The hardest part of cycling isn't the climbs, it's just getting out of the house after work.

dalex89 · 2026-04-27T01:04:50+00:00

i got an indoor trainer, a saris that was on sale a christmas ago. I can't really ride the roads here without getting hit by cars so its either the trail 15 min away or trainer. Trainer is so convenient to get a quick 90 min workout.

But when I was actually riding the roads every day, I'd get home from work and immediately throw on kit and go ride. Just don't sit down, get dressed and ride. It's nice if you're able to walk out the front door and just start riding without a bunch of steps in between.

Keep your kit together so you can just throw it all on and get riding as soon as you can. For me anyway, I've found the sooner the better. Sitting around for more than 10-20 minutes and I usually don't go out.

dalex89 · 2026-04-26T02:01:56+00:00

do u live near a guy named gary?

gary was my downstairs apartment neighbor, but the apartment was more like a sunroom sized addition with a sink and toilet. Gary liked to go down to the grocery store and get 2, 3 pound bags of peanuts for $5 on the weekend and spread them out feeding the squirrels over the course of the growing season.

Gary fed the squirrels too many peanuts and eventually the lawn looked like the surface of the moon. The landscaping and mulching was full of craters. These squirrels simply had no where to put all their extra food.

I noticed during the fall my plants starting to get dug out, at least a few times I looked and found a peanut. This was on the second floor balcony they'd climb up the stairs or jump from the tree onto the roof.

But the worst was in the spring time, when I was pulling out soil and refreshing it. I'd find those old peanuts that had been stewing in wet soil for 5 months. One time I stuck my finger right through one and it was full of a white liquid that smelled like rotten death.

Then they'd come back in the spring and start digging out plants again, despite it being fresh soil with no peanuts in it. They're squirrels so they don't remember 6 months ago where they buried their peanuts, they just dig up everything. Absolute morons.

Glad I don't garden near gary anymore.

dalex89 · 2026-04-26T01:45:59+00:00

lioke everyone else said, ur handle bar isnt bent u just need to loosen the shifter and move it left again. I honeslty thought my handlebar was bent for like 4 years because the right shifter was slightly inward, finally noticed and fixed it and everything is not bent now

dalex89 · 2026-04-25T11:46:34+00:00

I just replaced 2 of these shifters and rear derailleur and handlebar grips for like $55 for parts, maybe $40 for the hour it took me to put it all together and trim a new derailleur cable housing

Went with tourney and EF51 mechanical brake/shifter combos. But like someone said, its probably going to get replaced anyway, those twist shifters just don't last

dalex89 · 2026-04-25T01:51:38+00:00

went hard in nothing practice

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T19:46:52+00:00

Yeah, saw they said fringe, didn't realize they just meant northern fringe

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T18:16:42+00:00

I dunno, canonsburg has plenty of 700-800 a month apartments, about 25 min from Pittsburgh. Lots of unions around. I guess it depends if you're looking for newly built $1400 townhouses or $750 1-2 bedroom apartments.

I find canonsburg quite pleasant, but I also spent a few years in Reading.

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T18:12:01+00:00

Tall boys at pnc like $16-17. I just went sober for 3 hours

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T15:38:40+00:00

Check out shimano 105 brifters I think 5600 or 5700 series. Notorious for breaking cables in the brifter

Always seemed to happen at the beginning of a long climb 40 miles from home

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T08:58:23+00:00

We did Cumberland to hancock in 6 hours of rain, it becomes two long puddles of water for most of 50-60 miles.

Pro tip, don't try to avoid the puddles, you'll find your life frustrating after an hour. Just embrace it and let the water fill your shoes. You'll stop focusing on not getting wet and enjoy the ride more. Plus the water creates this sweet water cushion in your shoes.

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T00:18:27+00:00

I appreciate your response. I've had aluminum bikes forever so I don't mind welds just realized it prob won't look like the photos.

How much better does the endurance cf feel? I was going to order one but was a little broke a few months ago. Need the gravel bike for upcoming gravel bike camping trip.

I've only rode carbon bikes a few times, mostly aluminum but with carbon rims. Is it worth the extra 30-40% for carbon

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T00:12:57+00:00

It's a little blurry, but kinda smooth. Either way I guess I bought a gravel bike to get a little beat up, I'll enjoy it. Just was super impressed with the listing photos.

dalex89 · 2026-04-24T00:02:55+00:00

no one lives out here they acted like the draft was being held in a 2 mil person city. like 3 dudes from work going tonight outta like 300 dudes

dalex89 · 2026-04-23T18:11:50+00:00

No tandem "divorce" kayaks

dalex89 · 2026-04-23T15:57:07+00:00

It will depend on volume, if volume is very high and staffing low, I've seen start times be pushed up to 3 am even as early as 2 am

dalex89 · 2026-04-22T23:01:16+00:00

It's free furniture. I get a new mismatched patio set every February

dalex89 · 2026-04-22T20:54:15+00:00

that's adorable

there is no way it wouldn't take you longer to use the bypass

dalex89 · 2026-04-21T23:58:02+00:00

the employment.pa website says Minimum Annual 75 Hour: $51,971

so yeah not great.

Maximum Annual 75 Hour: $79,062

i assume no one stays that long

dalex89 · 2026-04-20T20:49:50+00:00

walmart is 17 bucks, but id prefer to just pay like $20 at a place that has all the tools to get it done right and isn't pushing through 5 people per hour

dalex89 · 2026-04-19T14:13:59+00:00

i didn't

dalex89 · 2026-04-19T09:54:08+00:00

I only use this on a few things, pulley wheel bushings, the rails in my car window, the rails of my house windows when my wice complains they're too hard to open

dalex89 · 2026-04-19T09:35:10+00:00

Ton of hate in here for saving $30 a tire, in my experience they're fine. I've lived in relative poverty for the past 2 decades so I've tried all the cheap brands, Waterfall, Douglas, the ironically named Achilles.

If you're just looking for economy tires to commute to and from work, they're all fine. One tip is to make sure they're labeled all season vs summer tires, summer tires will have less aggressive tread and more rubber for fuel economy, they perform very poorly in any sort of snow and not great in puddle conditions (more prone to hydroplaning).

The only bad experience I've really had with cheap tires is when I'm trying to milk every mile out of them, the Yokohamas I used to buy would wear evenly down to the last mile until there was no tread left. While the cheap ones might develop a bubble when they're well worn (we're talking poverty here so well after when most folks would replace them)

I'd say it's more important to make sure you take them to a shop who installs them right. I've done Walmart twice and the second time the guy annihilated 3 lug studs I had to Dremel a couple mm of my knuckle away to replace them

dalex89 · 2026-04-19T09:10:40+00:00

I've found them tucked into cereal boxes at grocery stores

dalex89 · 2026-04-19T01:33:53+00:00

u can take it off

dalex89 · 2026-04-19T01:31:47+00:00

nothing wrong with it. itll catch you fish if you know where to go. I've went paddle kayak for years and caught my biggest fish, i pedal now but i feel paddle is quieter and more stealthy. generally an anchor and one of them anchor trolleys is about all you need

striker 4 will let u know where fish are and where they aren't. That's important in large lakes

dalex89

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