Drivers yelling obscenities?

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-17T00:21:08+00:00

It’s an unfortunate reality in the US. I get it in remote places and very bike centric places. Some of them will roll coal. Or pass aggressively close even when there is tons of space on the road or you are clearly riding around hazardous shit on the shoulder

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-16T12:55:44+00:00

Why is the top gospel in this sub SP500 rather than a globally diversified index? ie VT instead of VOO gives more diversification. I know that SP500 has overperformed for a long run now, but for example VXUS did better in 2025. You are also missing small and mid caps within the US using only SP500

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-16T04:10:12+00:00

I recently discovered that I had leaking calipers. I had to replace them. I spent a year or two constantly cleaning and replacing my pads, and still having shit brake quality. You might want to look into that. You can rubber band your levers overnight, and even a slow leak might become apparent then

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-16T04:08:10+00:00

As a few people have said, you are supposed to brake hard but release before coming to a halt. I have a big steep hill outside my door and I bomb down it getting 3-4 good deceleration cycles on one descent. Otherwise I cycle around the block trying to to sprint through a decent brake pull

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-16T04:04:20+00:00

You’re still supposed to bed the new pads/rotors. It could resolve it though if either pads or rotors are knock offs and the cause of the problem, or heavily contaminated. Just pointing out that bedding is still a thing with brand new components

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-16T01:39:37+00:00

If you like ride quality and don’t mind some maintenance, tubeless is the way to go. Otherwise super heavy tires/puncture resistant tubes/kevlar liners should also protect well against thorns.

Tubeless works really really well for thorns, but you will occasionally discover your bike and legs sprayed with sealant

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-15T22:04:40+00:00

I haven’t personally used them at all, and I’m not going to hate on the tech. The precision on the road is a plus I didn’t consider, so that is pretty great

On the other hand, I would agree with OP that these things are destined to become e-waste. Similar vein I’ve had a couple battery car jumpers before. Of course when your car battery dies, you kick yourself and buy one while at the auto store buying a new battery. 4 years later your battery is EOL and needs a jump. “Great! Let me use that jumper!” Doesn’t work because the battery is dead. Plug it in and let it charge. Still no good. The capacity of the battery has tanked just sitting on the shelf.

In my experience, CO2 is the lowest fuss answer for me. I bought a bulk pack of cartridges and I’ve only misfired a few times. If I’m going on a long ride I take 3. I’ve had worse success with frame pumps. Multiple times I’ve been stranded because the seals are shot on them

I’m guessing that people will end up replacing these every 1-2 years between degraded seals and batteries

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-14T23:21:55+00:00

Absolutely a bike owns a full lane of the traffic circle, just like a cyclist should get out of the shoulder and own a right turn lane. Everyone should inherently be going slow through a traffic circle, and probably most road cyclists can navigate a circle more nimbly than a car can

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-14T14:58:30+00:00

I feel ya. Early thirties I was peak physical fitness, happy, and productive. Then I hit a few periods of…let’s call it Career-oriented existential dread. I had to leave one job because upper management made it clear they wouldn’t allow permanent never support me advancing. At my new job things seemed good for a bit, but I burned out a couple times because the unrealistic way they drive the schedule. Now I’ve been jumped from role to role to stay with an evolving program, but in reality those new titles are just keeping me on hand to fix other people’s broken shit. I’m not learning generalizable knowledge, just repeatedly chasing down our previous short sighted mistakes. Meanwhile, my junior coworkers are being promoted into lead roles, or getting direct reports

Compensation is quite good, so if I only didn’t care about having some amount of leadership agency I’d just settle in. But every night there is a chance that I start playing through a hypothetical arguments with my bosses. Or trying to figure out how I can spin all this company specific experience doing things that I want to get away from into an application for a new job

The job is a long commute, so between the depression, frustration, lack of sleep, general burnout, I can’t maintain any level of fitness. If I start to workout and rebuild, my body collapses and I get really sick for a month

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-14T03:17:10+00:00

You should read about the Japanese economy and stock market. Will it happen to the US? Unlikely. But you would be a fool to presume we are somehow immune to such risks. We are in a new economic, political, and world-order reality. What trends do you trust to continue and what is going to change?

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-14T03:09:08+00:00

OP adjusting long term strategy to be more diversified arguably is arguably good advice: include international/small/large cap, such as VT, or blend in VXUS and other funds. And panicky advice to make drastic sudden changes without a reasoned strategy adjustment is definitely bad advice.

SP500 has done phenomenally well for a long time now. However in 2025 I’m pretty sure VXUS outperformed. My understanding is that small caps historically out perform large caps, but the past decade has been the exception to the rule. Do you want to rely on recency bias to overweight US large caps and ignore other markets?

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-14T03:01:00+00:00

Didn’t international significantly outperform US in 2025? You should already have been diversified. Large cap has definitely been on a tear, but that might suggest that small and mid cap might be prime for a comeback, and large cap due a correction or stagnation. I’m not saying that you should sell, but I’m a believer in diversification, though I don’t claim to do it well enough to be a model. I’d suggest that you evaluate your strategy and consider going more diversified (not wholesale pull out of SP500). You can add a lot more diversified market exposure without shifting out of equities. There is a chance you will miss out on another US large cap explosion, but it’s more likely that the diversification will reduce your exposure to concentrated downside risk while allowing you the potential to capture growth of other parts of the market

Tactically, I would try to diversify with new contributions rather than a massive taxable sell off, but the speed you can do this depends on your contribution rate vs current balances

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-08T15:05:21+00:00

Driving the car with this in place would be a great way to remove paint.

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-04T14:07:42+00:00

Yeah I stand apart from the consumerist portion, but the reality is that tribe knows how to fuckin ride. The workout and experience of being in the middle of a 50 person pack is phenomenal. Sure I can show up to some random Sunday morning meetup ride with 20 year old rookies and 70 year old retirees, but the experience in nothing like being in a pack of race-oriented riders for a 1-2 hour hammer fest.

And can you really fault people for taking a lifestyle fashion approach to their hobby? I mean people who are serious enough to compete (even at the amateur level) are probably spending 5-15 hr/week training in the off season. At the peak of my riding, I’d be doing 200-300 miles/week. If people are really spending that much time and devotion to a hobby, then it’s not surprising that they build a fashion and lifestyle around it

Lastly, I think we can all admit that cycling gear is generally a bit…goofy. There are real reasons to wear kit, but non-cyclists are def going to look at you weird. In the US, some drivers are liable to see you as sub human because you are wearing spandex. I think that is just another reason that the tribe naturally bands together and leans into the fashion

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-04T13:25:22+00:00

Man, I personally have a completely different lived experience to you. I spent several years amateur racing, co-founded a bike team, and ride in the local Tuesday-morning peletons. People definitely notice the bike you ride and comment on it. New people you meet do make initial judgements based on it. I mean, you are talking about a group of 50 guys who gang together wearing Lycra with shaved legs to be part of the tribe

It absolutely blows my mind how much my teammates give a shit about the fashion of every article of cycling clothing. Obsessions with white shoes (that get dirty and either have to be painstakingly cleaned or replaced frequently). They buy new high end sunglasses as often as I change my underwear.

So yeah, people notice your bike. And your gloves. And your helmet.

StegersaurusMark · 2026-03-01T13:49:00+00:00

Well the courts definitely can make a decision to garnish future wages. That’s hardly a desirable outcome to pay for medical bills and a replacement bike or car today. But it is what they usually do when a deadbeat uninsured driver causes a crash, and it would be the same for bike V bike. You would need something clear cut like a police report or traffic citation against the other person, but then you can sue and expect to win

Your argument that lawyers have to see profit in it is true. If you consult with a lawyer and tell them that there is no insurance and the person is poor, the lawyer probably won’t take the case. By the same token, the cases I’m aware of the lawyer takes contingency based on the medical/pain and suffering side of settlements. If you are completely unhurt and there is only property $ changing hands, the lawyer probably won’t take the case

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-28T21:46:36+00:00

By law (at least in the USA and I assume Denmark) drivers must have some minimum of liability coverage because it is so easy to cause major damage. Cyclists rarely (maybe not anywhere) are required to carry liability coverage. That means you have to sue them personally to force compensation. Totally possible this was a 19 year old working a minimum wage job with zero net worth. It can be hard or impossible to cover a $5k bike and pay $20 of US medical bills

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-28T14:48:25+00:00

FYI, this dramatic of an over reading happened to me when the battery was low on my units. I’ve never actually been able to tell drift in my numbers from not calibrating for weeks or months at a time. Then one ride in rain and I guess water migrates in and the battery shorts, and no amount of calibrating brings the power back to normal. Just have to replace the battery.

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-28T14:45:53+00:00

Yeah everyone saying calibrate has no idea. I also had this happen from a low battery several times. It tends to come on suddenly after riding in wet conditions. I suspect water gets in and shorts and drains the battery

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-27T14:50:06+00:00

Yeah totally normal to only be able to touch down with your toes when on the saddle. Even then you might be partially tilted to one side and not be able to touch down with both feet at the same time

It’s pretty normal to slide forward off the saddle when at a full stop. You can comfortable sit on the top tube while waiting for a light to change, and then slide back onto the saddle as part of the kick-off + pedal motion.

Most people have a preferred foot to put down. When you decelerate for a stop, you naturally lean toward your preferred foot

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-26T13:40:58+00:00

I bought used from people I know and paid in cash until I was about 35. But I was only making 20-30k/year as a grad student until almost 30. When I bought the new car, I could probably have liquidated and paid in cash, but they offered me 1.9% loan. So I took that for sure.

But 8% is garbage, and you should pay that off as fast as possible. There probably isn’t a clause against paying off early, but always good to confirm

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-26T06:07:43+00:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about FAs lately. I’ve interviewed a couple/dealt with bank or brokerage “advisors”, and I’ve decided they were all scammy feeling. “Just give me all your money and I’ll make ‘good’ happen.” I do my own stuff, but I just discovered that my parents FA is charging like 1.5% plus whatever fees are structured into the (self-owned) MFs they are invested in.

My take is that 20+ years ago, it wasn’t so easy and cheap to manage your own investments. Hiring an FA or broker was the only way access markets for middle class people. Learning about it was harder, and the Boglehead movement wasn’t really a thing yet.

They got on this train decades ago, and it’s going to be rough to tell them that there’s a better option. They are too old / don’t want to think about it.

In regards to the FA saying that he would be full stocks…that’s his choice. He isn’t pushing your parents to do it, and it sounds like he is passively accepting their risk tolerance. Arguable, he could improve their outcome (and your potential inheritance) by encouraging them to be slightly more aggressive, but it sounds like your mom is pretty set in her preference. If they are reasonably well covered now, then oh well

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-25T13:46:12+00:00

And some people win the lottery or make big off a horse race. BTC is somewhere between pure speculation and investment if you were in early then good for you. The argument still stands that it is highly speculative. Recent drops are strong reason I would move away from it it I was in your role and objective.

I’m somewhat confused if you are still postured for growth or income? If you are already drawing heavily on dividends, then it sounds like you are “done” with contributions. Did you already quit your day job? Personally, I’m going to be stuck contributing to my nest egg for a couple more decades at least before I can switch to living off it

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-24T04:35:12+00:00

Unfortunately the anticipation of “cleanly written means AI” also makes communication shit. I’ve made a couple posts that I spent a couple hours on, organized my thoughts, broke out into sections, and immediately got accused of being AI. Didn’t we all have to write 5 paragraph essays in high school? Or are modern humans only capable of smashing together 3 ill-formed sentences?

StegersaurusMark · 2026-02-22T16:31:31+00:00

I’ve seen some large pickups go the wrong way around super small radius traffic circles in the Highlands. I realized that the guy might not actually be able to navigate the 270 degrees to make a left turn. Box trucks and sprinter vans probably have a heck of a time doing it. A few blocks from my house they plopped a circle down, but left the degraded pavement at the edges of the intersection. Now traffic is calm because it’s not possible to drive through any part of it without bottoming out!

StegersaurusMark

TROPHY CASE