Getting old sucks, might as well have a nice bike
Staying motivated to keep fit during the dark, cold winter months is really hard. Even for me, as someone who rides the trainer when the weather says “go outside, you idiot”. The key to keeping motivated, at least for me, is by setting goals; and not the long-term kind. That’s not to say that goals like “I want to lose weight”, “I want to raise my FTP”, “I want to stay fit”…
Last week I was early to a ride, so I decided to do some laps around the the parking lot, figuring it would make a neat Strava segment that I could KOM for a day. When my friend arrived, he saw what I was doing and decided to do the same, which naturally destroyed my chances for the KOM. Even staring defeat in the face, I still went ahead and created the…
I suspect that like many cyclists, I’ve never really spent much time thinking about how, or what, insurance would cover an incident should something serious happen to me on the bike. But a friend of mine, who happens to be a bike attorney here in Chicago, dropped some useful information in our cycling group chat the other day. All of which, was news to me. While I haven’t spent energy on the…
Squeaky pedals are super annoying; both to you, and to everyone you’re riding with. While squeaky pedals isn’t a problem isolated to SPD pedals, they do seem to suffer from it a bit more than other setups, probably because of the more durable metal-on-metal interface.…
Accepting that I’m not an expert in aerodynamics, it’s quite possible that I’m wrong here (please be gentle, aerodynamic experts). That said, based on my lay understanding of wheel aerodynamics, I cannot see how (except in very limited circumstances) one would benefit aerodynamically from an “aero” gravel wheel. That’s not to say that there aren’t other benefits to a deeper wheel, CX racers will know that it’s quite common for so much…
In general, the main driver for choosing a wheel-on vs. direct-drive smart trainer is cost. Unless you can’t stretch (or your partner won’t allow you to stretch) for a direct-drive it’s almost always going to be the better option. Quieter, more accurate, won’t eat tires, don’t need to pump the tire up to 110psi every time you use it; are just a few reasons why they’re better. Direct-drive trainers are all more…
Single-sided power meters are far and away the most popular kind of power meter. There are a few reasons for that, but the biggest are that it’s cheaper and easier to do it that way. Buy a new crank arm with a power pod, and swap it for the left arm on your bike. Done. For an experienced mechanic, this should only take about five minutes. While that is cheap[er] and easy,…
If you have a Garmin Edge 530/830/1030/1030 Plus, a Varia, and are comfortable running BETA firmware, Garmin just released a firmware update that, along with some other improvements, adds an “All Clear” tone for the radar. While that might not seem like a massive improvement, if it works that’s a fantastic enhancement to the experience (which is already pretty awesome). Changes made from version 6.20 to 6.22: CIQ 3.2: Added CIQ 3.2…
The pace of improvements for the fēnix 6 is very impressive. Although, it’s also kind of disheartening that there are still so many issues to fix… I’ve been running the 11.x->12.10 betas without issue, well generally anyway, there are definitely some issues – just nothing that I would consider a showstopper or blocker of basic functionality. Unfortunately, Garmin hasn’t provided a download for 12.20 so we’re reliant on rollout schedules. Although, sometimes…
No one knows the sports gadget like DC Rainmaker. No one. That he does this every year isn’t news, it’s totally understandable that someone with the level of expertise that he possesses would be in high demand for industry events. What’s awesome, is that after recording this for the players, he shares it with the rest of us. At 44+ minutes, it might test the attention span, so grab whatever helps you…