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And people who ride often in those environments lose perspective on what it's like for people not acclimated to those dangerous environments. "It's no big deal" etc, expecting everyone else to just hop right in and have no problem. My least favorite person in advocacy meetings with the cities of Boston and Cambridge weren't the old-school hard line anti-bike people, it was the "advocate" subset known as "vehicular cyclists," a crusty old bunch of white men in their 60s who had learned how to swim with the sharks, riding fast and aggressively, and who expected everyone else to do it - moms, kids, whatever, so they staunchly opposed any safe infrastructure. Politicians loved them, because they were "cyclists" who gave them an excuse not to try to do anything remotely difficult. The rest of us did our best to minimize the damage they constantly did.

My wife calls it "the heart rate test." If your heart rate keeps shooting up out of fear on a route, then the route sucks.
 
Early Monday morning ride. No more chain tensioner. Half-links are a wonderful thing.

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Good friends from Boston visited. There was camping, biking, swimming... all the things.

Timer shot, just made it to front and center position in time:

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Mountain biking picnic...

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Last night I just swapped out my first crankset and bottom bracket! I unfortunately forgot to take off my pedals beforehand, and it was a real PITA to get the leverage to remove them when not mounted on the bike! Eventually I did, but I did bloody up my fingers trying to do it! :eek:

Regarding the new crankset, I went from a square taper to a Shimano hollowtech GRX crankset and Tiagra BB completing my groupset with all Shimano components. Chain line is more efficient and smoother and I cut almost 200g of weight on the bottom bracket. I also switched to shorter crank arms, which I read will help on hill climbing and less toe strike. Tolerances are much tighter as well, which required re-positioning and b-screw adjusting my front/rear derailleur with only a few millimeters spacing between the drive side crank arm and also the rear derailleur hangar. Looking forward to breaking the new crankset in!
 
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I did 24 miles today doing my favorite hill climb up to the Griffith Park Observatory. I also was able to test out the new crankset and bottom bracket and I'm super happy with the performance. Pedaling is much more stiff, with better power transfer. I'm not sure if the slightly shorter crank (165mm new vs 170mm old) makes much a difference though? If this was a sports car, it's like getting a better race clutch! ;)

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Keep us posted on how you like the saddle! I hear Brooks saddles need to settle in first before becoming comfortable.
These ones are plastic. They never settle in. Tony, I probably have one or two light coloured ones in a box if ever want some more :LOL:

For what it is worth I have gone from being a welded on Brooks user to a Selle Anatomica user. Cannot see myself going back.

On-road riding. I like riding, on and off-road and the longer (bikepacking/touring) the better. Each to their own of course.
 
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