Mirror, mirror, on the bar; who’s the loony in that car?
I got back on the bike on Saturday for a short spin to blow the ol’ carbon out of the cylinders.
The roads were crusty and dusty, where they weren’t wet and/or icy, so I needed something with fenders (the Soma DC) plus winter tights and a truly ancient Pearl Izumi hi-viz jacket. Seriously, this Day-Glo duster must date to 1994 or thereabouts. It’s old enough to be living in our basement (if we had one) while we paid off its college loans. “B.A.” stands for “barista’s assistant?” Who knew?
There were lots of hi-viz jackets and tights traversing Tramway, so I guess everyone was as sick as I was of huddling indoors or shoveling snow. But boom, come Sunday, we were back in the icebox and I decided to go for a squishy run instead of a second ride.
This time we got rain, which was a nice change. Don’t gotta shovel no rain.
Speaking of shoveling, I see Wally O’Steele hopes to lie straight to our faces in prime time tomorrow, eliminating the middleman (the “fake news”).
I don’t believe that the networks’ news departments are obliged to broadcast fiction — that’s the purview of their entertainment divisions — so p’raps the usual filters will remain in place.
Or maybe Comedy Central could air this piece of performance art, with Garrett Morris on a split screen, riffing on an old “Weekend Update” bit from “Saturday Night Live.”
It’d be a two-fer — delivering news for the deaf from the dumb.
• Late update: The networks blew the call, from James Fallows.
Tags: Garrett Morris, Pearl Izumi, rain, Saturday Night Live, Snow, Soma Double Cross, Tramway
Mad Blog Media 
January 7, 2019 at 7:06 pm |
I donated my mirror (just like it) to El Grupo in Tucson, along with a bunch of other stuff in the “bike box” in the garage. That mirror and I never got along very well.
https://www.elgrupocycling.org
January 8, 2019 at 6:07 am |
I can’t say I’m a fan, either, Pat. I’m limited in mirror selection because I don’t like helmet models and I use bar-end shifters on a majority of my bikes.
What I need, clearly, is some sort of stem-mounted “smart” iDevice linked to a rear-facing 4K video camera with laser rangefinder that beeps, chirps or hoots to notify me of any approaching hazards, along with checking my email/texts/voicemail, streaming music and YouTube videos, and automatically downloading bike porn.
Naturally it will be powered by the battery in my e-bike. Either that or the solar panel on top of my helmet.
January 7, 2019 at 8:28 pm |
I’ve got a mirror on my old commuting helmet, along with lights.
The only place I want to see Il Douche’s speech is on the Bill Maher show.
January 8, 2019 at 6:10 am |
I just charged up all my lights. I’d been riding mostly trail between bike reviews, but now that I’m back on the road I need my Cygolite Dash and Hotrod. I rode without ’em on Saturday and felt like the Invisible Cyclist.
January 8, 2019 at 7:34 am |
Good morning. The problem I had with the Ortleib mirror is the wide angle distortion made it hard to see cars until they were very close, like 100 yards or less. It hit the bike box in the garage after two rides and was replaced with one of these mounted on the brake hood.
https://www.blackburndesign.com/mirrors/road-mirror-285ab9448d2751ee57ece7f762c39095.html
I have two Princeton Tek Swerve red blinky lights; one is on my Thule hydration pack, and the other is on the Double Cross. I have a old Niterider Mako mounted on the front fork of the DC.
Eight minutes of fake news? Nah.
January 8, 2019 at 11:03 am |
Main reason I had the helmet mirror was that I had two commuter bikes and was too cheap to put a mirror on each.
January 8, 2019 at 6:01 am |
As usual, sir, spot on about the upcoming dis-infotainment. Well said. And I shall lie with a pillow over my head, avoiding any dangerous leakage from the TV, phone, etc. Gawd hep us all…
January 8, 2019 at 6:15 am |
“Disinfotainment.” Heh. That’s a good one. I think you’re onto something there. Well done indeed.
January 8, 2019 at 10:23 am |
That is a good one. So is Wally O’Steele.
January 8, 2019 at 1:03 pm |
We just made a deal today to “lease” a couple of new 2019 SCOTT Aspect 950 MTB’s for the time we’re here in Napoli. We’ll go up and grab our saddles, pedals and some cycling garb from our Piedmont HQ this weekend and be back when the bikes (we hope) arrive at the local shop.
I popped over to what they call a “Chinese Store” here (which means pretty much everything inside is made in China and sold cheap) to pick up some locks (and blinky lights – just-in-case, since it does get dark here fairly early this time of year)
A set of “Knog-off” front and rear (red/white) silicone blinky lights cost $2 and the cable locks $3. The high-speed train ride from Napoli to Milan will cost us $15 each…and the world’s best pizza I had for lunch here today in Napoli cost $5. https://www.sorbillo.it/
We’ve managed to blend into the tourists now rather than standing out as ‘Muricans. They ask “Where are you from?” everywhere we go and we make ’em guess. So far not one has guessed right in their first 3-4 tries. I’m really flattered when they guess I’m from the far north of their country rather than from outside of Italy 🙂
January 8, 2019 at 1:55 pm |
Congrats Larry and the Prof. You guys have gone native for sure.
Chinese store? Now that is an honest name.
January 8, 2019 at 3:53 pm |
Ok, for anyone planning on coming down for the Santa Fe Century.
Effect of swearing on strength and power performance
Richard Stephens
David K. Spierer
Emmanuel Katehis
School of Psychology, Keele University, United Kingdom
Division of Athletic Training, Health and Exercise Science, Long Island University, Brooklyn, USA
https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S1469029216301352?token=8EEB4FFF0BF1C20E85F2B5B8108610D5DDBA327207278DA1038F2121C188F0B0A9CE5132F9ACAFC73C3CFFB8F67A7BF0
January 8, 2019 at 7:51 pm |
Damn, I knew that shit was true. If Patrick would keep quiet, I might be able to hang with him. For a mile or two anyway. Once he starts with his bullshit, I’ll lose that wheel for sure.