VPI

My crash at Mayberry. I ended up with two cracked ribs.

Bike looks great Justin. When does it arrive? My cracked ribs should be healed up in the coming weeks and the MTB needs to get out for some play.

You might be able to flip the stem to get more rise if you haven't already done that.

Yes, most of the trails around this area are fast and flowy with minimal obstacles. Great for fast fun riding with minimal technical challenges. There are a few right around my house that are more technical which are always fun for a little break from bombing down dirt trails.

I have found the 18 Year Old Balsamic de Modena I got from John in the gift exchange to be quite good. I have done some experiment with everything from brisket to a weird, but tasty, fruit salad with it. I do not know what in particular aging does to Balsamic but this is quite good and holds up to cooking very well.

I think you probably are just getting used to the feeling of barely being able to reach the ground from the seat. If it is set up to your pedal stroke it becomes difficult to mount the bike and reach the ground once you are on. I think Mike was experiencing the same thing when he first got the FS. I know Chris wants to get out on the trails soon so a trip up here could probably get you the rental bike and some people to ride with.

Happy Birthday Nate. Have a great day.

I think he bought at least two "grown up" scooters, do those count?

I am really tempted by that 650B hard tail. Three Titanium bikes seems about right.

Sounds good. Asheville is a fun little town. I am going to ride in the morning. Should be around 34ish. Is that about your temp Vicki?

Looks great Raffy.

That looks like something I must check out.

Last I heard any serious talk it was about North Carolina for a Road Bike meet and Georgia, I think, for a mountain bike meet.

Putting it together was not that difficult, unfortunately I did not pay enough attention to remember how to take it apart and pack it again. I will have to watch some of those weird packing videos on the S&S site.

Came from Calfee with the S&S, case, tools and all the wraps. Not sure I will ever be able to get it all back in the 20+ wraps and back into the travel case though.

I thought Dinny went back to some vintage DAC. My dCS DAC does DSD but I have never gone to the trouble of finding DSD music files. I guess I should try that at some point.

Nice Chris. I really like the first flying bird shot.

For small and balanced I have the Ayre QB-9 and the Weiss DAC2. Both sound great with headphones but the Ayre would allow USB connection which might be more future proof than the Firewire on the Weiss. However the Weiss allows Spdif in so it is a bit more useful as the Ayre is USB only.

Today was just about perfect for a bike ride. After spending way too long trying to find all my gear that was all over the house since I have not been on the road bikes in weeks I made it out. Thought I had everything until I started the ride and realized I had not topped off the tire pressure before leaving. Pressure was of course a bit low so it ended up being a much shorter ride than I anticipated. I guess I need to get back into the swing of things so I remember the little things like flat tires do not make for a good ride. At least I was able to take a ride pic.

It will be great when you come out the other side stronger than ever Vicki.

Happy Birthday Naaman.

Yeah I dropped the 135 as I never found a use for it but you are right.

I still have a paid membership and wish Nikon had a similar program.

The Canon Holy Trinity are primes; 35 f1.4L, 50 f1.2L and 85 f1.2L. I have had the Nikon equivalents 35 f1.4L and 84 f1.4 and there is no comparison. The Canon blows the Nikon 85 away and I think the Canon 35 is a bit better than my Nikon 35. Canon has nothing really like the 14-24 but I find I never bother using that lens so it doesn't mean much to me. I also thought my Canon 70-200 f2.8L mkII was hugely better than my Nikon equivalent.

While I have not had to use Nikon service, I definitely miss Canon CPS that would do just about anything you needed quickly and free. I think my Nikon gear will soon be on the block as I am very much interested in jumping ship back to the Canon side. I like Nikon ergonomics better but that is about it.