AustinBike

Probably fishing and canoeing. Spent a lot of time in MN because I grew up in the midwest. Great fishing back in the day. Canada too.

Two pairs of Sony bookshelf speakers:

I am a firm believer in tubes. The number of times I have sat trailside with <name redacted> while he tries 2 or 3 bacon strips before giving up is high. Tubes are easy, one and done.

Yeah, it’s gearing closer to my friends at this point. Not looking good. But the wind is supposed to be lower this weekend so that will hopefully help.

Having spent a lot of time in Berlin, Dresden and other East German cities, I can say that the number of Porters that I have had is <checks notes>, um, zero. All of the Porters that I have had in Europe have been almost exclusively in England and Scotland. Germany has a ton of great beers but I would be looking for dunkels, lagers and pils in Germany. If I wanted something more substantial I'd go for their "heavy beers", basically anything ending in "tor" like a good Spaten Optimator.

Just an FYI, keep an eye on fires. I have a friend with property up there and they just sent me a video of the smoke plumes pretty close to their place. Be sure to have a backup plan.

My money is on Shimano. Brain dead simple to bleed, consistent across their whole line. Cheap enough on sale that I don't worry about rebuilding.

If it were Shimano I'd tell you to bring them by my house and I could bleed them, but I have no Avid experience, and from what I hear, don't want any. I have the Shimano kit and fluid, a full bleed takes about an hour for both wheels once you factor in the beer time in the middle.

Anyone have eyes on WC? My gut says this will tamp down the moon dust and the car is already packed. Let me know if riding is going to be an issue tonight.

Yeah, I just rode the streets. Better riding in Rockport than Port A. Went home and drank a bunch of red wine and that was better than the ride.

Totally high on dog pills, actually enjoying the dog trailer (as much as he can). Cue Jeff Spicoli: "All I need is some tasty waves and a cool buzz and I'm fine."

Singlespeeding on Port Aransas beach. Basically made it about 50' with my street tires. I brought a wet noodle to a knife fight.

Both bikes were clean when I picked them up, I did not "pay" to have them cleaned. I hosed both down well before I went in so they were not dirty in my mind, but I have a different vision of a dirty bike than most I assume. The prices were fair, so if they are cleaning it in addition, that was a bonus. I especially like that they replaced an Orbea bearing that was making noise, I was surprised that they had the size in stock, I'm guessing Orbea must be fairly standard because everything else comes from Spain.

Bought a new chainring because mine was pretty bad Tried like hell to remove the crank but it was not coming off. Dropped the bike off this morning and got it back at the end of the day. Yeah, it needed replacing Another good service job, I am very happy at this point.

Fridge gone

I will toss them in my car for the next R&I.

Beer fridge

Avid Elixr brakes

I have an Apple Watch now. Lost my iPhone once and luckily got it back. I hear the watches have a feature that can help alert you on departure from your phone, need to look into this more.

Looking really nice. With TravicCAD's latest valuations you'll do well when you decide to punch out.

So, which trail are you willing to have shut down in order to prove your point? We've lost sections of the greenbelt. We lost Forest Ridge. City Park is always under attack. Why should we ever take the stance that we can afford to lose *some* trail access in order to prove a point?

Yep, it's the start of snake season. I've seen some little ones so far, but the big ones are probably out as well, and hungry.

Clearly there are use cases for eBikes, and nobody has ever doubted that. I think the debate on eBikes is not about "are they good?" and more of a discussion about "if they are used in places that they are not allowed, will that potentially cause the rest of us to lose access?" If I was 100% sure that eBikes would never threaten trail access, I would not care a bit. But when the trails where they are not allowed start to overflow with eBikes, it threatens access for all of us. This is not an argument about technology vs. not. This is an argument about the individual vs the community. There are some that believe that they are individuals and they can do whatever they want. And that risks access for the community. EBike riders should ride their bikes as much as they want, on the trails where they are allowed. And they can work with the local authorities to get access to trails where they are not allowed today. But they should not be riding those trails until access is granted. Too often, today, they just believe that because they have spent $5K+ that they are entitled to ride wherever they want. And that sense of entitlement risks access for everyone.

They worked ok. Hold better than a wire nut, but also take up more room in the junction box. The secret, if you are brave enough, is to cut and strip some of the existing cable. I am always hesitant to do that but some electricians leave way too much in there.

That just looks like the chain is going to slip on the cassette under stress.