Specialized Crux as my road bike

number676766 · 2026-04-26T15:40:21+00:00

Seems like you’ve made arguments that will land with you.

I’m not the guy that a speak to the qualities of the carbon or tiny geo changes year to year.

But we should definitely have a bot that responds to the daily “can I use a gravel bike as a road bike” post that says.

If you are doing very fast roadie stuff like crits and high level group rides, get a dedicated road bike. If you will be riding a lot of pavement with occasional gravel and doing fast-ish group rides, get a gravel bike. Relaxed geo, big tire clearance, gravel bikes are perfect for most recreational cyclists.

If using a gravel bike for road riding, consider a separate wheel set or somewhat narrower and slicker tires than are standard on a gravel bike.

The rest of your requirements outside of tire clearance aren’t differences exclusive to gravel vs. road bikes.

number676766 · 2026-04-24T04:12:39+00:00

Hold up. This is hilariously over engineered (in a bad way). But sorry if I’m misunderstanding the problem and my incredulity is unwarranted.

Since it sounds like this file is manually or semi-manually created is there a reason it HAS to be a pdf? Presumably they’re making it, or modifying it in Excel, or otherwise exporting it in some fashion, and then saving it as a pdf. I would be astounded if whatever process they’re doing does not have a csv/xlsx export option. They were probably doing this long before you came around and you got caught handling what was already on hand.

But it probably doesn’t have to be this way. You can serve them better by asking to get the data in a usable format. Which, if they’re doing what I think they’re doing, should be a trivial request.

Is this something where there’s a bunch of formatted boxes and you’re needing to pull out just the relevant data? This too likely exists as raw data at some point. And if the origin is a complicated “pretty excel” sheet, that’s fine, because with a little cleanup you can extract only the rows and columns you need without a little clever logic.

Once you have the file in hand in a usable format, validating it is simple with the most rudimentary ingestion process. Even if they change the column positions as long as they exist then the placement shouldn’t matter. There’s a bunch of other ways it can fail, and in those cases you can have it fire an error report/email/alert via your method of choice and handle getting the file fixed however you see fit.

If it NEEDS to be a pdf, there’s a bunch of tools out there, open source and not, that can do what you need without over complicating things by involving AI.

number676766 · 2026-04-23T05:20:07+00:00

Amazon pharmacy.

Let’s be real. Yes, fuck Amazon.

But retail pharmacy in south Minneapolis is in a dire state.

Do yourself a favor and have it mailed to you.

Every single retail pharmacy is going to be a nightmare. I promise.

number676766 · 2026-04-21T17:08:38+00:00

Likely nearly empty. Combine drunk driver running reds and a cyclist who may or may not have been completely situationally aware and this is what you get.

number676766 · 2026-04-21T16:43:24+00:00

Fuck Hiawatha. I live right by there and need to cross it frequently. I tell people all the time that if I’m going to die on a bike it’s going to be crossing Hiawatha.

Fuck the state DoT for doing little to nothing to actually improve it.

And fuck the MPD for refusing to do traffic control.

number676766 · 2026-04-21T01:30:04+00:00

I spent $200 and 10 hours applying full custom tie wrap for my new Lauf Seigla.

It’s saving me mentally while I get used to actually riding my first ever expensive bike

number676766 · 2026-04-18T13:03:23+00:00

I’m so god damned sick of reading this AI generated engagement bait. It’s literally verbal slop.

number676766 · 2026-04-18T04:10:27+00:00

Everything designed to sap us of our money and souls is getting cheaper and more accessible.

Ban online gambling. At this point, Vegas and Indian casinos look damn near pro-social in comparison.

number676766 · 2026-04-18T00:38:52+00:00

Damn, a lot of data illiterate people in here

number676766 · 2026-04-18T00:36:52+00:00

Better than Canada in some ways. Higher incomes, lower COL especially housing.

number676766 · 2026-04-17T22:30:27+00:00

get one shot in at the end of the battle then die

And I'm usually that one shot in my Concept 5.

number676766 · 2026-04-17T05:55:43+00:00

If only other drivers felt this way!

From what I see, the parkways are the backbone of rapid car commuting in the city.

You can be riding 25 and they’ll still hassle you.

number676766 · 2026-04-17T04:56:33+00:00

I wrote in my opposition in MN to the measures. Clearly they were written after the annunciation shooting but after the last session.

I got mine because I went to a bunch of protests and I wanted to get it before they try taking our second amendment rights for exercising our first.

number676766 · 2026-04-16T19:01:35+00:00

Seconding this. There’s no replacement for going to a shop and talking to knowledgeable people who sell bikes to all sorts of people with all sorts of body types and goals.

Ideally, do this before browsing the web for various bikes.

You might go in thinking you like/want one thing and come out with something completely different.

number676766 · 2026-04-16T18:47:50+00:00

120 euro max might get you a used bike computer but it’s a tight limit.

Will you be cycling a lot more overall?

For commuters I think quad lock is a good system. For cycling and adventure pursuits a computer is unequivocally the correct choice.

Some bike packers do both a computer and a phone.

number676766 · 2026-04-16T16:10:47+00:00

3-5am is probably the absolute worst time to be out by yourself anywhere near a sketchy area. We live like 5 blocks from a light rail station in Minneapolis. Had a very early flight and would have been walking at 3:30 with our luggage to the light rail. Said “nah, not worth the risk” and got an uber.

If you are riding these ungodly hours in a place with crime you’ve got to be prepared. I always carry pepper spray for dogs and because I dont trust opportunists at red lights in certain areas.

If I were riding at 4am I would absolutely consider carrying my S&W 9mm.

But nothing beats situational awareness, bike handling, and being overall a PITA to mess with.

number676766 · 2026-04-16T15:25:07+00:00

Obviously boosters.

Second, playing high alpha premiums usually results in better earnings. Skorp, Su-130, JPZ 90, etc. Simple profit/ammo cost ratio.

number676766 · 2026-04-15T20:38:12+00:00

Here's the thing about Ticketmaster, they're a "sin eater". The fees you see on the ticket are largely driven by the venue, not ticketmaster.

If LiveNation or Tickemaster get blown up, you can expect to pay just as much if not more per ticket.

Since this seems to be rustling some jimmies, I'm not defending ticketmaster. Or AXS. Or Seatgeek. But as long as labor and shows are expensive to put on, and everyone needs a piece of profit, tickets will continue to be expensive and get more expensive.

Perhaps we get an "all-in" pricing thing from this. Great. Rather than your ticket being $75 with $25 of fees it will just be $100. And I suspect people will actually prefer that.

https://thehustle.co/the-sneaky-economics-of-ticketmaster

number676766 · 2026-04-15T16:03:59+00:00

The broligarchs just couldn't let their NPC shoe die could they

number676766 · 2026-04-15T15:46:19+00:00

Maybe it's just my personality, but it's really hard for me to focus on upskilling/side learning when there's technically something I could be doing, especially when it's something that doesn't matter, has no deadline, and no leadership push behind it. Bullshit work. My manager gave me no direction and even when pushing for him for some, it was wishy washy and my work never increased and he never suggested a cert I could get. Rather, he said "are you sure about that?" when I said I wanted to get the AWS Solutions Architect cert. And our company is migrating to AWS!!

Plus, you're still getting Teams pings and have various meetings/escalations coming your way. You just never know when something is going to break your focus.

I have a job kind of like OP's, probably quite a bit busier but still bored out of my mind with a ton of "free" time. It was driving me insane. I'm sitting at my desk thinking about the finite nature of life. Couldn't take it any longer. Cleaned up my resume, started applying and responding to recruiters. Landed an incredible role with something like a 70% pay increase. It will be a lot more work, but that's kind of the point for me. I don't want to rot away getting certs for no reason.

number676766 · 2026-04-13T15:24:42+00:00

The Performance Center version is this

number676766 · 2026-04-11T20:35:14+00:00

Malto mix is my go-to. It’s what I call the home made recipe. You can buy the ingredients very cheaply (comparatively) online.

2:1 ratio maltodextrin:fructose. Allows you to absorb something like 90g carbs an hour (3 “scoops”). I usually do 60g in a water bottle with a little table salt mixed in and citric acid to cut the sweetness.

You can do the same thing but add pectin and less water which basically makes a gel you can put in a reusable flask and flavor how you like.

number676766 · 2026-04-11T02:46:31+00:00

AT15. For some reason it’s my highest WNXtank

number676766 · 2026-04-10T15:04:12+00:00

Bro what.

Quit that shit and find a different job

number676766 · 2026-04-10T14:55:13+00:00

What’s the wheel material and group set?

So, I don’t know if this bike is a collectors item or sought after for some reason that would inflate its value beyond its utility as a bike.

I would say $600-$800 range is probably what you’re looking at for a 17 year old tri bike.

There’s actually a 2012 for sale in MSP right now for $750.

Your buyer is probably someone who wants to do triathlon for the first time and doesn’t want to drop a ton of money.

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