La Flamme Rouge off topic discussion

magicbastarder · 13-04-2020 9:50am

the one thing i was good at in PE was rope climbing.

one thing i have not heard of in years which affected a few people i know and took them out of PE for months (my brother being one, and the sportiest guy in my class too) was - if i have this right - osgood slatter syndrome. it was a buildup of cartilage below the knee at the front of the shin, caused by excessive impact from running and other activities on hard surfaces, IIRC.

cletus · 13-04-2020 10:05am

magicbastarder wrote: »

the one thing i was good at in PE was rope climbing.

one thing i have not heard of in years which affected a few people i know and took them out of PE for months (my brother being one, and the sportiest guy in my class too) was - if i have this right - osgood slatter syndrome. it was a buildup of cartilage below the knee at the front of the shin, caused by excessive impact from running and other activities on hard surfaces, IIRC.

Osgood-Schlatter is still a thing. It's an overuse injury from running and jumping, all right, but it's not a build up of excess cartilage. Rather it's a swelling, and sometimes fragmenting of the area where the patellar tendon attaches to the tibia. It affects teenagers because of the growth plates of the bone being in that area, if I remember correctly. Maybe stressing the growth plate too much

LollipopJimmy · 14-04-2020 5:00pm

I've just unfollowed a heap of the cycling 'campaign' type pages on twitter. Full of angry angry people. I appreciate the work done but jaysis it would put years on ya. Topped off with one of the prominent campaigners this weekend giving the Garda twitter page hassle about going after real criminals, thos when they'd posted about taking a milkman off the road who had been caught driving under the influence of weed.

Cyclists need a voice when it comes to infrastructure, but these argumentative types who only have their own vision arent the voices I want speaking for me

P_1 · 14-04-2020 5:11pm

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I've just unfollowed a heap of the cycling 'campaign' type pages on twitter. Full of angry angry people. I appreciate the work done but jaysis it would put years on ya. Topped off with one of the prominent campaigners this weekend giving the Garda twitter page hassle about going after real criminals, thos when they'd posted about taking a milkman off the road who had been caught driving under the influence of weed.

Cyclists need a voice when it comes to infrastructure, but these argumentative types who only have their own vision arent the voices I want speaking for me

They're all too used to urban cycling, sometimes getting outside the M50 on the bike is good for the headspace, but yeah, some of the negative antagonistic, inspiring folk to do something commentary on Twitter can be a bit much. Really it's an awful website that inspires binary arguments

14-04-2020 5:19pm

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I've just unfollowed a heap of the cycling 'campaign' type pages on twitter. Full of angry angry people. I appreciate the work done but jaysis it would put years on ya. Topped off with one of the prominent campaigners this weekend giving the Garda twitter page hassle about going after real criminals, thos when they'd posted about taking a milkman off the road who had been caught driving under the influence of weed.

Cyclists need a voice when it comes to infrastructure, but these argumentative types who only have their own vision arent the voices I want speaking for me

Had they any take on the Garda time wasted having to escort this clown off the M4?

https://twitter.com/GardaTraffic/status/1249316852939005953

magicbastarder · 14-04-2020 5:27pm

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I've just unfollowed a heap of the cycling 'campaign' type pages on twitter.

actual campaigners or just the vocal types on twitter who mistake passion on twitter for actually achieving something?

eeeee · 14-04-2020 5:30pm

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I've just unfollowed a heap of the cycling 'campaign' type pages on twitter. Full of angry angry people. I appreciate the work done but jaysis it would put years on ya. Topped off with one of the prominent campaigners this weekend giving the Garda twitter page hassle about going after real criminals, thos when they'd posted about taking a milkman off the road who had been caught driving under the influence of weed.

Cyclists need a voice when it comes to infrastructure, but these argumentative types who only have their own vision arent the voices I want speaking for me

I don't identify with or follow any of the cycling advocacy stuff. I'm sure a lot of it is good, and balanced and inclusive but a lot of what I see is nitpicky and argumentative instead of advocating productively for change. There also seems to be an anti club cyclist/ lycra cyclist mentality with a lot of it which completely alienates me.

That said good cycling advocacy is really important and should be supported, I just don't see one that wants to represent all cyclists. In fairness though I haven't looked very hard, and I don't really follow it. I thought the staying alive at 1.5 campaign was excellent though, I do support them.

LollipopJimmy · 14-04-2020 5:34pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

actual campaigners or just the vocal types on twitter who mistake passion on twitter for actually achieving something?

Well the one who cribbed about Gardai arresting a drugged up milkman was the one that I believe runs the Dublin Cycling Campaign. Tweet since deleted but a mate sent a screenshot.

But in the main I've unfollowed what seem to be actual campaigners. No disrespect to anybody here or anywhere that might be involved, it's just off putting

CramCycle · 14-04-2020 5:41pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Had they any take on the Garda time wasted having to escort this clown off the M4?

https://twitter.com/GardaTraffic/status/1249316852939005953

Should have fined him, there is no excuse there IMO but that is at the Gardas descretion.

As for the campaigners, some are good, middle of the road (not literally), who take a balanced view, there are others though who only have one view and anyone who does not agree is to be lambasted. Unfortunately social media and the media in general rarely favour having the most appropriate at the forefront, and even the decent ones seem to get surrounded by an echo chamber of the extremist which slowly moves them to the extreme themselves.

tomasrojo · 14-04-2020 5:56pm

I do find it hard to reconcile the "it's a jungle out there!" version of Dublin on cycling Twitter with my own experience.

But, then again, the Velo-City people said much the same thing as cycling Twitter, so I'm willing to believe at least some of it is just me.

Large bottle small glass · 14-04-2020 6:53pm

tomasrojo wrote: »

I do find it hard to reconcile the "it's a jungle out there!" version of Dublin on cycling Twitter with my own experience.

But, then again, the Velo-City people said much the same thing as cycling Twitter, so I'm willing to believe at least some of it is just me.

You remind me of a time years ago when I played a lot of field sports including hurling, without a helmet.

I never gave it a 2nd thought, but my many visiting American cousins over the years genuinely thought we were deranged. My brother
who never had any interest in sports referred to it in conversation along the line of "how was the faction fighting this year".

20 years later I know I was deranged ðŸ˜€

magicbastarder · 14-04-2020 6:57pm

tomasrojo wrote: »

I do find it hard to reconcile the "it's a jungle out there!" version of Dublin on cycling Twitter with my own experience.

But, then again, the Velo-City people said much the same thing as cycling Twitter, so I'm willing to believe at least some of it is just me.

i avoid the city centre on the bike; the notion of cycling on d'olier street or westmoreland street or the like at rush hour just strikes me as madness. i've gone down cardiff lane a few times at rush hour and over the new bridge, and it's not fun.
and i'd be a confident, assertive cyclist, i like to think.

these people are catering for the likes of my wife, who would like to cycle but sees all sorts of nonsense from her viewpoint of the top deck of the bus and decides 'nah, i'm safer here'.

tomasrojo · 14-04-2020 8:40pm

I think it's maybe because I don't go through the city centre, as such. I do, when there's no lockdown, work around that general area, and I have a route that's reasonably quiet. I spend a good while iteratively refining my route until I don't find it stressful (*).

Not sure that would be possible if I had to go round by Trinity, for example.

I'm not disagreeing with the people campaigning for infrastructure.

(*) For example, the Grand Canal cycle route tempted me to try the Rathmines Bridge-Bleeding Horse-South Great Georges Street route into town for a few weeks. The day I decided that that route was pointlessly antagonistic was a happy turning point.

tomasrojo · 14-04-2020 8:49pm

Not sure people who know me would describe me as deranged!

Harrybelafonte · 15-04-2020 6:20am

I think this is generally a rule of life. If you hold a belief that is regarded as "out of the norm", especially if it's based on moral or ethical principles, you find yourself part of a group that is ultimately and usually fractious based on differing strength of convictions and theories on the progression of those convictions in the wider world. All based on their own individual experiences. It's fundamentally why so many factions exist in socialistic and left wing groups.

The issue then in the "real world" is that normal society groups you according to its own limited understanding and experience of the most extreme of those who hold similar beliefs. Then uses that unrealistic concept of your views as a means to attack you. Prime example would be vegans lately.

I think this is why I find it so unfortunate that members of what society at large considers to be minority groups, like cyclists, can't take their experience of discrimination (no matter how severe or not) or general poor treatment and learn to empathise with our societal outliers.

Second to that, our experiences as humans, and therefore cyclists, differ. I generally have no issue on the bike, commuting or training. I'd have the odd poor pass. But if someone says they're constantly getting poor passes, I used to think that it was their fault ultimately, as I figured we were cycling in the same environment, how many other variables could there be. Then I had a bit of an eye opener while driving my wife's car. She always mentioned how terrifying she found the M50. I never have an issue with it. I knew she was a fine driver but sometimes nervous so figured, meh, nerves. She drives a Micra, I drive a large SAAB estate. The first day I had to borrow her car, I hit the M50. It still stands as one of my scariest driving experiences. I found a few more variables.

There's a lot to be said for that day in my shoes cliché.

magicbastarder · 15-04-2020 7:26am

I think I've mentioned on here before - I've told not cyclists that if they're not willing to get in a bike to learn what it's like, just stick an L plate up in your car for a few days, especially driving around non-urban roads.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 7:59am

tomasrojo wrote: »

But, then again, the Velo-City people said much the same thing as cycling Twitter, so I'm willing to believe at least some of it is just me.

As I said, I don't think they're imagining it or being unreasonable, and the Velo-City attendees backed them up. I just find myself the odd time being asked about the experience and how dangerous it must be (implication, at least, that I'm reckless often accompanies this), and I can only say if I'm being honest that I don't *personally* find it dangerous or stressful.

I guess the "some of it is me" part might be taken as saying "most of it is them" and "them" might be taken as people who are inexperienced, so sorry about that. But by "them" I meant people on cycling Twitter, and they mostly aren't inexperienced cyclists either (the ones I'm following or the ones Twitter puts into my timeline anyway).

magicbastarder · 15-04-2020 9:07am

tomasrojo wrote: »

and I can only say if I'm being honest that I don't *personally* find it dangerous or stressful.

are you the frog in hot water though?
i know i am - i recently went for a cycle with my wife, her first time on the bike in over a year and we went up the side of the airport (we had a specific destination to get to).
i was acutely aware that for me, an artic blasting past me at near 80km/h is normal, but for her, it can be quite alarming till you get used to it.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:11am

magicbastarder wrote: »

are you the frog in hot water though?
i know i am - i recently went for a cycle with my wife, her first time on the bike in over a year and we went up the side of the airport (we had a specific destination to get to).
i was acutely aware that for me, an artic blasting past me at near 80km/h is normal, but for her, it can be quite alarming till you get used to it.

Oh yeah, that's completely possible.

And there is obviously a very large difference between cycling on a network of calmed streets or car-free infrastructure and trying to make your way down a four-lane street with slip lanes.

Chips Lovell · 15-04-2020 9:25am

The fact that one person can regard commuting to work by bike as utterly mundane and another person consider it as "taking your life in your hands" demonstrates very well that people's perception of risk and danger isn't very reliable.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:28am

Yes, but which is right! There's only one way to find out ...

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:30am

(This is pretty much how discourse works on Twitter, actually.)

Chips Lovell · 15-04-2020 9:35am

tomasrojo wrote: »

Yes, but which is right! There's only one way to find out ...

Neither really. I think the only thing you can base arguments on are statistics, i.e. odds of death or serious injury.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:37am

I do mention how cycling compares with walking to people sometimes, but they mostly never believe that it doesn't have a drastically different risk profile.

Chips Lovell · 15-04-2020 9:41am

How people feel about certain things is very powerful. Often, when shown contradicting evidence, the tendency is to double down on their opinion rather than change it.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:44am

Yeah, for someone who's posted a lot here, I do mostly try to avoid talking about cycling in real life these days.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:47am

And to be fair, how people feel about things is pretty important, given that, as you say, and in my experience, you can't poindexter them into believing otherwise.

Which I suppose is part of what the Velo-City attendees were getting at. But they also thought the city centre was nuts.

buffalo · 15-04-2020 9:52am

Chips Lovell wrote: »

How people feel about certain things is very powerful. Often, when shown contradicting evidence, the tendency is to double down on their opinion rather than change it.

https://twitter.com/cafernblue/status/1204492897002958849

Chips Lovell · 15-04-2020 9:55am

Likewise, I've given up on proselyting with family, friends, and colleagues. You get nowhere. However, what I find does work is example. In my experience, the more cyclists someone knows, the greater their chances of trying it themselves.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 9:56am

That paradox above is excellent. I am now going to burn out like the android in I, Mudd.

magicbastarder · 15-04-2020 10:18am

Chips Lovell wrote: »

Neither really. I think the only thing you can base arguments on are statistics, i.e. odds of death or serious injury.

cycling doesn't need to be specifically *dangerous* per se, in terms of this discussion; it just needs to be uncomfortable or unpleasant (if we're talking in terms of discussing it with people not willing to cycle).
i think a lot of people would conflate those various terms too.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 11:02am

If anyone was wondering whether RTÉ would ever decide what AA Roadwatch is, they finally have committed themselves. It's an independent radio producer. But that means they shouldn't be announcing the name AA Roadwatch at the start of their broadcasts.

https://blog.hereshow.ie/2020/04/heres-how-102-aa-roadwatch-and-the-bai/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heres-how-102-aa-roadwatch-and-the-bai

(Haven't listened to this yet, but the other podcasts he did about AA Roadwatch were interesting.)

magicbastarder · 15-04-2020 12:03pm

I listened to one of the previous ones and it was painful. It was the one where he doorstepped some producer, and for someone who lectures in media, showed scant regard for impartiality.

magicbastarder · 15-04-2020 12:04pm

Though it is quite funny listening to it on the radio in the morning these days.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 12:28pm

His one with Brigid Laffan was a bit off as well. Not that his questions were unreasonable, but they were a bit one-sided.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 12:47pm

It took three years for RTÉ to answer the question "What is AA Roadwatch?"

That's quite a while.

tomasrojo · 15-04-2020 5:43pm

tomasrojo wrote: »

This is probably a long-established thing I just never noticed, but you can get rear derailleurs that under minimum tension are on the big sprocket, instead of the little one:
https://bikesnobnyc.com/2020/04/09/1149/

An update on the Rapid Rise derailleur here:
https://bikesnobnyc.com/2020/04/15/low-is-the-new-normal/

Sounds pretty good actually.

15-04-2020 11:07pm

One of my favourite bands from when I was a few years younger have been doing quarantine videos of their classic songs and to stay the kids flipped out hearing this would be an understatement even made me wish I still had a skateboard, there was mucho bopping to this earlier

First heard this playing the Tony Hawks games on playstation way back when

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0rSYEoBMYM

magicbastarder · 16-04-2020 8:57am

i think it'd be great if a cyclist tried to recreate this on a bike.

https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1250193633522917387

Wishbone Ash · 16-04-2020 6:46pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

Though it is quite funny listening to it on the radio in the morning these days.

Reminds me on the weather forecasts during 6 months of 1995. It got to the stage where the presenters were embarassed and apologetic.

daragh_ · 17-04-2020 8:25am

Boards Evil 2020 Virtual Ride?

There. I've said it.

wanderer 22 · 17-04-2020 1:27pm

daragh_ wrote: »

Boards Evil 2020 Virtual Ride?

There. I've said it.

Stop that.

daragh_ · 17-04-2020 1:53pm

colm18 wrote: »

Stop that.

We could do this 3 times

https://veloviewer.com/segment/20390815

CantGetNoSleep · 17-04-2020 7:08pm

I realised today that the wheels on a bike I had bought second hand were tubular (luckily I realised before I got a puncture out on a ride). Having just about to get the hang of how tubeless works, I'm not at all interested in trying to figure out tubular, and had planned on using that bike for a few very long spins so they are not really suitable.

They are Roval Rapide SL 35 - any idea what they would be worth to sell on second hand (with nice Vredestein tan walled tubulars and possibly a new cassette)?

I'm not sure of age/use, I bought the bike second hand from a shop but almost unused, the wheels could be older though as they didn't come stock on the bike. They are spinning true, braking surface looks ok too, no visible marks on them. They seem to have been on sale around 400GBP

(I'm abroad so this isn't a for sale post - although I did consider bringing that bike home pre-covid!)

tomasrojo · 17-04-2020 7:36pm

Nassau St. getting a contraflow cycle lane. Temporarily? Doesn't say so, so maybe not.
https://irishcycle.com/2020/04/17/covid-19-emergency-works-to-start-monday-to-make-social-distancing-space-on-dublins-streets/

eeeee · 17-04-2020 9:34pm

tomasrojo wrote: »

Nassau St. getting a contraflow cycle lane. Temporarily? Doesn't say so, so maybe not.
https://irishcycle.com/2020/04/17/covid-19-emergency-works-to-start-monday-to-make-social-distancing-space-on-dublins-streets/

Yes!!!!! Finally. Hopefully they make it permanent. I've wanted this for years!

Harrybelafonte · 18-04-2020 9:23am

eeeee wrote: »

Yes!!!!! Finally. Hopefully they make it permanent. I've wanted this for years!

Agree. I'm crossing my fingers that a lot of changes that cyclists sought (but environmentalists in general more importantly) will be implemented as a result of these lockdowns and that they may effect a significant change in the public's mindset in this regard.

tomasrojo · 18-04-2020 9:40am

At least it's suddenly obvious how big all those streets around the centre of town are. The number of people over the years who have said something like "we have narrow medieval streets, and there's no room for < anything but motorised traffic and parking>". Most of the streets are not narrow (apart from the footpaths), and, it's now obvious, many of them are actually huge.

ednwireland · 19-04-2020 6:08pm

tomasrojo wrote: »

At least it's suddenly obvious how big all those streets around the centre of town are. The number of people over the years who have said something like "we have narrow medieval streets, and there's no room for < anything but motorised traffic and parking>". Most of the streets are not narrow (apart from the footpaths), and, it's now obvious, many of them are actually huge.

a friend of mine collects old postcards and photos of sligo, its amazing how big streets are with no cars parked on them

19-04-2020 10:06pm

Found this during a clear out earlier, has 1994 on the back so it's still good right???

Seriously, any reason it's for the bin or is it ok to use after 26 years?

La Flamme Rouge **off topic discussion**

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La Flamme Rouge off topic discussion