Stephen Touset

4,875 reputation

927

bio	website	touset.org
	location	San Francisco, CA
	age	29
visits	member for	2 years
	seen	26 mins ago
stats	profile views	103

Cyclist. Rubyist.

	4,875 reputation	bio	website	touset.org	visits	member for	2 years
927 badges		location	San Francisco, CA		seen	26 mins ago

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1d	comment	Is having your hands “on the hoods” of drop handlebars safe for braking? Yes, but descending as fast as possible using flawless technique is fun. :) I also suspect that on most types of curvy mountain descents, wind resistance won't slow you down enough to make braking from the hoods safe.
1d	comment	Is having your hands “on the hoods” of drop handlebars safe for braking? Yep. Indeed I did.
1d	comment	What tools on a multi-tool do I actually need? @DanielRHicks Don't forget a chain breaker.
May 15	comment	Does frame size inside a particular model affect the ride characteristics of the bike? Never purchase a bike before riding it, full stop.
May 15	comment	Does frame size inside a particular model affect the ride characteristics of the bike? Even if it is, what is that even supposed to mean? Does it matter? If the bike fits you, is fast, and light, buy it. If it's not, don't.
May 14	comment	Why did I feel like crap after racing against a car? Alternatively, do hard efforts close to this more often. Your body reacted this way because you don't frequently stress it to similar levels. Relatively untrained people will experience these symptoms after engaging in a hard effort. Biking harder, for longer distances, or both will increase the threshold where this phenomenon occurs.
May 13	comment	How do you protect your bike from scratches? No need to delete the post. It's a valid question. But the responses in the comments are valid too. :)
May 7	comment	How to get back on the road again? @Johnny I believe the disagreement here may be caused by a different understanding of the condition described by OP. heltonbiker appears to believe the edge of the road is a "ramp", while you appear to believe it is a "ledge". I've asked for clarification from OP.
May 7	comment	How to get back on the road again? Does the road smoothly drop down 3–10cm (e.g. a "ramp"), or is does it immediately drop that distance when the paved surface ends (e.g., a "ledge")?
May 6	comment	What are the benefits of a carbon seatpost? Not to mention, aluminum can fail catastrophically too.
Apr 22	comment	Can Garmin Edge 500/510 and 800/810 be charged while riding? Apparently it's possible. Garmin also sells a battery pack, the description of which appears to indicate suitability for 24-hour races.
Apr 8	comment	How hard is a category 2 climb? And the Strava segment.
Apr 8	comment	How hard is a category 2 climb? Keep in mind, though, that you should adapt pretty quickly to the climb. A 5.5% grade is pretty reasonable, and not nearly as soul-crushing as something like a 9–12% grade can be. You should be able to make constant progress, even if slow, whereas steeper grades can simply be prohibitively unrideable for long distances.
Mar 28	comment	How to protect myself when falling off the bicycle What do you propose a person crashing do to protect their spine or ribcage? I don't believe there's anything one can do about those parts of the body, particularly if their hands are preoccupied with the head.
Feb 26	comment	getting in and out of shape If he's doing 10 mile rides, I don't think he's probably approaching VO2 max. That said, maybe I am wrong about the amount of fitness you can lose over 2.5 weeks. But I still suspect the greater likelihood is his body is recovering from illness.
Feb 26	comment	getting in and out of shape 3 days seems like an insanely short period of time to notice any loss in aerobic fitness. I too would like to see evidence supporting this claim.
Feb 13	comment	My front wheel steers right. How do I solve it? Holy hell. Ever since I've been riding a new (to me), bike, I've been unable to ride without holding the handlebars, despite it being trivial on my previous bike. I've never been able to figure it out until now. Turns out, it was the seat. Have an upvote, sir.
Feb 1	comment	What's best engine to motorize a road bike Joke answer: Legs.
Jan 25	comment	How to protect myself when falling off the bicycle Even given the update, I believe that this advice is dangerous and misses the point. When you are involved in a crash, the number one priority is to protect your head. The number two priority is to protect your limbs. Period. Considering the physics of a fall assuming you are a spherical body is irrelevant to the forces experienced in an actual crash, and any reduction in force you experience from extending your deceleration is immaterial unless you are crashing into a solid obstacle like a wall. Your body does not experience significantly more trauma in a 30ft slide versus a 35ft slide.
Jan 11	comment	How to protect myself when falling off the bicycle Stated differently, the physics provided considers your body as a singular mass, and recommends an approach that may marginally decrease overall force experienced by your body while significantly increasing the risk substantially higher forces on localized parts of your body (e.g., limbs). Unless you are a perfectly spherical mass (hey, I'm not judging here), this advice gets the physics (mostly) right but completely ignores context.