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Archives for January 2009

A crook attacks Bike Noob

01.05.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Woke up to a phone call this morning from my credit card company. They wanted to verify some charges on my card that they thought were suspicious. I’ve gotten these calls before, as I’m sure we all have, but usually it’s a matter of travel, and making two card purchases from oddball places on the same day.

Not so this morning. Some ne’er-do-well racked up thousands of dollars in charges to bogus online hotel reservation sites, luggage services, and an airline. We told the card company that the charges were not ours. Our charge account has been closed.

I should have seen it coming. Several days ago, I noticed some unusual activity on my SiteMeter account. One particular IP address in Singapore accessed Bike Noob several times in the same day.  Several?  More like nine.  Now, I’ve had readers from Singapore since the earliest days of this blog, but this one’s behavior was different.  Sometimes he would access the home page, other times archived posts. He wouldn’t click to other pages within the blog, but would always start over.  The stays were never more than a few seconds. Clearly, this was not the typical Bike Noob reader.

So, I’ve been frantically wasting time changing passwords to all the websites that require passwords.  I’ve tried to come up with something strong, but still easy to remember.  This is no fun.

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Categories // Blogging Tags // Blogging

Level that saddle

01.02.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

Some time ago, I read a tip about riding position that said you should use a carpenter’s level to make sure the saddle is in the right position.

A few days before Christmas, I remembered the tip, and spent a little time in the garage doing just that. It turned out the saddle was tilted up a few degrees, more than I had expected. Maybe that’s why I’d been feeling sore down there after a longish ride.

allezThe saddle looks level in this picture from September, but it turns out that it wasn’t. I think the sloping top tube throws off the eye, making the saddle seem flat, when it’s really tilted up. Even though it’s tilted, it will still look flat when compared to the top tube.

I assume the saddle was level when I bought the bike. I had them switch out the original white saddle for a black one, and I hope they leveled it. After a few months of riding, I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts tilting one way or the other. Maybe that’s why the suggestion is to check its level once every month. Getting the saddle level again didn’t take long, although every time I thought I got it right, the pressure from the Allen nut would raise it. After several tries, I got it the way I wanted it.

I’ve now had several rides with the new saddle position. I hardly notice it, which I guess is the goal. Today, I did 19 miles of hills in strong wind. I wore some older shorts with rather thin padding. No problems with my bottom, but it’s time to start including more hills in my workouts again!

Anyway, if you’re not as comfortable aboard the bike as you think you should be, a few minutes with a level should help out.

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Categories // Equipment, soreness Tags // saddle

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