A Most Dubious Honour

Like several of my blogging pals, I recently got an email from somebody who claimed to Love RANTWICK so much that it had been selected for a Top 50 bike blogs list.

I did not link to their website as their snazzy image links urged me to, because frankly the whole thing seemed a little fishy to me. I got an email from somebody else warning me of their unethical practices and how linking to them would damage my google page ranking a couple days later. I had no idea if that was true, but I had one other reason not to link or promote that list, because here's what it said about my blog:

"A bit of humorous ranting does take center stage in this blog. Most of it is bike-oriented: How sad to see the bikes covered in snow! How annoying to share the road with vehicles!"

Holy crap! When I pasted that text snippet from their site a "source:" link got added to my editing window automatically! That site must have some pretty funky scripts running on it to do that! If I had let it stay, I could have suffered honest to goodness Google-anger! Oh, that site is scummy for sure.

Anyway, back to my other reason for not linking to them: If you want a one night stand, you at least have to buy me a few drinks, miss Cate Newton (if that is even your real name)! Put another, less cryptic way, if you are gonna use me and my blog to forward your own webby interests, at least read the blog enough to get somewhat close to what it is about.

"How sad to see the bikes covered in snow!"? What the hell? Any bike with snow pic found on my blog is likely accompanied by much celebration.

"How annoying to share the road with vehicles!"? Are you insane? I very rarely, if ever, complain about other vehicles. I understand very well that the roadways are for everybody, not just bicycles. I don't rant about motorists, in fact I actively invite discussion with them on my blog, discussions in which I have displayed a great deal of diplomacy, I think.

In summary, these idiots are being sneaky with their website and using unethical linking practices, but on top of that, they are making my blog look like it is written by some whiny moron. About that, I will rant, because I am not whiny.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Kia Sportage Commercial - Share The Road

There is a car commercial that is airing (or aired) recently here in Canada that has me kind of intrigued. I have no idea if it has aired in any US  or European markets, so I figured I would post it and see what my very intelligent readers thought:

I find it encouraging and positive and manipulative and sort of ironic all at once, but I'll save the rest of my ramblings for the comments. Am I just being stupidly cynical about a perfectly good sign? What's your take? 

Yer Pal, R A N T W I C K

Cycling in Sticky Snow: Speed and Funky Fenders

This morning's ride was quite difficult since there was quite a lot of what I've heard some people call "shortbread" snow on all but the busiest streets. "Shortbread" seems pretty apt to me... it is kind of soft and squishy and sticky but not at all wet. Part of the fun of riding in winter, at least for me, is rising to the challenges and learning how to ride better in somewhat ugly conditions, so overall this morning's commute was great.

I wanted to write about this shortbread kind of snow that sticks easily in between the knobs on your tires and on just about anything else it hits. This kind of snow may be one of the best arguments for thinner tires in winter since they would be less likely to get gummed up. I currently use "standard" 1.9 inch MTB tires. They are Schwalbe Snow Studs and they have been fine for several years. The knobs have worn down enough now that sticky snow represents more of a problem than it used to. This morning a couple of things occurred to me that I wanted to mention.

If you have to stop for some reason while riding in the sticky stuff, your tire treads may be full of snow. Resuming riding can be tough, because you need some speed for centrifugal force to throw that sticky snow away and give you some grip back. If you can find a bare spot, even on the wrong side of the road, go to it if it is safe to do so. The small amount of speed it will offer may well clear your tires so they can better handle the next serving of shortbread.

Speaking of throwing snow out of your treads, fenders that are a real boon in the wet can be a real curse in the shortbread. Since my winter ride is a snow-specific Mutant, the fenders are set up in a way that might look wrong, but they work just right in my opinion.

The Front

I originally attached the fender in this funky way because it wouldn't work well with the disc brakes. I think something snapped off of it at one point too and that's when I zip tied that other stay to the fork. As a result, the fender shakes and rattles around quite a bit. Some might find that highly annoying, but the up side is that snow can't stick to it for long!

The Rear

One down side to this shorty fender setup is that it doesn't really protect the bike from the usual upward spray of the rear tire very well. I've always meant to add a bit of metal or something to it to push it back further while still allowing me to attach it to the rear bridge. Thankfully the 2nd best tub in town is there to block any spray until I get around to it.

If the colour of the pics is puzzling you, it is the result of some amber/pink lighting where I work. I didn't sepia tone pictures of my dirty mutant. That would be weird.

I know that designing a bike for such specific conditions is overkill for most people. I also know that many people would prefer a nice looking, attractive bicycle rather than this thing. The last thing I know is that this bike throws off the shortbread like nobody's business and never suffers from buildup under the fenders. Yeeeehawww! 



Thanks for reading! It feels good to write about cycling again, almost as good as cycling itself. Almost. Yer Pal, 

R A N T W I C K