covid antivaxxers now touting horse de-wormer

 

So now some COVID-19 antivaxxers have decided that Ivermectin, a medication used for de-worming horses, is a better deal for prevention of the illness than the standard vaccines; you can read discussion here.

Oh, come on. 

This drug has few tests on humans, and you still think it's going to be safer than the vaccines that have been tested on humans? Vaccines that are close to full approval?

Bosh, antivaxxers. Admit it. The only reason that you refuse to take the regular vaccines, is that you were told to take them by libtards.

finally

 After this...

...and this...

...and this...

...and even this...

...it is finally raining on a Sunday morning.

(I took The Excellent Wife [TEW] to the Blawenburg Bistro this morning for a hot date. We need to support that place.)

mechanical problems

 So despite the impending visit of Henri, the storm (that's now supposed to come tomorrow), Laura OLPH led nine of us Freewheelers on a ride into the Sourlands. Shed built into the route a place where we could loop back, but when we got to the appointed spot in Ringoes. the weather predictions still said we could make it back before the rains arrived, so we did the whole fifty-one miles with about 2700' of climb.

But the ride was not without incident. As he was loading up his bike, Tom noted the rear tire was flat (at home, the valve had come shooting out when he removed the pump head after inflating it), so he needed to replace the tube.

The rest of us gathered and waited to start.

At the intersection of Mt Airy-Harbourtown & Rocktown-Lambertville, we had to wait for Tom. He complained that his wheel had gone out of true, and it became clear why; he'd broken a spoke. Here's some meatball mechanic trying to get the wheel to spin enough so he could get to a shop to have it seen to:

Many thanks to the excellent Martin Griff for these pics. (He's ten times the photographer I'll ever be, but I still hate the way I look.)

We got Tom fixed up enough for him to get back to Wheelfine to get the wheel repaired (it now sports a single silver-colored spoke), and from there he went home.

We went on to Sergeantsville. (Heddy B and I had an altercation with some bees in the driveway alongside the store, but we could not find a hive that they might have been protecting.)

Peter R was rockin' the excellent socks, above. I'm going back to my pictures-of-socks collection.

That, above, is Bob N's new Cannondale, which he got after discovering that his tire had been grinding at the chainstay and the carbon-and-epoxy matrix was much the worse for wear. The new bike had an annoying click, and after some really wild theories ("Maybe it's the internal brake fluid line tapping against the inside of the frame." I'm really proud of that one; I think I showed real imagination), now he thinks it's the saddle mount.

Freewheelers have bad luck with saddle mounts. Near the end, Laura found that her saddle was loose, and it turned out that one of the bolts on her two-bolt saddle post mount had worked out and disappeared, as had the threaded barrel it goes into. She limped home with the rest of us... and she ALSO went to Wheelfine, where Michael ginned up a solution for her, with sparks and Loctite. 

I don't carry Loctite in my bag. Nor do I have an angle grinder.

But Heddy B gave me an idea for what to do after retirement (which is planned in 89 days, as I write this): maybe I'll do all the mechanical stuff on Freewheeler bikes that they can no longer count on their bike shops to do!

no bottom to my racism

 Early in the pandemic, I had an experience that brought home to me how deeply I harbor thoughtless misogyny. I'm no stranger to racism, either, as I was reminded after seeing this video:

There have been a number of responses, many disagreeing with Mr Neely and defending Heinrich Schenker. But for me, the fact that I accepted, without thought, that the default, correct "music theory" was that of German composers of the 18th century, was another sign that, no matter how hard I try to eliminate racism from my life, there are always more layers.

And are we really to say that Mozart's harmonies are more perfect than, say Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's, or Stevie Wonder's? 

The most important American musical innovations come from the blending of all sorts and sources of music here. Dvorak, for one, according to Wikipedia, "supported the concept that African-American and Native American music should be used as a foundation for the growth of American music. He felt that through the music of Native Americans and African-Americans, Americans would find their own national style of music." So why have, apparently, no American concert composers since Gershwin even made reference to that? Why is not American symphonic music full of blues and hip hop?

new favorite lube recommendation

 Now, for my own bikes, I favor paraffin for chain lube. But my process is complicated and takes place over three days, so it's not for everybody (or maybe, it's not for anybody but me, but I'm in favor of more complications when it comes to bike maintenance). But people know I have opinions about bike maintenance, and so I get asked what a normal person might want to use for chain lube.

I came across this video recently, and I'm persuaded.

See it on Youtube here.

Muc-Off dry lube was the overall winner, and I would definitely go with that, if I were not already doing the paraffin chain lube. Get it from my favorite supplier here. (I get no kickbacks or support from them, but I've developed a relationship with Universal Cycles, and they've provided me excellent service, unusual in an online retailer. But I don't use a local bike shop; they don't serve my needs.)

cranbury ride from claremont

 Let's start right off with a picture showing why I like to stop at the new Blawenburg Bistro:

Ok, now that that's out of the way...

The title is from an inside joke, but it's so "inside" that there's a real possibility that none of the people who would get it will actually read this post. The most popular start location for my riding club is Village Park in Cranbury, and many of the rides that lead from there are huge. My rides have fewer than ten, usually, but for today I had sixteen, and that was after two others had registered and then cancelled. I was grateful that I would be able to count on the excellent Dave H to sweep; I'm only sorry I didn't pay more attention to him.

Various places along the way:

As is common with rider groups this large, we broke into a fast group and a slower group, but folks wound up in different parts of the group on different parts of the ride. When the fast group was off the front, they were generally good about waiting, but at least once we got separated at a traffic-light change.

At the stop:

That little girl, above, there with her parents, was the focus of a certain amount of attention. She played us like music.

At least one rider mentioned that they were coming out specifically for the stop, which encourages me about the ride to the Italian Bakery in Raritan, which I like to do even though a portion of the road is milled, and the return ride includes busy roads through Somerset and Bound Brook.

I was also glad to see a couple of folks back, whom I haven't seen in a few weeks; it turns out they have busy lives (imagine!). And a rider who was a prospect a few weeks ago joined up. He complained about someone on that first ride who just WOULD NOT SHUT UP about pushing joining and membership. I wonder who that might have been?

Ride page. We came in a little faster than I would like. I need some more sensible people to come and slow me down.

an irony

 So in my stupid internet ramblings, I came across a number of Youtube posts like this one:

... and this one:

Now, I wanted to look up the songs behind the videos... but they're not credited, and a number of different searches have not turned up the artists or the original recordings.

Since these creators are using the songs without attribution, I'm sure they're not paying for the rights to them, either.

 

I find it ironic that the craftspeople will use the music to argue that they are worth their price, without seeing to it that the musicians are worth theirs.

(I am, however, delighted with the easy profanity in the second one.)

what is it with rain predictions and sundays?

 Each week for the past three, there's been predictions of rain for the Sundays when I wanted to lead a ride. Last week, the predictions were so dire that I cancelled, and then the rain didn't come.

For this week, both The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I had rides listed. After last week, I was planning to go unless tornadoes and lightning we actually occurring and, early in the week, it looked like the weather would cooperate. And then yesterday, there were suddenly predictions of rain right across ride time.

We looked at the weather sites and apps... and TEW was relieved when her sole registrant cancelled. And then the weather predictions improved!

Three of my registrants cancelled, two due to the rain at their locations early in the morning (and one wasn't sure of ability to keep up with the registered group). But the sky was clearing as we were leaving, and, while the roads were wet, the weather was not.

So the eight of us at the start headed down to Princeton, and picked up two others, Luis and Laura OLPH. We did one of my regular routes: through ETS, then up Bayberry and Moores Mill Mt Rose to Hopewell, where we stopped at the Boro Bean.

By the time we got back on the bikes, the sky was clouding up, and instead of the reliable tailwind going east of 518, we had a headwind. I was sure that was a sign that storms were coming... but it's bright and sunny as I write this. What do I know.

The ride page includes my rides to and from home.

One of the things I like about this ride, and that I intend to continue, is that riders who are at the top end of the C+ range, and want to try a B-paced ride, usually feel comfortable coming out. I give the faster riders places to sprint (some take the opportunities, some don't), and we wait for the slower folks. This crew is good about offering encouragement (rather than telling slower folks that they shouldn't ride with us). Riders tend to self-select: if they're really not up to the pace, they don't come back. But if they're close to making it, we try to keep 'em encouraged... because we've seen some of 'em get much stronger. (Riders who want to go faster than we do also generally don't come back, either... and that's fine by me.)

And TEW's ride? She got a last-minute registrant, and led the ride anyway!

gotta rethink these hilly rides

 

I think that guy in the red jersey needs to get his butt kicked; what do you think?

That was at the start of today's ride; Luis's chain had dropped below the chain keeper (how? There certainly wasn't enough room to get it out; how on earth did it fall in?), so with makeshift tools and imagination, we got him rolling again. 

You may not want me doing stuff on your gazilion-dollar carbon-fiber Liveratti, but I'm a pretty good meatball mechanic, to get you goin' again. And many thanks to the excellent Martin Griff for the pic (below, enjoying a Perrier at the stop):

At the start:

Tom's route had 45-ish miles with just about 3000' of climb, starting at the Yardley, PA, Park-and-Ride. It was tough, and, like many of Tom's rides, a bit disorganized... for example, we couldn't agree on a route through Newtown, and wound up doing a bit of a tour (it's pretty, though, and another one of those places I can't afford to retire). 

And when we got to Eagle Road, Jack and I argued that we'd gone up Jericho Mountain. Tom's point was that since we hadn't turned onto the little road with no exit that goes to the actual top, we hadn't done the mountain. Balderdash. We'd done enough to take credit for it.

We went through Tyler Park, which I remember from some snowy wide-tire-bike rides. I don't remember the demanding hill in the middle of it, either because we didn't do that at the time, or because I was too busy freezing then... but I sure remember it today.

Early on in the ride, I remarked that I had to rethink these hilly rides. Tom's rejoinder was that he thinks I've gotten better on hills... in fact, he thought that I'd stolen some of his hill-climbing ability, ad waht was I gonna do about getting it back to him? Hmm?

And I'm surprised, as I write this, that I'm in as good shape as I am. Perhaps Tom is right. (About the getting better on hills part. As far as the giving him back some of his hill-climbing prowess, he can whistle for it.)

On the way back, we crossed into Jersey at New Hope/Lambertville, and rolled around on some roads that were familiar, and many that were not. We crossed back into Pennsylvania at Washington Crossing, and the riverside trip back to the start was refreshing.

Ride page. Not quick. But a good day. I'm glad I went.

what rain?

 I posted a ride for today, and then cancelled when rain threatened, but the rain didn't come, so now I feel stupid.

Earlier in the week, the across-the-street neighbor had given me an armful of bike jersey stuff; it turned out to be two long-sleeve jerseys, a long-sleeve fleece-lined jersey, a set of bib shorts, and knee warmers, all by Castelli for Bristol Myers. It's European size M, and fits me the way I wish all my other bike stuff did:

More motivation not to gain weight.

I've heard about bib shorts that those who use them wont use anything else, but I'm not sure they're for me (although I like the fit a lot). In order to relieve oneself, one has to remove an awful lot of clothing. I'm reminded of a nurse with whom I used to work, who had a set of nurse scrubs that was a jumpsuit. She looked great in it, but complained she had to get almost completely undressed every time she had to pee. Yeah, the bibs are like that.

I got out for an early 30 miles today over part of the route I intended for the cancelled club ride. On the way in, I stopped at this excellent garage door that I notice about half of the time I ride by it; today I stopped for a picture:

I'm sure my fellow WASPs roll their eyes and opine about the end of civilization every time they see it, but I think it's just great.

I had seen emails saying that the Blackwells Mills causeway was closed, so I was sure that the Griggstown causeway would also be closed, but it was open.

The water was high, but not as high as I'd expected.

I'd never noticed the dissolved cement in this concrete stanchion on the bridge before today:

I went the long way around and saw that Blackwells Mills was also open. It's clear I don't know anything.

After yesterday's ride, on flat pedals on the heavy 'cross bike, it was good to push the lighter titanium bike around, and be clipped in at the pedals. Ride page.