andyf profile

I want a carnage asada poster!

After sales service/support from a good shop is big for me.  If the shop guys love Magura brakes, then I'm going to run Magura brakes.  They know how to work on them and they're going to have small parts in stock.  Hopefully a really good supply of those $16 pad contact adjuster knobs.

That will get you the same height but it won't put your hands in the same fore-aft position. His solution puts the hands behind the steering axis.  I don't know if this is a good or bad thing, just noting the difference.

Lunch breaks where I have time to pedal over to Henry Cowell/UC are nice but realistically only 2x weekly.

Nice pics and writeup.  You guys were right across the street from me at Canepa!

Climbing Skyline Rd. in Ft. Ord feels like riding uphill in quicksand into a headwind because that's what it is.

It's that time of year on the California central coast where I strip down in the garage after rides, place all of my garments in a plastic bag, take it straight to the washing machine, then take a cold shower with Dawn dishwashing liquid in place of soap.  If I can't get home right away, I use alcohol wipes to clean up at the car.

Weather permitting, I'm wearing riding pants and long sleeves Smartwool tees.  Above 70 F, I take my chances with the demon plant in shorts and short sleeves

I remember discovering IRC Kujos after years of riding 2.1" WTB Velociraptors.  My intro to sub 30 psi tire pressures!  The added traction was so worth the almost 1 Kg weight gain.  

I gave 27.5+ a try on a singlespeed for a couple of years.  3.0F/2.8R Nobby Nics on i45 rims.  I found the plus setup to be extremely sensitive to tire pressure.  Only a few psi separated the pinch flat zone from the bouncy bouncy zone.

The same bike was much better with 29" wheels.  30 mm id rims with a 2.5 DHF/2.3 Aggressor combo.

I spend my days developing wireless connectivity chips but so far, don't feel the lure of adding such things to my bikes.  

There is an interesting startup in the semiconductor world with an ultra low power/energy harvesting BT 5.0 solution. They claim 10-100x typical battery life for BT 5.0 and in some applications, battery free operation via energy harvesting.  

I strongly suspect that a bike in the middle of nowhere isn't one of those battery free situations but if AXS or similar could get anywhere near 100x current battery life, I might change my mind.

Regarding BCAAs, I don’t know if they help either but I do know I feel much better riding with First Endurance EFS in my water compared to plain water plus snacks. The first time I tried it, my usual Nisene Marks loop ride time dropped by almost 30 minutes and I felt way better post ride. It’s a carbohydrate/electrolyte mix with BCAAs and glutamine. I never attributed anything to the BCAAs in particular but who knows?