Strangest "doodads" story you have heared

[Mooze]

To get faster you often ride with those faster than you. But on an old clunker you've got no chance of keeping up, let alone hanging on by the skin of your teeth as us often the case when you progress into a faster group.

Also safety aspect - if you're sitting front or mid pack and have an emergency due to kit not being up to scratch (dropped chain, jammed deraiileur) you will not be popular to say the least ,especially if someone ends up injured.

 

[Mooze]

Also improper fit can lead to a variety of injuries ( back, sciatic nerve, itb, groin, ankle, knee etc) especially once you get quite strong. An example would be mistracking in the knee due to muscle imbalance caused by incorrect seat height. Hard to correct ax you've got to retrain the muscle without aggravating the problem

 

[pinkboy]

I've never understood the logic of this last bit. If you are trying to get fit, surely an inefficient clunker is going to do a better job than a sleek, aerodynamic, lift-with-your-finger fancy bike.

Ever tried to call your wife at 5.20am because of a breakdown of an inefficient clunker when you are 50k from home on a Sunday morning?

There is a difference between 'clunker' and 'adequate reliable'. 'Sleek, aerodynamic, lift-with-your-finger fancy bike' comes with age/affordability/ability/fit as explained. You will definately benefit more with a better than average bike! Further distance and endurance, better fit/body position and GOYA factor (Get Off Your A$$).

pinkboy

 

[wylie]

I suppose when my hubby goes for a ride with the neighbour and he uses the bike found during the last footpath cleanup, and wears his painting shorts with no undies... he wouldn't fit in with the latte set?

 

[Dazz]

....great image wylie....

 

[Ausprop]

ooh - if this is one of those "how stingy can a property investor be" threads then I've got a beauty... I recently realised that a pair of socks I have (just regular cotton business socks) are over 20 years old! I find that extraordinary.... can anyone beat a 20 year old pair of socks?

 

[BayView]

To get faster you often ride with those faster than you. But on an old clunker you've got no chance of keeping up, let alone hanging on by the skin of your teeth as us often the case when you progress into a faster group.

Also safety aspect - if you're sitting front or mid pack and have an emergency due to kit not being up to scratch (dropped chain, jammed deraiileur) you will not be popular to say the least ,especially if someone ends up injured.

But that's my point; why the obsession with being faster, when for most it is only ever an activity, and a chance to get out in the fresh air and burn off kg's?

Now; if you are in training for races then yeah; go for it...gear up a bit.

Ever tried to call your wife at 5.20am because of a breakdown of an inefficient clunker when you are 50k from home on a Sunday morning?

So how come every weekend down our way (Mornington Peninsula is a haven now for bike riders) I see at least one of the Lance wannabee's on the side of the road with a breakdown? I can promise they ain't on no clunker and wearing painting shorts.

ooh - if this is one of those "how stingy can a property investor be" threads then I've got a beauty...

We're not talking about the stinginess factor; we're talking about the "expense to participation" ratio.

Golf has them too; the golfer who plays less than once a week, is out there for a bit of fun, can't play for shizen and never will be able to, but has spent $5k on gear! He only needed to spend about $400 to get the same result, and coulda put the other $4.5k towards his bike.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

My brother in law owns two of those old Solex two stroke pedal bikes (with the engine above the front wheel). We took them for a ride one Saturday morning, and after and hour or so stopped for a coffee. The lycra brigade was already there and one of them actually got quite offended by our bikes. He stated loudly "that's not riding, fellas", to which I replied "I bet I can beat you over any 70km course you choose". He ignored me after that.

What a tosser!

 

[pieman]

At the end of the day, I love getting up at the crack of dawn, riding 100odd k with a group of mates and rolling turns all the way getting faster and faster and dropping the hacks that haven't ridden through winter. Nothing beats the feeling of a BLT and couple of coffees a chat about the ride and then I'm home nice and early without "wasting" the day.
I've met some great people through my bike riding too

 

[BayView]

At the end of the day, I love getting up at the crack of dawn, riding 100odd k with a group of mates and rolling turns all the way getting faster and faster and dropping the hacks that haven't ridden through winter.

I ride through winter on my hack clunker; just not 100k's - up the Arthur's seat road and down around to WhiteHill rd and back home to Drugmana.

A good part of an hour with excellent views, and peace.

What a tosser!

The prosecution rests, your Honor!

 

[Jake D]

At the end of the day, I love getting up at the crack of dawn

It's generally understood that the crack of dawn is at the beginning of the day.

 

[Fifth]

ooh - if this is one of those "how stingy can a property investor be" threads then I've got a beauty... I recently realised that a pair of socks I have (just regular cotton business socks) are over 20 years old! I find that extraordinary.... can anyone beat a 20 year old pair of socks?

That, sir, is unbeatable. I take my hat off to you.

My husband's socks often last only weeks before a hole appears. Apparently I'm a terrible buyer/chooser of socks.

 

[wylie]

That, sir, is unbeatable. I take my hat off to you.

My husband's socks often last only weeks before a hole appears. Apparently I'm a terrible buyer/chooser of socks.

That reminds me of a visit by my mother-in-law many years ago. She was helping bring in the washing and noticed a hole in hubby's socks. She sniffed "Don't you mend his socks?".

I replied that when they cost $1.99 a pair I'm not going to be mending them, but will buy a new pair.

I did, however, mend the next pair I found with a hole, because I thought "I'll give it a try".

Hubby whined about feeling the stitches at the end of his big toe and forbade me from ever mending another sock . I made sure I told his mother that... yet another black mark against my name.

 

[kathryn d]

ooh - if this is one of those "how stingy can a property investor be" threads then I've got a beauty... I recently realised that a pair of socks I have (just regular cotton business socks) are over 20 years old! I find that extraordinary.... can anyone beat a 20 year old pair of socks?

Nope...you win there

But I do have towels that used to be my grandmother's that i still use. She died in 1980.

When the towels get a hole in them, I cut them into wash cloths...when they fall apart, they become cleaning rags...usually after that, there is nothing left. Where does all this material go???

I also wonder that with tires. You'd think the roads would be very tall, with all that rubbed off tire material .



I used to mend my socks, because my steel toe shoes would make holes within days. I now buy packages of the same sock, so i always have mates.

 

[BayView]

I also wonder that with tires. You'd think the roads would be very tall, with all that rubbed off tire material.

It just gets rubbed off and blows away/gets pushed off by cars as they pass over it.

Many end up as the surface of kid's playgrounds these days - shredded and then mixed together into a granule matting..

Some are used as new supports for coral polyps to attach to on reefs - loads of them joined together and placed on the seabed...after a while they are covered in life.

We have to pay upwards of $1 per tyre to get rid of them from our workshop.

 

[wylie]

I used to mend my socks, because my steel toe shoes would make holes within days. I now buy packages of the same sock, so i always have mates.

I'm with you on that Kathryn. With four men in the family (three at home now) I just buy blacks socks that fit them all. I used to spend hours pairing socks after doing the washing. Life is just too short for that!

Plain black socks all the way...

 

[BayView]

I'm with you on that Kathryn. With four men in the family (three at home now) I just buy blacks socks that fit them all. I used to spend hours pairing socks after doing the washing. Life is just too short for that!

Plain black socks all the way...

Same here; just black.

Conversely, my 11 year old son simply won't wear matching socks anymore - it's all the rage these days. Black with white/blue...whatever. Pretty cool!

So, we just put them in his draw (or he does) not paired up. Easy.

 

[weg]

My house is like a Bermuda Triangle for socks.

I keep a plastic bucket for odd socks for when the partner turns up, but often they never do.

20 years... I'm impressed not only for having lasted, but also for having stayed together.

 

[Dazz]

My house is like a Bermuda Triangle for socks.

I keep a plastic bucket for odd socks for when the partner turns up, but often they never do.

...ahhh,the ol' one sock syndrome.

Every ex-pat household is told about that one.

It starts off with one sock missing. No big deal. After a while, you wonder where the other odd one went to, but eventually that disappears as well. No biggie.

It slowly graduates to other matching pais of things, and usually culminates in one of the wife's earrings going missing. The other remaining earring eventually goes the same way as the original sock.

It always ends in the maid getting fired.

 

[weg]

Plain black socks all the way...

I would love to get away with that, but we're still on the 2 different colours for school, have 3 very different sizes, wear sports socks (these tend to be different and I like the short ones), husband likes Explorers whereas the kids don't; that's on top of the plain black socks.

I nearly forgot; there are the sport socks for the different teams and sports the kids play for as well.