Ookla! Ariel! We ride!

Discussion in 'The Green Room' started by Uncle Albert, Jun 10, 2012.

  1. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    Got an achilles tendon that's kept me off the stairs for several weeks now. :sigh:

    Only even been going to kickboxing sporadically, so that's gonna be fun trying to build up stamina again. :brood:

    Still, can't be sitting around turning into a sack of atrophe all the damn time. A good friend had a bike sitting around that he wasn't using and won't take any money for because of how badly he abused it, and I live a block away from one of Omaha's fairly extensive system of bike trails, so it seems fate has intervened on behalf of my ailing tendon.

    Mostly just use it for the roughly 2 miles between home and the gym on the weekends. Cruise over there, hit a quick upper body lift, cruise back. I'll get a wild hair and take a longer ride once in awhile, but I'm limited by my dog's bathroom breaks if I don't make arrangements for him. Thought about getting a pet carrier bike basket and a tiny little helmet. Still might.

    So far I've put on a new chain, pump, hand grips, seat post bag and seat. Original seat was the standard mountain bike affair, but those things bruise my ass bones. So I searched Amazon for the sort of seat recommended for people who just gave birth or had prostate surgery. It's about 11 inches wide, with about an inch of gel padding on top, plus spring suspension underneath. The gap in the middle not only keeps pressure off of your taint, it has little vanes that duct air right up into your crevice! Sunlite Cloud Nine, if anyone is jealous of the cooshy-ness. :ramen:

    27 gear combinations, if I'm counting right. I really only use the middle group most of the time. Some kind of air shock thing up front. Probably look into a set of handlebars that raise the grips an inch or so, tubes with a normal fucking schrader valve that doesn't require an adapter, and tires that are more for street use and won't buzz so badly on concrete. You could say I'm slowly turning a mountain bike into a geriatric cruiser, and you might be right. Don't care. I'm gonna dial it in until it suits me.

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  2. shootER

    shootER Insubordinate...and churlish Administrator

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    Could you PM me a link to that seat? The one on my bike is what keeps me from using it as much as I'd like. Hurts my ass like crazy! :garamet:
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  3. oldfella1962

    oldfella1962 the only real finish line

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    Sweet bike - and you have actual bike trails too? Can't blame you for taking advantage of this opportunity. Stay safe!
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  4. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    A very specific variety of the Sunlite Cloud 9, it turns out.

    Large Wide Size. :ramen:

    :belly:

    Be warned, though. It takes a different size seat post than what came with the bike. I had to buy a skinny post and an aluminum shim to make everything play nice.

    :yes:

    So many I had to go pick up a free map from a bike shop.
  5. Marso

    Marso High speed, low drag.

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    I immediately got the reference, clicked on the link...and then discovered it was an iron room thread. :(
  6. Jenee

    Jenee Driver 8

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    When discussing bicycle seats with my cousin and the problems they cause, she referred to the area that gets irritated as "the underbutt".

    Why don't bicycle makes just make bikes with comfortable seats?
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  7. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    They do, if you want a single-speed Schwinn or something. :brood:

    People claim the narrower, firmer seats help with speed work or technical trails. I'm no hard core rider, but I've never encountered a scenario where I'd rather be bruising my ass. :shrug:
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  8. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    Hoping for news of a live-action remake or something? :marathon:
  9. Marso

    Marso High speed, low drag.

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    Good point, but I wasn't hoping for a pic of your new bike.
  10. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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  11. RickDeckard

    RickDeckard Socialist

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    I always wondered what the point was in having so many gears on a bike. What's wrong with just a few?
  12. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    I definitely don't need all of these, but I use all of the middle 9 gears, plus the highest gear of the upper 9. If I dealt with more steep hills, the bottom gear of the lower 9 would be useful. So that's 11 I could actually expect to use. But I definitely do shift gears rather than exerting myself unnecessarily.
  13. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    :bergman:
    :nana: :sokar:

    [yt=Thunderhorse]g45edLv8mm0[/yt]

    :bergman:
  14. Bickendan

    Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

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    Once you decide to start pushing yourself for speed, you'll find yourself using the smallest rear and largest front gears. And probably won't look back save to tackle the nastier hills ;)
  15. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    Ah, god. Get it out of my head! Make it stop! :bang: :bang:

    [yt=Brand New Key]GbQ43sFDQTM[/yt]
  16. Shakes

    Shakes With good reason

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    The seat on bikes Ive tried where epically terrible :( With my bike in storage :weep: I have had to use the one here :weep: It makes you feel like you have been road hard and put up wet for a couple of days after the fact :weep:
  17. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    Did you know that Google Maps will give you directions on bike trails? I didn't either, until ubermass told me. This little loop is what I'll be attempting tonight. Gotta show this heat who's boss, or it might think it's winning.

    :zombieonfire: :shakefist:


    [​IMG]
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  18. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    Counting all the backtracking up north to find the trail, plus several stops for water, that little jaunt took me about 3 hours of pedaling in the heat. I still don't feel right the next morning.

    :swoon:

    [​IMG]
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2012
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