AustinBike

Managed a good ride on BCGB this morning. 8:30 start. At the end of the ride my camelback was dry, except for all of the ice that had not melted. Did not get the mix right. However beer and pizza fixed everything.

With our construction I've missed my daily rides. And I've gained weight 😞

Got my ride in early this morning ahead of all the work crews coming to the house. Did not enjoy having to get out that early but happy that I got a ride in after 2 days straight of being sequestered to the home office because of the painters.

Drinking in Chicago. Nice brewery in the suburbs with a great outdoor space: Good local microbrews: Brought back a case from my favorite local up there, a sampler pack of all IPAs: My 16-year-old self really remembers this crap:

We have scheduled 4 weeks in August and September to be out of the state, up in Santa Fe where temps are in the upper 70's or low 80's most days. Need to pack jackets for mornings. Last year we went in mid August and returning back in early September. Getting back in early September to still 100F temps in Austin taught me that waiting and going a little later in the year is not a bad thing.

Gave blood about 4 weeks ago. For the first 2-3 weeks I went from averaging 11-12 MPH on urban rides to 10-11MPH urban and struggled on the trails. They said it could be 4 weeks before my oxygen was 100% back to normal. Got on the bike yesterday after 10+ days out of town and averaged ~11.5MPH. Very interested to see how I do on the trails this weekend. Clearly there was an impact.

The folks at ABWHQ told me to get on this. I've updated my site. Let me know if any of the descriptions need to be adjusted.

I am on vacation this week and one of my customers has 2 calls with their client that they need me on. I provide no value on the calls. But they are going to pay me my consulting fee to be on the calls and they happen early enough in the morning that it won't interfere with my plans. That buys a lot of IPA. But the afternoon calls are a hard no. Back in my corporate life I had meetings from 8 to 5 plus evening calls with Asia. Even an occasional 6AM call with Europe. I don't miss those days.

I could never get to an R&I when I was working at Dell because there were always 5:00 meetings because some bonewipe would say "that's the only time I have open..." I started doing 6AM WC laps then hit the showers at work. It was great. Well, actually it sucked, but it was better than not riding.

Don't have a bike with me in Chicago this time, but wish I did, here's the rest of my week:

I'm with you on this. My typical day is get up do some yard work or contracting work in the morning, ride my bike about 11 - 1, then shower. I find that on normal days if I shower ~1 in the afternoon I never need deodorant because there is no need (trust me, Mrs. AB would be the first to let me know.) Basically I only wear it if I am going to be out in public. Pandemic world has limited that and a single stick lasts a long time. In really hot times I am often showering a couple times a day, further limiting the need. Ultimately that is a good thing for my body, I suppose.

I sweat like a pig. The big difference I notice is that when it get really hot, my sweat smells like either vinegar or bleach. That is when I know it is bad. 120F - no way, no how, not gonna happen for me.

Sure, but if I took a shit on your front porch, she'd blame a dog. But we would both know it was me, right? Asking for a friend.

I used to be able to ride in the heat, my record was 110F on the greenbelt once. But this year I donated blood and my body was out of whack. Can't ride in the heat. Hoping by the time I get back from Chicago my blood cells will be back in order and I can ride in heat again.

Sometimes a dog chariot has to do double duty.

It is the perfect second bike. I don't understand those that have only SS, but having an SS as a second bike is great.

My point is very specific to the Ripley I guess. In all of the analysis that I did, on paper the Ripley looked like the best bike. The only thing in the geometry was the STA, and how much of an impact could one little thing like STA matter when all else is right? Apparently a lot. I won't spend $5K+ on a bike if I have not ridden it. I learned my lesson. The only exception *might* be if I busted my Occam and I had to buy a new bike on risk without riding it, another in the same lineage is probably OK. But there was a difference between the 2019 I ended up with and the 2020 that I demo'd. Oddly enough STA was different between them.

A demo ride beats a spreadsheet. Every goddamn time.

I should have gone back to 11sp when I had the chance. But I agree on all of the other points. We are spoiled.

I don't know about the Ripmo, but when I demo'd the Ripley I was unimpressed. I wanted to like it and on paper it was perfect. But the seat tube angle was too steep and that put me too far over the stem. I even swapped the stem to a shorter one for my second ride and that ended up just putting me more upright than with the longer stem (which seemed to put me over the front wheel.) One mile on the Occam and I was sold and texted Wes so get one ready for me.

If I am riding out that way I will drop it on your porch. High probability of a Sunday ride, depends on a few things at this point.

I am overly excited about my Orbea Occam. It's the best bike I have ever ridden. Older 2019 model, the newer stuff is even nicer. If mine broke today I'd buy a new one without even demoing the bike. Zero hesitation. I am not a DH rider, more XC. Mine eats the greenbelt up for fun every weekend.

Yeah, I have two things going: 1. A master spreadsheet with all of the expenses from each of the remodeling jobs (that I can capture). This would show the continual pace of improvements. 2. A folder on my server full of scans of documents related to remodeling jobs. We're in the middle of a big one right now and this morning I scanned a payout schedule for this portion that matches the check I just gave to the contractor, as well as a $40 reciept from Home Depot for a deadbolt. The little receipts are the ones that slip away, it is important to capture them. I have ~$1000 worth of updates to the house in this job that would have gotten forgotten because they are just random credit card purchases. A $35 TV mount from Amazon would not normally be a "capital improvement" but when it is part of a screen porch remodeling it would be considered part of that project. Brian, I have a question for you. Would "upgrading my home to a smart home" by adding smart thermostats, smart garage door, wired networking, etc. be considered a capital improvement? All of that would stay when we leave. It would be used in the marketing of the home as well so we could show the listing with the "smart home upgrades" listed. Someone said this is just normal maintenance but I was hoping that it could be captured as a capital improvement.

If anyone wants a half full bottle of race formula Stan's, hit me up, I'm tossing it and getting the real stuff.

Does this make my Stan's look fat? I went to fill one of the bikes today and this was in my injector. The bottle of Stans is ~18 months old, it is the "race sealant." I checked online and found out, surprise!, that the race sealant is not compatible with the injector. Never found that out until today, must have been the way I was tipping the bottle, only got the light stuff at the top. Back to standard sealant or maybe orange seal as someone keeps telling me that is the way to go.