@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A8: I saw a lot of rain, partially sleet this week and a tiny bit of black ice this week. Hence I was often cycling with my fully reflective #Rainlegs on. Here I parked my #Brompton #GLine in the back of a conference room and put the Rainlegs over its saddle for drying.
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@ascentale cycle path thru the woods @bikenite
@ascentale @bikenite #bikenite A8: First ever pinch flat on a TPU tube!
The front wheel flipped a pointy rock up and the back wheel went right over it, and a hundred meters later the bike was on the rear rim. The repair patches made quick work of it but this tube is pretty old so I swapped it out for the spare.
@ascentale @bikenite this one came with an important lesson actually: if you're going to try to do roadside repairs, be sure to bring your reading glasses so you can actually see what you're doing.
@bikenite @ascentale I took a few modest rides during our false spring. We’re back to winter weather, so the bicycles are all eating hay and bedding in straw I’ve laid in the bicycle manger, so the bikes stay warm.
Photo from one of my rides before the cold returned. #BikeNite a8
#BikeTooter #AlitoEatsBabies
@ascentale @bikenite Winter returned here this week so we visited the #MinnesotaZoo. Seems many of them enjoyed the return of cold weather. Wolves were very social through the glass forntunatly.
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@Brownian_motion @ascentale @bikenite I wish I could sleep comfortably with one of my legs over my head.
@ascentale @bikenite A8. Commuting has been horrible, with Weds evening the horriblest with strong headwind, pouring rain and flooded roads. Poor old bike needs some tlc. I am having a weekend of not pedalling.
In other news our Oxford hotel had themed décor, many old photos of people and bicycles, plus these terrifying pictures hanging in the stairwells.
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I'm currently cycle camping in Kent (UK) and am sat outside The Sandwich Shop in Sandwich, having a sandwich!! Recursive, or what? 😂🤣😂
@ascentale @bikenite A8 - Ive had a great few days in Belfast with my brother. Bit of cycling / sight seeing. Enjoyed cycling over to ‘Hill Island’ whilst the sea was out, stopping at coffee shops and generally seeing some of the areas around (and in) Belfast by bike.
Also extremely impressed with Stenna Line for the Birkenhead - Belfast route - I’ve booked Stenna Plus and it’s the way forward! 😂
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@ascentale @bikenite A8. There are fewer cyclists in Tirana than Pogradec because the city decisions made here have been heavily favoring drivers (and the lack of enforcement of what laws there are means they're not limited to the road, which wasn't really built for heavy car traffic).
However, we do have cyclists and they use their bikes for work and errands. #BikeNite
@meganL @ascentale @bikenite
nice ladder transporting style
@ascentale @bikenite A8. Rain. I had a five day drought from bike riding until Thursday, when I headed to the grocery store, it was chilly on the way, but I had enough gear on. Downwind on the way home! #BikeNight
@ascentale #BikeNite A8 I saw a lot of people burning a lot of fossil fuels for very little reason 😒 traffic Engineering not withstanding.
@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A8 What we saw this week? A gorgeous sunset on our ride last Saturday. https://sfba.social/@bikemonterey/116072401107262229
A8. The vernal ponds are filling up with water after a week of rain. Today was a nice day for a bike ride at Ft Ord National Monument. It was finally warmer today.
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@ascentale @bikenite A8 #BikeNite got some ma-po tofu at the local chinese place, because my mouth was tender from a root canal earlier that day. They had some handy bike parking.
@dr2chase @ascentale @bikenite We had some mabodofu (Japanese pronunciation) last night. Not what I would recommend for oral surgery recovery!
@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A8. No bike photos, it was torrential rainfall all week, couldn't get out on the bike at all. And it was SO COLD the last two days, and I was too busy at work, so no riding to even run an errand. Ah well.
Couldn't get to my bikes, there was a vicious gang of turkeys blocking the way.
I let the turkeys get me down, despite the exhortations of Sandra Boynton.
8-({
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@ascentale @bikenite A8. #BikeNite Last Sunday I helped out clearing brush along our youth mountain bike league race course at Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County. The course is not in bad shape and we had around 20 volunteers doing lots of work. After several years of using battery hedgers in a few areas we have managed to create hedges. The hedgers are quick and easy, but the trail feels closed in and has reduced sight-lines. The photo is after the hedgers had gone through. It is fun to ride, like being in a maze with lots of twists and turns, but in a race it makes it very hard to pass anyone. After doing lots of trail maintenance elsewhere I learned that you have to spend more time and take the branches out at their base near the trunk. I did that in a few spots to improve the visibility at a couple of corners, but there was only so much I could do.
@ascentale @bikenite A8) my GFs bike chain snapped unexpectedly not far from home. Took the chance and replaced all sprockets, idler pulleys, brake pads front and rear... basically swapped all the wear parts to make it go and stop. As the road salt part of the winter is over it makes sense to do this now.
The sprocket assembly is a chinesium no name one left over from Covid where there were supply chain issues with Shimano parts. Let's see how good this one will work over time.
After years without any nearby house fires there were two within a week 😡 Wiring ages/has a limited lifetime! And of course don't block intersections with parked cars - fire engines are not exactly small and might get stuck.
No pics.
@ascentale @bikenite
#BikeNite A8:
Early in the week we were in "Fool's Spring" and so I was able to take some longer road bicycle rides, so I was able to see the nearby countryside and small towns. On Sunday I was in the small town of Eyota Minnesota which has a large grain elevator.
(We are now in Second Winter.)
@ascentale @bikenite A8. As I was about to step out the door onto our porch earlier this week, this snow came crashing off the roof with a long, loud, roaring sound! Spring is coming…
@ascentale @bikenite A8. Seen while cycling: a tulip magnolia on the edge of blooming. This tree is at the end of my alley and I look forward to it every rear. It doesn’t bloom for very long, but it’s so pretty. #BikeNite
@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A8: I saw a lot of rain, partially sleet this week and a tiny bit of black ice this week. Hence I was often cycling with my fully reflective #Rainlegs on. Here I parked my #Brompton #GLine in the back of a conference room and put the Rainlegs over its saddle for drying.
@ascentale @bikenite A8: I became obsessed with Alysa Liu who’s a local Olympian. She’s so joyful in her skating that I played hookie from work yesterday to watch the free skate finals live & it was incredible. She makes me proud to be American and I recommend watching her skate! https://youtu.be/VCrFaRsezGo?si=NuAUHtfESID6kpnU #BikeNite
Alysa Liu's FABULOUS gold medal-winning free skate | Winter Olympics 2026 | NBC Sports
YouTube
A8. A lot of snow. Most all at once since we moved here.
@ascentale @bikenite A8: This was TAX WEEK for me, but I did turn out - by bike, of course - for the first day of 2 Line trains on 1 Line _tracks_, which is an incredibly important train and bike infrastructure upgrade here because all our trains are _also_ bike carriers and now there are twice as many trains running over the majority of the system. (Every car of every train has two bike areas.)
Next month they finally start crossing the lake and there are rides planned too.
But also! Berm Peak dropped a really good video on "easy" bike repairs that are actually "difficult" except they actually _aren't_ difficult once you know what you need to know, and I definitely recommend it:
@moira @ascentale @bikenite The pedal explanation annoyed me. IMO simpler to say that if turning a pedal pulls the chain tight you're tightening the pedal.
But I'm aware of a range of opinions about the one true way to know so I merely offer that as a suggestion.
@moz @moira @ascentale @bikenite With you on this. I'm right-left dyslexic, and "turn it right" doesn't mean a thing to me for an object that's circular. But I learned the right-hand rule in physics and that works for threads: curl your fingers and extend your thumb. Turning the screw in the direction of your fingers moves the screw in the direction of your thumb.
Right hand for right-handed threads, left hand for the rest.
Pure comedy gold to see me in the Workshop in the Sky with my son and we're both using this rule and we're both using the wrong hand ...
@moira @ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A8 follow-up: That Berm Peak video is also on my "to watch" list.
@ascentale @bikenite A8 continuance: The funniest part of this video was watching him demonstrate the exact mistake I made the... second? time I replaced a chain. I figured it out with the bike still on the stand, but it was still a "...goddammit" moment. And you'll see it in the video. :D
I've done that twice with chains and not figured it out until I was on the road.
Same route both times, actually, so it's the route that's cursed.
@ascentale @bikenite A8: I’ve taken to calling it frozen water because ICE now has a completely different connotation….
anyhoo—you can see what the river’s been up to
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@grammasaurus @ascentale @bikenite Where on the Hudson is this?
@grammasaurus @ascentale @bikenite Ah cool, so like Kingston ish.
The Hudson in winter is amazing.