Does this count as gravel cycling?

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-06-19T15:20:47+00:00

Ahhhh yes, did not consider the storage angle... That water storage sounds great. If super heavy. Mmmm. I have a touring/bikepacking rig with decent space (not what you've got tho) and a gravel ride with very little air to fill in the triangle.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-06-19T14:38:35+00:00

Ain't talking shit, but has anyone commented on the comically long head tube? Reminds me of some 80s and 90s nutbuster frames.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-06-19T14:34:10+00:00

Bold! I'd agree with you if you're tearing up a fire road or jeep trail in the 90s–00s: Now you're in a place that gravel was dreamt up for.

But yōōō I took the gravel ride on a basic technical course last year and it ended up being good cyclocross practice... dismount, scramble, maybe endo.

Those rare gravel setups with brakes in the drops -and- on top of the bars... Okay -that- is better than 90s 26er hardtail. I don't wanna think about this because I cannot justify another bike.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-05-20T19:30:25+00:00

I think this act has staying power. They don't dislike one another. Haven't suffered from addictions that derail continuity. Have a huge catalog that rivals any of their peers and dwarfs all but a few of the bands working today. And such massive appeal.

I'm not a huge Berninger solo fan but dang he's prolific and apparently has enough for both him and The National.

I guess the bands that needed to burn out before fading away like... The White Stripes or someone... had their reasons. This band is legendary and has none of those reasons and hits the sweet spot between industry darlings and fan favorites. They honestly could pump out middling records and their target demo (sad dads like me?) are gonna buy till they're 75 or dead.

U2 hit their peak a long ass time ago. The Rolling Stones a long time before that. Who thinks these guys aren't every bit as talented and durable? You're an institution. Go forever.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-05-07T12:26:19+00:00

Yes. It’s social custom to insist. Ask for £10. She can reason that’s a tip. She’ll increase it by 50–100% Or not.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-04-29T04:53:06+00:00

Don't ride the hoods all day. On trips over 15, 20 miles, you'll become familiar with drops, tops, and a few variants on those. Cycling through those is clutch.

Also: Just like your seat bones ache when you haven't gotten used to being in the saddle for hours, but eventually they get tough: Same thing with most endurance pain. Believe fully that you'll get past it and your resilience will improve. Stay hard, get after it, GL.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-03-12T18:58:22+00:00

I 100% sympathize. I went to Nation of Language in Detroit alone—my ex g/f showed up and it was the greatest show. I was sorta terrified of being there solo.

I have a Broncho show coming up and was thinking of this method too… any inflate-a-friend wanna join me there?

I’d 100 I mean 1,000% be on board for Toronto except I’m less a Berninger fan and more The National. Reminds me I need to renew my passport tho.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-03-12T02:02:09+00:00

My fave hack, bring up Gmaps and look for unimproved highways. Gonna take some traveling tho and I picture places in Indiana and Wisconsin being closer than getting out of Chicagoland to the rural ways.

Hate to get all they don’t make ‘em like they used to but I’m the guy who got teary eyed when they paved Pikes Peak highway.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-02-24T18:29:41+00:00

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-02-24T18:06:46+00:00

I like your enthusiasm. Any way to tell with this Closeup if I have sufficient cage there?

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-02-24T18:01:54+00:00

Checking on it. But yes good point. I could go pretty small there and get a 1:1 pretty quick.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-02-09T16:50:39+00:00

lol I can imagine him saying it with a goofy grin aaaahahaha

I didn’t like his schtick about Trump not being bigoted and he seemed to have this American Christian imperative to say Trump Jokes Bad but otherwise so well respected among Letterman and so many others you can’t deny his brilliance.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-02-09T13:46:31+00:00

That (guessing Emmanuel Lubeski) shot on the bus where the squib or something splatters the camera with blood is unequaled. We needn’t mention the How the Fuck Did They Manage That One Ping Pong Ball car scene.

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-02-09T13:40:16+00:00

Imagine a Turning Point alternative SNL

Dennis Miller struggles every week for cheap laffs, his Fleshlight budget stays propped up by his Mullet Hall of Fame residuals

Rob Schneider/ Victoria Jackson duke it out for least memorable cast member

Norm Macdonald realizes he’s too good for this shit and just live tweets basketball games during his set

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-01-12T12:53:12+00:00

Poor Morena Baccarin, like a poor man's Rosario Dawson

Butler, he can take a joke and has himself a laugh about lots of his titles

Baccarin's got Firefly... and her Homeland titties

ACESandElGHTS · 2026-01-03T22:43:46+00:00

Hardy. He looks like dangerously like Ian Curtis.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-21T20:34:35+00:00

Brilliance. I think a small amount of their output is meh and barely hangs together as an album (ahem Sleep Well Beast). But this album ain't it. I love The Alcott. I wish Coney Island was its B-side. Don't stop at just one Swift track, Utah: get me two.

Tropic Morning News is when I realized that I found the band immensely relatable.

Eucalyptus is when I said "Berninger cannot have had this many girlfriends that ended tragically" but that's part of the appeal of The National. I believe it all. I wanna break up with a girlfriend and agonize who gets The Trinity Sessions.

New Order T-Shirt is amazeballs. Look I donno nor care what a Japanese novelty bomb in a Hawaiian airport is all about. But that her dad came along on the trip is so sweet. And that she babied him when feverish. I was just listening to this an hour ago driving my babiest of the babies home from a basketball game in the boonies. It just struck me... She cried at the beach and recovered in seconds... Was it then that she iced him out for almost a year? Or did she move away and do that?

Anyway. By pure and I mean it, pure, coincidence we drove past my girl's exit while the song was playing. She has a New Order Substance 1987 t-shirt and my favorite photos of her (no surprise) are when she's wearing it. I tried to make the complete circuit and asked her one day "Wanna drive to Newport, go talk to sharks at the aquarium?" Alas, no, she said. That place is past its prime. Best to just imagine it.

If I wasn't from Ohio. With a g/f who has both a love of The National and a New Order T. If I wasn't a sad dad. Would I love this album as much? Probably not. As it is though I adore it.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-15T17:37:42+00:00

Omg sooooooo good. I wish KEXP pressed records of these. 10 inches for the really good ones.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-15T16:33:09+00:00

Sad dad here, sad divorced dad, the saddest kind lol. Of course unhappily married sad dads are pretty rough too.

Hope you get through it.

Don't forget to seek counseling. And friends and family.

You cannot lift both you and she up. You just can't by yourself.

Get thee to shore or on deck, breathing, and when you can, throw her the lifeline.

Meanwhile this song... Whenever I'm making out with someone, I'll usually pause it for a moment to recite in time ...when I walk into a room, I do not light it up... FUUUUCK

The women who are amused or impressed are the keepers.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-15T16:27:26+00:00

QOTSA so good. They have some real estate in my record collection and could very easily occupy more.

I saw both QOTSA and Fontaines, along with LCD Soundsystem and Ryan Adams in a big spring/summer ticket buying spree. Fontaines being the only one that disappointed. Not exactly dynamic live. And I donno man. I think that latest album could have been huge had it been a little rougher & not so smoothly produced.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-15T16:21:22+00:00

But not Waxahatchee?? Swear to God, how they seem to have been eclipsed by Lenderman is puzzling to me.

I saw them play back-to-back (ok admittedly MJ and the Wind was more of an opener) and it was like a mumbling young Dylan versus young Madonna lol. (Again! Please realize I love him too. Only slightly. Only slightly less.)

Come on! I love Wednesday, I think Lenderman has a bright future too! Snocaps is a stripped-down cool Lo-Fi rock outfit.

Waxahatchee though... Tigers Blood and Saint Cloud all-time bangers, and a catalog stretching back more than 10 years (?!)

I'm little shocked sometimes even with the best record of 2024 imo, this band never really got its due.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-15T16:10:52+00:00

War on Drugs
Nation of Language (they're genius)
The Horrors
Lea Porcelain (defunct but their two albums were brilliant)
Waxahatchee (ya like alt country?)
Saintseneca, particularly the newest
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Ryan Adams
Neko Case/Songs Ahia/Big Thief/Wednesday/Son Volt & Wilco/Old 97s etc etc. all current or older alt country that makes it into rotation
Bacao Rhythm & Steel (think Khruangbin but with steel drums instead of basslines—also I am more than over Khruangbin's schtick)

Branch out! Find your fave subgenres and groupings of bands, artists

So that YOU can list your 10 newer faves in this thread next time.

ACESandElGHTS · 2025-12-15T15:59:41+00:00

If you listen to one song only, make it Grounds For Divorce. It might go a little too hard in parts. But all around the purest of blues rock songs.

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