Mixed Bag 1st Edition

My brain thinks in small chunks. People (actually search engines) want these big, long, well-thought-out and well-written articles and goodness me, I’m just not prepared to provide that. So instead this is the first of what will probably be a never-ending string of “Mixed Bag” sections because they are easier. The internet also needs more of me, there is way too much everyone-else out there and I find it overwhelming.

Alright, let’s dig in.

The 1x Conversion Update

Recently you will recall that I wrote a very long, well-written update on converting my mountain bike to a “one-by” drivetrain. I’ve had the opportunity to go for a few test drives on local trails, including some of the techier bits that would normally offer my derailleur an apparently insurmountable challenge.

and holy shit it works!!

I know, I didn’t really actually think it would work either, but after a few rides I’ve got a grand total of zero (0) dropped chains. I’ll keep track if I ever start having chains fall off and keep you posted. I’m sure it will happen, but so far, I’m impressed.

The only drawback is that I’ve noticed that I’m maxxing out my speed on some pretty shallow gradients while riding on tarmac on the way to/from trails. But I don’t really care too much because mountain biking is not really concerned about shallow gradients on tarmac. On the flip side, I’ve ridden some pretty punchy climbs using the new gear as well. I wouldn’t mind having a bit more room on my cassette to make some steeper climbs, but I currently feel pretty out of shape so I’ll just suck it up and maybe plan to replace my cassette with something that can go up to 42T eventually.

One other thing: My friend Mr. Anderson (yes the bad guy from The Matrix) reminded me having a clutched derailleur also helps with not dropping chains. Eventually I’ll write an article called “Whattf is a clutch derailleur and how do I know if mine is that?” but until then just search for it on Duck Duck Go (never Googs).

Would you recommend to a friend? sure.

I just can’t

[Edit: This whole section is an edit. Erased it all and starting over.]

I wrote a little section here yesterday about not getting hit by cars while you’re commuting or riding along the side of a road or whatever. Wherever cars go, they’ll try to hit you.

And I cleaned up my language to an embarassing degree.

And it made me angry.

I was like, “oh hey I should clean up my language in case people read some cursing and get mad at me and I don’t want to offend people” and it’s true. I don’t really want to offend people, I understand that everyone has different tolerances for various things.

But the internet is full of websites where no one ever swears, and it sucks. Like, you don’t have to swear, but sometimes sentences are better and funnier with some swears.

Here’s an unrelated Rick and Morty screen grab to break the tension:

Now, don’t get me wrong – I often find that swearing is over-the-top and obnoxious and annoying and is a bit of a red flag. But occasionally I just need to say that stuff is shitty or that something’s fucked.

Furthermore, if you believe some random articles on the internet, swearing is linked with intelligence and creativity. I don’t really trust them, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

So expect a few swears! Ha ha, I was going to say I could whip you up a Tampermonkey script to remove swear words from my webpage but some beautiful mind has beaten me to the punch. God bless you, internet.

Website Update

It’s looking better around here, eh? I know there are still issues if you’re trying to use dark mode, I’ll get to it soon enough. It’s hard to work on this during the summer. Luckily we’ve been getting a lot of rain so I find opportunities to change things a bit here and there.

There are still a few things formatted in a weird way, I plan to fix those soon as well. None of it should take much time, it’s just getting to it.

But for now, things are usable so use them we shall.

That’s it for now. I have all these ideas to write about but it’s always in the form of “I love Product X, you should purchase Product X” but I feel like that’s what 103% of the internet is based on and I hate it but I really do enjoy these products.

So maybe we’ll make a deal: I get to talk about all this cool stuff and I won’t link to it and if you are really taken with Product X you can go and purchase it and then you can also feel smug. Deal?