ezra jennings on conservatives and guns

 Jennings said, "It's true that, in some families, guns are part of family bonding and coming-of-age rituals. Learning to manage and respect guns is one of the things that bonds some families together. 

"It's also true that guns are fun. I've been on a rifle team; I'd never deny that.

"But it's also true that people often own guns because they feel they have to protect themselves from something. And people who don't own guns, generally don't feel that way. 

Conservative gun owners must live in a terrifying world, if they feel they need to own guns... sometimes so many guns!"

Later, he said, "I think that part of the Republican message is, 'We are your only protection from the scary stuff!' ".

not solely out of vanity

 Years ago, after ruining a Truvativ crankset by turning a bolt the wrong way (and who knew I was strong enough to do that?), I put a FSA crankset on the Yellow Maserati with which I've never really been happy. It ha been powdercoated black. I was newer to bike mechanics at the time, and dropped chain a lot. And every time I did, that powdercoat on that right crank arm got marred up.

And then the excellent Ricky G (whom I am privileged to call a friend) had a series of problems with his cranks, and decided that the bottom bracket should be considered a wear item, and replaced periodically (and reasonably frequently). Ricky has more good sense than vanity, although he's also probably got too much humility to admit it, so I knew this wasn't just about getting some bling on his bikes (and who would look for it on a bottom bracket, anyway?).

Well, the proprietary bottom bracket for that FSA crankset is about $50-60, where a standard square-taper BB can be had for about $12 (and up, of course, but if I'm gonna replace it regularly...). 

And I had a cranky week last week.

And I'm never gonna have a stable of gorgeous bikes. 

So I decided to pop for a crankset that had caught my eye: the New Albion XDD. It's available in 46x34 chainrings (which is what this old biker uses: the "standard" road-compact is 50x34, but I find I benefit from the easier gears, and I'm never gonna use those faster gears anyway: the only way I can get up to those speeds is with a gravity assist. Ahem).

It's got the look of a famous Sugino crankset (which I like, and it's consistent with the copy-of-a-classic crankset I have on the Krakow Monster, which is a knockoff of a fluted Campagnolo style). 

 

Here's removing the old, exterior-cup bottom bracket:

 

Installing the square-taper bottom bracket:

Drive side:

Pedals on. That's the despised FSA on the floor in the background.

It's a different width from the FSA, and required some jiggering with the front derailleur (and yes, I dropped the chain a few times, but scratch aluminum and there's aluminum beneath, as Robert Penn says in All About the Bike [although he probably prefers "aluminium" - dratted Brits]). But it shifts now, and I like the look of the blue-silver aluminum. Aluminium. Whatever.

labor day ride

The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I decided to ride with Team Social Security today, as the mostly-retired folks who get together several times a week to do rides call themselves. There were several rides going out of Etra Park today: a C ride that TEW went on, and a C+ ride (divided into at least three groups) led by Al P, and I saw Dave H and Ron S there, too.

I went out with the "fast" group led by Dave M... and we were pretty fast for a C+ ride.

This was in lieu of an all-paces ride... but I know I'd see people I haven't seen for a while, so I got a boatload of pictures anyway. The best are below.

after some hills and a bee sting, i get left alone

That's not really how it happened, of course, but it does make a good title.

Not knowing that Tom H would plan a ride with 3700' of climb for yesterday, I planned a ride for today going out through Princeton to Hopewell with ALL the hills, including Pretty Brook Road and the long climb up Carter to Mount Rose. I had eight registrants, but two of 'em either thought better of it, or had better offers, because six were at the start: Andrew A, Eric H, Laura OLPH,Bob N, Juan R, and John Van S.

I led 'em down Canal Road, and on one of my real-estate tours through the neighborhoods of Princeton, before turning onto Elm and then onto Pretty Brook. On one of the hills there, Eric heard a "clunk" and thought he'd dropped a chain (he hadn't), but as he was getting himself settled, he got a bee sting in the back of his right calf. Eric apparently has a number of food allergies, so his concern over the bee sting was not ill-founded... but he had some benadryl in his system (does he take it as preventative for the food allergies), and we found out Laura was carrying some after an experience on one of her rides. (It appears we didn't need it; Eric emailed me after the ride that he wasn't dead.)

The inexperienced folks on the ride seemed to have more trouble with the hills on Pretty Brook than they did climbing Carter, which surprised me. We got to the Boro Bean in good order, and it was far less crowded than the previous week. I called for a sit-down-and-have-a-coffee break.

While we were there, George D rolled in with someone I didn't recognize. Laura got to talking to them, and waved us on. Andrew left us as we rolled back on 518.

And then, as we were rolling through Montgomery and Hillsborough, Eric and Bob got ahead of Juan and me, but apparently they thought they were behind us. Juan and I went to make a turn, and I called out to Eric and Bob, but they didn't hear (I'm surprised; my tones are stentorian). So Juan and I continued back. Before we got to the school where we started, Juan turned on Canal Road to head for home... so I did the last part of the ride alone.

(Later, I got a call from Bob explaining about the "thought they were behind us" business, and the subsequent email chain elicited the evidence that Eric has not yet stepped onto Charon's ferry.)

See? There were hills, and a bee sting, and I did get left alone.

Ride page. We were pretty fast today, for one of my rides.

tomless tom ride

Well, come on. If you had a picture like that, wouldn't you lead with it?

Tom H scheduled an invitational ride for today to start at Cocoluxe in Peapack.In the old days, we would stop at Cocoluxe at a break, and then we'd want to bring stuff back, and there was no good way to do it on the bikes... and then Tom had the good idea to START there, so we could either buy stuff before we started (as I did, and left it in a cooler in the car) or after we got back (as some of my fellows did). I don't know much about staying married, but I do know a gift of chocolate has never gone badly with The Excellent Wife (TEW).

Tom's rides commonly include mishaps like closed roads and bridges, poor (or nonexistent) paving, and the like... but the first of today's mishaps was bigger than most. As we were preparing to leave, Tom's bike would not downshift to easier gears in the rear. My diagnosis was that the problem was in the right shifter. We could have set Tom's bike so that he was in an intermediate gear and he could have shifted among the rings on his front triple... but this was a hilly ride, and that would not have been much of a solution. Tom had sent out the route, and several of us had it on our bike GPS, so he deputized me to lead the group (HAH!) and off we went.

Yeah. Take a look at the route and the elevation profile. 3700 feet of climb in 45 miles; not bad for a bunch of old guys.

(Pete's daughter Sarah came along with us to keep us honest. She took the picture at top. Here she is at the break at the QuikCheck.)

After the break, we found a couple of roads that had been milled. We were on 'em long enough to cuss Tom (that pic at the top was at the end of the second milled section).

But when we turned onto Ravine Lake Road, we had a moment: there was a "No Outlet" sign. And when we went to turn onto Pyne Lane:

...there was this imposing gate in the way. Sarah proposed using her feminine wiles to get through, but that would not have worked for the rest of us trolls.

As we were considering whether to climb back out, a neighbor came down the road in his Porsche, and let us know that he didn't know why the gate was up, because it seemed to be just a road in the past. We decided to go through.

There was a gate at the other end that was open, and nobody challenged our progress, and we proceeded. But I think we're gonna havta find another route through if we're going to ride this route again.

Tom frequently takes us on closed roads, but rarely across what looks like private property. (If memory serves, this is not the first time, though...)

I'm sorry he missed it.