n_maher

Nice ride, Ben! We've got another storm headed this way midweek so my riding season is in full stall mode.

This!

That's a pretty cool image, CJ.

Somehow this thread didn't show up in the "recent" function for me at all yesterday, WTF?!?!??!! Happy belated, robot buddy!

Looks slick, Doug.

Got it a nice 17miler this afternoon on the new tires. They felt good and most importantly stable in the crappy, sandy conditions that are everywhere right now. We need some good rain to clean the streets. I also ran into a neighbor while out on the ride who I'd previously seen out on a Parlee. This time he was on a BMC and admitted that he'd sold the Parlee because it was too nice to ride! I get that, especially this time of year. We're going to try to hook up for a few rides this year which would be nice. It does get tiresome riding by myself all the time.

I mounted my Specialized Roubaix 25/28 tires this morning and with a little luck I'll get a ride in later this afternoon.

Yup, it's one of the Feedback stands, the Pro Elite model. I paid a tick over $200 for it. Definitely a worthwhile investment from a cleaning/maint./storage perspective. It's not small though. If you're just after a cleaning station you can get by with something a lot less robust.

That's awesome, Brent. I still fondly remember my first bike which was also a schwinn.

Todd, sounds good and will do. That would be very similar to what I would want to do (specifically getting back pretty early on Sunday) so I'll try to figure out what I've got going on in the very near future.

I listed it for sale/trade on the Paceline and did not receive a single response. I've also got it listed FS at my local shop and again it's generated squat for interest. I'm also not sure that I want something with traditional cross geometry (which can be pretty aggressive). I've seen a few bikes that I'd be interested in if it sold outright but that doesn't seem likely and in reality, it's a heck of a bike and I should just ride it.

Go team Calfee! In other cycling news I've all but decided to keep the Roubaix and convert it to foul weather commuting duty. I've got a pair of 28's inbound for it and I've started researching fenders. There are several good looking, reasonably priced options and while I'd love to pick up something new/different it's nearly impossible to justify.

Sadly it's not a matter of me working faster, it's a matter of getting the people that work for me to work faster. I'm not 100% out yet, I've got a few weeks to work on work and the wife and I haven't given up hope.

Sure. I'd been casually watching used/new Calfees on Ebay last year and in the late fall a crazy deal popped up on a 2004(ish) Tetra Pro in good shape with full 10spd Dura Ace. So I bit the bullet and bought it. It arrived a few days later and was in even better shape than I dared hope for. It doesn't look like it's ever really been ridden. I got in a couple of rides last year and quickly realized that it needed proper fitting so I'm now just waiting for some free time to take it to the shop and get it tweaked for me. obligitory picture

Not looking good for me at this point. Work deadlines are mounting and the timing is just not good.

Glad to hear that recovery is even an option, livewire. Nice pics, Ari. The perspective that you were able to achieve (in the line of fire) is very cool.

Damn, Raffy. My goal remains 2k for this year. I'm behind where I was last year already and I didn't make 2k last year so I'm going to have to find some way to hit it hard once the weather turns. We've got more snow in the forecast this week and it was snowing when I got up this morning so it's not looking like that is going to be any time soon...

No, I took the Roubaix as the roads are not great and I still need to do a full fitting on the calfee. I did a few rides on the calfee last year, enough to know I needed to change a few things before riding it much more. Now that the weather is turning a bit I'll schedule some time at my shop and get the calfee dialed in.

First ride of 2014 is in the books. A slow 17 miler but it felt good to be back out there.

This. UGH!

Sucks, John. Here's to hoping her insurance doesn't give you any shit about the repairs.

Whoops, like Todd this had slipped my mind. DONE. Go Raffy, GO!

Thanks very much guys. I'd love to say that it was super day but sadly the wife came down with strep throat (no motor boating) so it was pretty low key and she and the kids are now fast asleep. Still, Lily made me an awesome birthday card and I picked up some pretty epic (by my standards anyway) beer on the way home so the evening is recovering nicely. This coming weekend the wife and I will dump the kids on my in-laws and head out for good food and drink so my lonesome is temporary. This thread provided some much needed laughs.

So I'm finally going to do something about the sagging performance of my windows lappy. Right now it's got a hybrid drive in one slot and a standard lappy drive in the other, both 500GB. I don't think I really need that much capacity so I'm thinking all I really need to replace is the primary HD with a SSD with at least ~240GB to allow for application and some document storage with a buffer. Right now I'm leaning towards the Crucial M500 or Kingston V300, both of which are under $130 for the 240GB version. If there's a compelling reason to spend a little more I could be swayed. And while it doesn't quite double the price to get to 480GB I just don't think I need that much rapid access storage but again, I am here asking for advice so... I'm also going to bump the RAM from 4GB to 8GB. I haven't quite convinced myself to tackle upgrading the processor which was actually downgraded by the PO to an i5 from the stock i7 . I'm not sure it makes a difference anyway in my application. In case it makes a difference the platform is an Alienware M17X R2 w/ dual ATI HD 4780s (1GB each) so my feeling is that I should be able to get a few more years out of this thing without a major investment. I basically use it as a mobile desktop, always AC powered. Thanks in advance.

That's pretty much what I was thinking after your review.