We’re all aware of the 5 levels of grief:
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Melancholy
Acceptance
Nicely, the climate sucks right here, and that is what I’ve been experiencing for the reason that Nice Apocalyptic Demise Blizzard of Two Thousand Twenty and Six arrived this previous weekend:
Denial: “It’s not gonna snow that a lot, they get these things flawed on a regular basis.”
Anger: “It’s nonetheless snowing? That is BULLSHIT. What the hell occurred to ‘local weather change?’ In line with Streetsblog it was by no means going to snow once more!”
Bargaining: “I’m not getting a fats bike.”
Now I’m caught between the fourth and fifth levels, these being Melancholy (“This sucks, life sucks, I hate it right here”), and Acceptance (“Fuck it, I’m getting a fats bike”), leaping round on the Cassette of Emotion like an under-tensioned derailleur as I wrestle in useless to regulate my psychological barrel adjuster. Look, what would you like from me? Final time I checked it was six (6) levels in American Freedom Items:
Plus there’s like a foot and a half of snow in every single place, and it’s not melting or getting washed away by rain anytime quickly:
This implies one of the best case state of affairs for the approaching days is freezing out on the street for so long as I can stand it (in the event you faux laborious sufficient you possibly can really persuade your self that street salt is the Strade Bianche), interspersed with lengthy durations of staring deep into the chasm of my very own psyche. Is it not with the ability to experience that I dread a lot? Or is it having to face myself? Do I merely love using for using’s sake? Or do I spend a lot time using as a result of I’m desperately avoiding introspection and frantically fleeing from some elementary reality that I’m unwilling and unable to confront? Positive, I inform myself that as I experience I’m reflecting and meditating and considering and all the remainder of it, however perhaps I’m simply rationalizing my very own escapism, blissed out on exercise-induced hormones and thus no higher than the drunk handed out on the sofa or the junkie on the nod. Possibly if I take a while off using I’ll not solely transfer into the “acceptance” section but in addition get one thing finished for as soon as–, one thing really essential that has nothing to do with bikes, like monetary planning or house enchancment or grooming all these uncared for physique components.
Both that, or perhaps I ought to simply get on a aircraft and go someplace heat till Could. Yeah, that sounds so much higher. I ponder what bike I ought to carry…
Talking of barrel adjusters, in the event you actually can’t stand them there’s all the time digital shifting:
If I wasn’t depressed sufficient earlier than, now I’ve to deal with the truth that I’ve devoted my total life to defending mechanical shifting from the digital onslaught, and but right here’s some man who with out even attempting has made maybe one of the best case in opposition to digital shifting that I’ve ever learn:
Nicely, it was certain to occur to me ultimately. My AXS battery died throughout a mountain bike experience, and I didn’t have a spare with me. With my derailleur caught in second gear and a flat, ten-mile bike path experience house, I used to be caught.
If solely I might change gears yet one more time, from second gear to one thing extra affordable, like ninth or tenth, I’d make it house at an affordable tempo. Paul didn’t have a battery on his bike, and neither did Chris, who we occurred to run into on the street simply outdoors the paths. I solely wanted to borrow an AXS battery for a minute!
Ah sure, if solely there have been a bicycle drivetrain that was capable of shift with none batteries in any respect. It could be like a perpetual movement machine! Sadly I don’t suppose we’ll ever see something like that in our lifetimes.
And sure, I invented the idea of mechanical shifting all on my own, similar to the creator singlehandedly invented the time period “MacGyver:”
Rising up, I used to be actually into the TV present MacGyver, the place the present’s titular character obtained himself out of each jam utilizing no matter easy gadgets he discovered round him. This was my likelihood to be similar to MacGyver.
That’s fairly intelligent of him, I can see “MacGyver” actually catching on as a verb.
Anyway, after determining how you can energy a derailleur with the world’s most annoying sort of battery, he determines that (shock!) it’s not sensible:
Clearly, the higher answer for bicycle parts which can be ineffective with out batteries is…extra extra bicycle parts that require batteries:
In the event you’re operating a RockShox Reverb AXS dropper publish, then you have already got a backup AXS battery in your bike, which you could possibly borrow to shift the bike into a correct gear. Or vice versa, if the dropper battery runs out and your publish is caught within the flawed place. I didn’t check the 9V trick on an AXS dropper publish, however I think about it might work too.
Think about a battery-powered derailleur ruining your day and concluding that you just additionally want a battery-powered seatpost. Superb.
However I suppose it’s the patron’s intuition to double down on silly purchases that retains the bicycle business transferring ahead…although even that has limits:
Gravaa could sound like a gravel-specific model of Strava, nevertheless it’s really a hub that routinely adjusts your tire strain, and their chapter is unhappy information certainly:
Right here’s what occurred:
So, we have been a bit stunned to listen to that Gravaa lately filed for chapter. Sadly, it appears that evidently simply because one thing is a good suggestion and performs as meant doesn’t imply it’s destined for industrial success. Whereas the Gravaa system has loved publicity from its partnership with Crew Visma Lease-a-Bike, the aforementioned victories, and has been available on the market and accessible to shoppers, it appears like gross sales quantity wasn’t fairly excessive sufficient to maintain the model afloat.
In an announcement from Gravaa’s Business Director, John Zopfi, he stated, “To really scale, two essential parts remained: a full tubeless setup and a cheaper price level. The tubeless setup was deliberate for launch in Q1. The cheaper price might solely be achieved by means of quantity. To achieve quantity, we would have liked to scale up. To scale up, we would have liked capital and agency commitments from potential quantity prospects.”
And right here’s a Company-to-English translation of Business Director John Zopfi’s feedback:
No person wished to pay for our fully pointless product.
That’s too unhealthy, as a result of I actually wished to have the ability to use my hub battery when my derailleur battery dies.
