Headed out here this weekend. I'll try to get a test ride.

mugwump said:

I'm sure Thule and Yakima have details descriptions of the width of their mounts.  If you're going with a fork mount, my guess is that 4" is not quite enough, as the fork mount will be as wide as the ends of the quick releases on your bikes.  4" is 100mm, which is the width of a road bike axle, and if you go from the outside of your quick releases, it's closer to 6".

You could custom cut the longer cross bars to size.  Start with 60" and end up with 55" or whatever you measure best.

Most cars are wider at the door handles than they are at the roof.  In terms of legal limits, I'd guess that you'd want the bars no wider than the ends of the side-view mirrors.  But at that width, hitting your head getting in and out can be a concern.

Thanks as always JP for your detailed answers. As I biked in Central Park yesterday I briefly talked to an italian gentlemen named Marco. He says hi.

Remy Forgues said:

Thanks as always JP for your detailed answers. As I biked in Central Park yesterday I briefly talked to an italian gentlemen named Marco. He says hi.

A pleasure.

Marco!

He's the parent of kids my son went to school with.  We've been talking about going out to the track.  Gotta ride with him.  He's also got a super-cool job (as a chemist I believe) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He was able to use one of their x-ray machines to check the interior work on some ancient (65 year old) bike components, like a chrome stem, to see the quality of the joinery.  I started thinking of what else we could x-ray.  

Yowza

“I’m not taking the bloody ladder”

I played an impromptu pickup basketball game for the first time in at least 15 years at the park during a kids bday party yesterday. It was a good reminder that leg muscles as a cyclist doesn't translate all that well to other sports - especially with lateral moves and running backwards. After a 20 minute game, the 2 block walk from the courts back to the picnic area had me wobbling like a newborn fawn.

Won't even talk about not remembering WTF to do with my arms and hands!

I was looking at results on RoadResults from that Randall’s island Crit to see if any Kissenas raced when I saw this little 💉  icon next to this guy’s name. The link brings you here: https://www.usada.org/sanction/us-cycling-athlete-marte-accepts-sanction-for-anti-doping-rule-violation/

Crazy, but I love it. 

RobertMullen said:

I was looking at results on RoadResults from that Randall’s island Crit to see if any Kissenas raced when I saw this little 💉  icon next to this guy’s name. The link brings you here: https://www.usada.org/sanction/us-cycling-athlete-marte-accepts-sanction-for-anti-doping-rule-violation/

Crazy, but I love it. 

Yup.  Doper.  We should see if they do it for Juan Pineda, who was busted almost 20 years ago now.  At least Juan was a real pro at the time.

I think if you dig around the DL, you'll see stories about Cesar.  Just about everyone I know was convinced he was doping before he got caught (a year before, I was in a break with him for 38 miles where he pipped me for 6th after he barely took a pull and then sprinted through the jogger's lane; five weeks later he won Cat2 Somerville in a field sprint).  And when the USADA people walked up to him post-race at one of the big Central Park events, it was noticed to widespread chuckles.  Even his teammates were happy; turns out he wasn't a good teammate, either.  

This one is for the football soccer fans

So just this morning while chilling with @eloy doing KOM official duties at the Castelli race, I complained that there was nothing to photograph in eastern Queens (I immediately regretted saying that out loud). Eloy rightfully noted I wasn't trying if I couldn't find anything.

As I'm sitting down with a post race bagel and coffee for my weekend ritual of reading the New Yorker cover to cover, the first page of Goings On About Town is a full page photo of Fort Tilden, which is famously in Queens.

The universe works in mysterious ways... to help fit your foot in your mouth.

Touché, universe, touché.

Jules said:

This one is for the football soccer fans

https://twitter.com/GeirJordet/status/1412298939408306177

Funny because the 3 players that missed for England in the final were all, under 23 and were substituted on late in the game specifically for penalties and all were strikers ( high skill set)
how long did he study this😂

And the best penalty was by a defender who played the full 120 minutes

@David Yang this one has your name all over it

https://nestflix.fun/

The Rural Juror! The Itchy & Scratchy Movie!

ANGELS WITH FILTHY SOULS!!!

In slightly unrelated news, I've been off the bike for a while but it was for a good cause. As the kids say

#sothishappened



which was swiftly followed by



and so on...

Now where did I leave my Sidis...?

Jules, that's so awesome. How many hours did it take to get your license? Also, first solo flight experience please.  

Or video! 

I started last summer and we got interrupted by COVID. First solo was way back in June of last year (see photo) I started in a Piper Sport (flight schools like them because they use a little less gas, and the rotax engines don't need to be rebuilt if you get a prop strike) but moved to an Archer later on. I've got a few hours in a Cirrus as well.

It's hard to put a "how many hours" because the minimums are the same for everyone and the actual testing is often at the mercy of weather, smoke from Canadian wildfires and the availability of examiners and instructors. It really boils down to how thoroughly you prepared. 

You'll be *shocked* to hear that I trained hard, logging almost 300 landings before my exam. Short field landing standards are 200 feet from your target for Private Pilot, 100 for Commercial and I am getting bullseyes pretty consistently these days.

I did about 60 hours of instruction which is typical and I have about 25 hours of PIC or "Pilot in Command" at this point.

The rubber really meets the road going forward as Instrument, High Performance and Complex Engine ratings are in my future; as is spin training in a goddamn biplane flown out of a grass field.

I did my Night Currency flights last night and I will say doing that solo was pretty intense, but awesome. Out in the wilderness here there is nothing out there if you're pointed away from the city. Pure, pitch black. Thank god for instruments!

A couple of the instructors here are grey haired former Marine Fighter pilots (Vietnam vets) which is absolutely awesome. "Pretend it's an F16" is pretty cool way to land.

There is a military base here at DLH so I get to share the airspace with F16s, C130s, A10s and beaucoup helicoptors of every size & shape. I'll put some photos below.

More unrelated Plane stuff. Pure serendipity - a friend of ours moved out west and needed some help ferrying his Biplane (a 1947 Stearman P17) out there.

Took about 4 days, we flew from dawn till about lunchtime each day, stopping every hour or 90 minutes for gas.

https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-VSLFMW/

That’s straight-up awesome! I have fond/hateful memories of trying to Tetris our lives into NYC spaces. Can you post a couple more better lit shots of the mtn bike solution? I don’t quite grok what’s going on there.

^nifty! Thank you.

The little angled read wheel stopper is a very nice touch 🤌🤌. This looks infinitely more pro than my current set up 

My wife has been struggling with sleep lately , she downloaded an app on her phone and plays it quietly in bed , as I lie there I can here a murmur in the back ground and I was convinced that it was the voice of Matt Stephens of GCN /Eurosport fame , has he branched out ?
it would certainly explain why I drift off during many long stage of the tour😂

it’s obvious not really Matt Stephens

Mark Taylor said:

My wife has been struggling with sleep lately ,

Training Peaks recently posted an article on controlling your breathing to get to sleep more easily.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/breathing-techniques-for-relaxation-and-sleep

Do we have a better sleep thread?  If not, maybe we should start one.

You had that idea in 2017. I bumped the thread

Did you know that you can write a ticket for idling vehicles? And get paid $87 dollars for it?

https://sustainableamerica.org/blog/how-to-get-paid-to-report-idling-in-new-york-city/