Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: xced

Order: Keepers Tour: Cobbled Classics 2012 Attendee

Location: Bretagne, France

@xced's activity:

La Vie Velominatus: The Sound of Silence

In most situations, silence is an ominous thing that signals impending doom. Having never been in any danger myself, I base this largely on my experience watching box-office movies. As a general rule, I use Hollywood as the principal source of information on all subjects as they relate to doom and politics, principally because I’m loath t...

@xced's posts:

  1. ever tried these ? »

Guest Article: Down with the YJA

Bicycles and automobiles- can’t we all just get along? @Kah writes about this universal (do aliens have this issue also?) problem of us co-existing with humans in cars. We all drive cars too and have cursed the occasional cyclists for some good reason. Cars are our greatest threat. We can crawl away from our own bicycle crashes, thanks very m...

@xced's posts:

  1. »

  2. what can a YJA possibly do to protect us from people like that »

La Vie Velominatus: Lean Properly

There are always at least two ways to accomplish any task: properly and improperly. Drinking beer from a glass, not the bottle; carrying a full umbrella instead of a miniature fold-up; stirring your gin martinis, not shaking them; wearing french cuffs with a suit, not button cuffs. The Velominatus, of course, is drawn towards doing things Properly,...

@xced's posts:

  1. @the Engine looks like a Raleigh Royal Roadster »

Cobbles, Carbon, Silk, and Dust

I hadn’t planned to ride them every day. In fact, I had planned to only ride them once and let other people ride them. But, genius that I am, I forgot my ceramic brake pads and had to source some new ones which was a maddeningly difficult process given that Europe observes something in the neighborhood of 363 holidays per year.I was more than...

@xced's posts:

  1. @ped  $2.99 to tell me what i should be wearing? you’ve got to be fucking kidding »

Keepers Tour: Eat Properly

During last year’s Keepers Tour, the motor was fine for about two or three days until it suddenly sputtered and shut down completely on Wednesday. My basic problem, it appears, lies with my ongoing struggle with body dysmorphia; based on the quantity of calories rolling into the station on the Malteni train, I was loathe to lay into the vast...

@xced's posts:

  1. Bon app’ ! »

Cultural Immersion

I’ve been lucky enough to do quite a bit of travelling in my life. As a family, we travelled all over Europe when I was just a lad, and recently I’ve had the opportunity to visit more exotic places like India and Hawaii. What I’ve learned from my travels is that the key to a great experience is to leave your predispositions on t...

@xced's posts:

  1. keep on butchering my language guys… it’s (kind of) funny. »

Velominati Photo Contest: Season 2012

Truth be told, how many of us can resist a photo of ourselves Looking Fantastic on the bike? How many of us can resist the temptation of taking our eyes off the road and stealing a glimpse of ourselves in a shop window as we pass by? Not me, but then again a strong case could be made for my being a narcissist and I freely admit that I love looking...

@xced's posts:

  1. @Pedale.Forchetta this is THE one! great shot. »

Peer Pressure

Eight point V bar. From the moment I bought my first set of high quality road clinchers, I’ve ridden at that pressure. I started with that number because that’s the pressure the sidewall told me to pump them up to; I didn’t yet understand much about balancing the benefits of high and low pressures to optimize comfort and friction;...

@xced's posts:

  1. rule of thumb to start from: 1 bar for each 10kg of rider’s weight. easy! @motor city i’m also running the conti force / attack set. 8 bar in front, 7 point V on the back. great grip cornering! »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@xced's posts:

  1. @Deakus here you go: http://www.test-cycles.com/index.php »

The Tubeless Enigma

There must still be a few readers out there who have not followed the Dutch Monkey down the merry tubular path; for them I offer an update on an alternative. Road tubeless has been lauded as the best thing to happen to cycling since the introduction of seatpins. These have been around for years but the road version has not gathered the expected mom...

@xced's posts:

  1. back to tires, i went the tubeless way on one of my MTBs, initial set up is a bit of a PITA so swapping tires for particular ride conditions isn’t an option, other than that it has proven reliable, main advantage is that i can run a lower pressure and no… »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@xced's posts:

  1. you guys should meet in person and sort this all out »

La Vie Velominatus: Flemish Tan Lines

Clouds hang heavy in the sky, plump with a rain which contemplates the opportunity to hurl itself towards the Earth below. I get the sense that we wait for each other, the Rain and I; the rain relishes the opportunity to soak my clothes and skin, seeking to corrode my resolve while I cherish the opportunity to prove to myself that it will not be s...

@xced's posts:

  1. turns out the fendorbendor wouldn’t work on my bike anyway so I got an ass-saver. it does what it says. http://ass-savers.com/ »

The Rules

We are the Keepers of the Cog. In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@xced's posts:

  1. http://www.bicycling.com/mountainbikecom/featured-stories/cycling-s-raciest-calendar-returns one has to appreciate Barbara benko’s observance of Rule #7 »

In Memoriam: The Proper Head Badge

The days of the proper head badge, I’m afraid, are numbered. It seems it used to be that any road bike with a pedigree that was really worth riding was festooned with an artful adornment on the head tube. By that I mean something made with a bit of heft, stamped or cast of alloy and riveted front and center. More and more though we’re s...

@xced's posts:

  1. another cool looking one »

  2. very cool topic indeed :) »

La Vie Velominatus: Flemish Tan Lines

Clouds hang heavy in the sky, plump with a rain which contemplates the opportunity to hurl itself towards the Earth below. I get the sense that we wait for each other, the Rain and I; the rain relishes the opportunity to soak my clothes and skin, seeking to corrode my resolve while I cherish the opportunity to prove to myself that it will not be s...

@xced's posts:

  1. hey guys, i would never – ever – install a silly mudguard like wiggo’s but have been looking at this any one here knows about them?? they say that, being dutch, they know about rain, and i tend to believe it. »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@xced's posts:

  1. @Nate @Mikael Liddy @Daccordi Rider thanks to you too ;) »

  2. @graham d.m. thanks! i need some kind of support, as everyone seems to think i’m nuts. it’s my eighth bike… »

  3. here is my Pedalwan bike – my first proper road bike! »

  4. @Nate +1 their bikes are literally awesome »

Meditations on the V-Meter

There was no need for Rule #74 until the cyclometer showed up on our handlebars. According to the late Sheldon Brown, the cyclometer has been around since the early 1900s.“Star-wheel cyclometers, such as the Lucas unit, suffered two serious problems. They made an annoying “tink-tink-tink” noise. At high speeds, the star wheel would s...

@xced's posts:

  1. nice one! i like having data, but can’t stand the cyclometers. i’m using strava with my phone, which i’m keeping in my pocket so i don’t get distracted from the pleasure of the ride. »

The Rules

We are the Keepers of the Cog. In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@xced's posts:

  1. brilliant! but something tells me he did not obey Rule #55 »

La Vie Velominatus: Flemish Tan Lines

Clouds hang heavy in the sky, plump with a rain which contemplates the opportunity to hurl itself towards the Earth below. I get the sense that we wait for each other, the Rain and I; the rain relishes the opportunity to soak my clothes and skin, seeking to corrode my resolve while I cherish the opportunity to prove to myself that it will not be s...

@xced's posts:

  1. @minion http://imgur.com/eHL4e »

  2. @czmiel like you, i only have one road bike… i’m now going to clean it while observing Rule #47 »

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