Post Race!

[dday9]

That indeed was a sentence.

[Shaggy Hiker]

And that's all it was.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Just got back from a potluck luncheon. Somebody had made some pineapple slices dusted in something like habanero. Sweet....with a punch. It was pretty good.

[dday9]

I wish I enjoyed tropical foods, but I cannot stand pineapples, mangos, coconuts, etc.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Went for a nice bike ride, today....after fixing the mandatory flat. I've been out on this bike only three or four times, this year, and generally only for a couple miles, yet I've now had two flats.

Goatheads are brutal out here. The tires on the bike aren't great, as they are probably the cheapest tires available, with the expectation that anybody serious about biking will choose tires more suitable for the type of biking they want to do. I'm currently struggling with that. There are so many options, and the type of biking I expect to be doing is so weird for this type of bike. It's a mountain bike, yet I'll be mostly on pavement, with puncture issues more than traction issues.

[wes4dbt]

Goatheads were the tire killers where I lived when I was a kid. Back then I got pretty good at using a patch kit.

I've been dealing with tire and tubes throughout my adult life and I've completely given up on cheap tires or cheap tubes. I don't regret it either.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Price isn't the issue, it's all the choices that are difficult. If there are a dozen options, there are three dozen opinions about each one.

[wes4dbt]

Price isn't the issue, it's all the choices that are difficult. If there are a dozen options, there are three dozen opinions about each one.

I was fairly confident you could afford quality bike tires.

Not only are there a multitude of choices, there are also a multitude of opinions on which is the best.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Yeah, it's driving me mad. I've chosen, then rejected, multiple options. If I want really tough, I'll get bad rolling resistance. I'm inclined to go for better rolling resistance, even if it might mean a few more flats, though. Where I'll be going won't be the worst for goat heads.

[Zvoni]

I really need to convince my bandmates to buy that thing.....

How cool is that??


Imagine the riot, if the guitar-player confuses that with his Amp-stack for the next gig....

[wes4dbt]

Yeah, it's driving me mad. I've chosen, then rejected, multiple options.

I'm curious. Does that mean you've bought tires and then sent them back after trying them? If so, I didn't know that was even an option. Or does that just mean you keep changing your mind on which tire your going to use?

Roll resistance vs puncture resistance. To bad there isn't one tire that gives you both. Plus has the smoothest ride, best traction, durability and the lightest. The cycling enthusiast Holy Grail.

[DrBobby]

You can always convert the tires to tubeless and you will get pretty good puncture resistance from the sealant. Its a little messy when changing a tire from the rim but that's more than worth it.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I'm curious. Does that mean you've bought tires and then sent them back after trying them? If so, I didn't know that was even an option. Or does that just mean you keep changing your mind on which tire your going to use?

Roll resistance vs puncture resistance. To bad there isn't one tire that gives you both. Plus has the smoothest ride, best traction, durability and the lightest. The cycling enthusiast Holy Grail.

It's the latter. I have yet to buy any, partly due to being away for some time, so I wouldn't be able to do anything with them (even receive them) if I did buy.

[Shaggy Hiker]

You can always convert the tires to tubeless and you will get pretty good puncture resistance from the sealant. Its a little messy when changing a tire from the rim but that's more than worth it.

This is the common reply. I have been hesitant to do that because the trip I will be undertaking will be about 4K miles over five months. My cousin had a tubeless tire...have issues, on a different long trip. It wasn't relevant, though, because he had tread separation (I didn't even know that was a thing on bike tires), which would be a fatal flaw whether tubed or tubeless. My issue with tubeless is that I always hear that you have to carry a tube because you'll never be able to re-seat a tubeless tire with a hand pump, which seems reasonable (I haven't heard of anybody trying the gasoline trick, but you don't have gasoline out there anyways).

For a trip of five months, if the actions I have to take when I DO get a flat is the same whether tubed or tubeless, except that the tubeless would be more messy, I don't see any real advantage of tubeless over slime tubes. Tubes seem more field fixable, at the cost of somewhat greater weight (I don't care, I'll be carrying a computer) and perhaps more susceptibility to punctures. Slime tubes take care of most of that, and it's the same approach that tubeless seems to be using. For that reason, it doesn't seem like the right way to go, but I'm always listening to suggestions.

[Shaggy Hiker]

One issue with bike tires is that few people do what I'm proposing to do, and even fewer on a mountain bike. Long duration touring is a different animal.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I'm currently writing this while sitting on the third floor balcony in the Yellowstone Lodge. It's a bit chilly, outside. There was a small amount of snow on the tent this morning, though not enough to cause any trouble (that tent won't hold up to much snow load). The weather will improve each day for the next few days, so this is a good day to sit around.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I got way too close to a few bison today, but they were pretty chill about it. One was nearly in my tent. That would have been interesting.

[dday9]

What did the buffalo say when his son left the heard? Bye son.

[Zvoni]

What did the buffalo say when his son left the heard? Bye son.

*groan*

That was really, really bad.

That said: I like it

[dday9]

It works because the American Bison has been mislabeled as a buffalo for literally over a hundred years.

[Shaggy Hiker]

We've been buffaloed all this time.

[Shaggy Hiker]

You can always tell the difference between bison and buffalo because bison don't have wings.

[dday9]

What if they drink Red Bull?

[wes4dbt]

Bison wings, YUM

[Shaggy Hiker]

I hadn't thought of that.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I've never tried Red Bull, either. Of course, that might be because caffeine has no noticeable impact on me.

[dday9]

Have you ever tried a double-shot of straight expresso? Its probably the closest (legal thing) compared to blow.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I mixed one into a Frappuccino and went to sleep, just to show how little impact it had on me.

[dday9]

That is absolutely bonkers. I get wired on espresso.

[Shaggy Hiker]

My sister is so hyper sensitive to caffeine that she almost (though not quite) counts as being allergic to it. She doesn't quite count as her reaction is not an allergic reaction, just an extreme reaction. Therefore, I figure the two of us average out to normal.

[TysonLPrice]

Have you ever tried a double-shot of straight expresso? Its probably the closest (legal thing) compared to blow.

I ate a couple of coffee beans once...that was a "boost". I didn't enjoy it.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Chocolate covered coffee beans are great, but you have to eat them in moderation. I went through about a pound of them during a lecture on statistics one time. I don't remember much about the lecture, but I do remember learning that you don't truly digest coffee beans.

[dday9]

Happy Memorial Day. We had grilliads and Jack Miller burgers. It was the first time I used my charcoal grill in probably 10 years. What about yall?

[wes4dbt]

So far just an egg sandwich.

Had never heard of Grillades or Jack Miller burgers. Had to look them up. Sounds good.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I fixed the brakes on my bike and had a fun time with my sprinklers.

[Shaggy Hiker]

One of the sprinkler valves was leaking a little bit, so I disassembled it to have a better look at where the leak was coming from. I then reassembled it, and the leak went from minor to a gusher. I reached into the water to figure out where the water was coming out, and managed to come up with a GIANT earth worm that was being roiled about in the raging water (I have ridiculously high irrigation water pressure).

[Shaggy Hiker]

I then just replaced the diaphragm. That's the solution to all issues with sprinkler valves: Replace the diaphragm.

If it isn't turning on, replace the diaphragm. If it isn't turning off, replace the diaphragm. If it is leaking a little, replace the diaphragm. If it is leaking a LOT, then...replace the diaphragm.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Also, my ears itch. The first time I apply sunscreen in a year, some part of my body itches. It's like I'm slightly allergic to something in sunscreen, but after the first time each year, my body is like, "oh yeah, that stuff....nevermind."

[Shaggy Hiker]

Once the water had soaked into the ground from the big leak, there was no sign of the earthworm. What happened to it? Apparently, it didn't die, so did it manage to burrow into the earth along with the water? That was one BIG worm, and I never knew them to be exactly quick about burrowing, but this one seems to have been.

[dday9]

I then reassembled it, and the leak went from minor to a gusher.

This pretty much sums up my experience with trying to fix anything.