January 13, 20171 Comment on If you plan to ride in the Santa Cruz Mountains this weekend …
The forecast predicts wonderful riding weather throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast for this Martin Luther King Jr Day weekend, but this past week of heavy rain and high winds have taken their toll on mountain and coastal roads.
Boulder Creek resident Liz Tyler took this photo 1/4 mile up Bear Creek from Hwy 9. #scspost #santacruzstorm pic.twitter.com/wkigkxUsYW
— Ryan Masters (@ryanmasters831) January 9, 2017
January 2, 20176 Comments on How to download your Relive.cc ride video
Relive.cc connects to your Strava profile to create ride videos after each Strava upload. It’s a fun toy to review the terrain of your ride, but sometimes I want to add audio to share the video with friends. How can I download the source video so I can create these edits?
December 30, 2016Leave a Comment
Happy New Year, all. San Jose Bike Train rolls this coming Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 8:15 A.M.
If you can make your way to the vicinity of downtown San Jose, join us the first week of 2017 at Caffe Bel Bacio located directly on the Guadalupe River Trail between Julian and St James Streets in San Jose’s Little Italy.
Over the past couple of years we’ve kind of evolved into a coffee klatch. I and others are generally at the coffee shop by 8 A.M., then we depart at 8:15 for a casual, slow-paced group ride along the trail to destinations north.
December 20, 20162 Comments on Affordable conspicuity
Quick Reminder: The last San Jose Bike Train of 2016 rolls on the Winter Solstice, departing Caffe Bel Bacio in San Jose’s Little Italy at 8:15 A.M. on Wednesday, December 21, 2016. Bring a Santa hat for a group photo!
After I warned you off ultra-cheap bicycle lights, Cherokee suggested this inexpensive knock-off of an older Magicshine bike light. I was skeptical, but for only $18 and free shipping I gave it a try.
December 14, 20162 Comments on My naive psychology of traffic violence
You’re in a crowd somewhere and large, 64-year-old dude begins to yell antagonistically at you from across the room. You try to be cool and ignore him but your adrenal glands automatically squeeze their juices in response. Your body prepares for fight or flight by increasing heart rate, respiration, and diverting blood flow to the muscles by restricting blood flow from other parts of the body such as digestion and higher brain function.
[ Note: This “BE UNSTOPPABLE” graphic is not an ad, as you’ll see below. ]
December 6, 201618 Comments on Buyer beware on those cheap “super bright” bicycle lights
I have always purchased bicycle lights from well-known, recognized brands, and over about the past decade I’ve favored American brands such as Nite Rider (based in San Diego) and Light and Motion (which does manufacturing outside of Monterey, California).
Made-In-America from an established brand with a reputation for quality translates into a premium price, and to be honest, I’ve been disappointed in the operational lifespan of these lights. Every light I’ve bought from Light & Motion and Nite Rider (and I’ve bought a couple of dozen) breaks or fails not long after the warranty period expires. Either the mounting hardware falls apart, or the the light itself just stops working. The only light on my bicycle that hasn’t fallen apart yet is the Bontrager Flare R, which still works great and which I still love.
If I pay $120 or more for a bike light, I would kind of like if it lasted more than a couple of years. I’ve always been suspicious of no-brand Chinese-designed lights, but they’re beginning to look a little more attractive. To see how these cheap lights compare against these lights from American companies, I bought this Super Bright L2 Bike Light USB Rechargeable Waterproof Bicycle Headlight.
The Amazon product reviews are universally four and five star so I expect at least a thousand lumens from this light. I charge it up, go for a night ride, and it’s perhaps half the brightness of my Light & Motion Urban 800, which tests at 801 lumens. If I expect 1200 lumens, I’m extremely disappointed when I only see 400 lumens.