was able to locate a Wi-Fi signal. “Her phone just blew up,” Janna said. Sepp had won that day’s Vuelta stage in a breakaway, a victory that put him just eight seconds back of the overall race leader. (In a Grand Tour, the winner assembles the fastest aggregate time over the three weeks.) Two days later, Sepp grabbed more time, and captured the Vuelta’s red jersey as the race leader. He had won big races before–he had taken a stage of the Tour de France in 2021–but he’d never been the leader of one of the three Grand Tours. “I just couldn’t believe it,” Sabina said. “It was thrilling.” She felt conflicted. All this was happening, and she was far away, in another country, deep into a trek. It wasn’t like they could pile into a cab and hit a sports bar. “I felt bad,” said Erickson. “I said, ‘Oh, Sabina, I feel so bad that I invited you on this trip. You could have been there!’ And she’s just, ‘Oh, no, no, no–I made the decision.’ She was really easy-going about it.’” This is a Kuss family trait. Within cycling, Sepp Kuss is admired for his talent, but also for his unflappable attitude. Cycling is a stressful, hazardous sport, but even on mountain finishes, Sepp could be spotted on his bike, smiling. At least that’s what Dolph Kuss thought. “He has so much fun riding that bicycle,” Dolph told me. “I would tell Sabina, ‘Look, Sepp is going to finish and he’s smiling.’ She’d say no–he’s gritting his teeth.” Sepp had been raised adventurously. Dolph, a Durango legend, is a giant in U.S. skiing, a former Olympic and college ski coach. Young Sepp skied both Alpine and Nordic. He also played hockey, too, which became his favorite. “He was a beautiful hockey player—he had that really light natural [skating] ability,” Sabina said. Cycling began at an early age, on trails outside their home, Sepp chasing after his mother, a regular podium finisher at mountain bike races like the Iron Horse Classic. “Sepp didn’t view things in a competitive way,” Sabina said. “He viewed them as, ‘Oh, wow, that’s going to be really fun.’ He has not changed in that.” After a while, Sepp would begin keeping up with his mother on rides, and even start pedaling ahead. Eventually, Sepp would bring along a book to read while he waited for his mom to complete a long descent. “I didn’t want him waiting for me,” Sabina said. “But he always said, ‘No mom, I like to ride with you. I don’t mind waiting.’ That’s how he is. He never minded.”

...and Jumbo had come up with a cool way to have Sepp in the Red jersey (with pink and yellow highlights), Roglic in a Pink jersey (with red & yellow highlights) and Vingegaard in a Yellow jersey (with red & pink highlights). Even so, Jumbo figured out they should do a group photo with the winners. Pretty darn cool! ...but the one off jerseys were pretty darn cool, anyway!

First I seen this. Some dude I know posted this on Strava.

Thrilled to see Sepp Kuss in red... seems a lot of discussion happening over whether he can keep the jersey. Not sure how he'll fare in the TT (today?) but regardless of his physical capability, will his own team - featuring Roglic and Vingegaard - even allow him to ride for it?

that's my prediction. Here's the reason. Cannondale offered the CAAD series w/ high end components. When I bought my CAAD 10 in 2012, I chose Ultegra. One model up had DA...well w/ some Ultegra bits. And my CAAD X has ultegra, from 2018. Now the CAAD 13 tops out at 105 Di2, and the CAADX is no longer available, but the carbon superX is. So I predict they'll probably get out of making aluminum bikes Providing I'm still alive, I'll probably buy one more good bike...maybe. Not sure what it'll be. But one thing it will not be is carbon Then I found this article, which I agree with. Specially the last two sentences "I hope to walk into a shop one day and see a brand-new Cannondale CAAD14 with an all-new Ultegra mechanical shifting system and rim brakes. But if that day never comes, it will be because there weren’t enough other people who wanted what I wanted. I may not like it, but I must be okay with it." https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a37245788/caad-rim-dead/

A few of you will know what this is, but it's bike related I do this at work, now actually. But not on bike parts

I was swapping on my flat pedals to my Diverge (normally Speedplay), and the flats use only the Allen wrench while the Speedplays use Allen or a pedal wrench. Anyway, I looked at the Allen wrench on each pedal and they were as I suspected - different sizes. So, not only are pedals hit or miss on how to install, the darn things also don't agree on the size of the tool needed. As a side note, as I was installing the Speedplays, I realized there was NO spin to the pedal. That's a "annual maintenance" thing - adding new grease - and I couldn't remember the last time I had done it (years). Anyway, it was quite a bitch forcing new clean grease into it, working it free, and having it function properly again, but I did it. The other side's pedal was still spinning (too easily, really), but now they're both back to "normal".

...I've got some gravel "ride" suggestions for him!

Friend of min text me a pic of this yesterday. I likes it https://www.cyclingweekly.com/products/new-dutch-team-tdt-unibet-unveils-a-cannondale-even-louder-than-efs