@ascentale @plactagonic @bikenite A7: Peats Ridge Festival is/was a music festival with eco vibes. One year a friend organised a group ride to and from site plus bike repair stall and promo stuff. That was much fun, not least because we had some eccentric English EDM people with a dome tent (20-odd metres across!) and a solar powered sound system. So we helped them set up and hung out with them.

Was awesome.

@ascentale @A_denie @bikenite A8: Australian road trains will go past on the other side of the road if they can, and will lean on the horn to let you know they're coming through if they can't (slowing down is expensive and takes a surprisingly long time). So if you're in road train country and hear a train horn, look behind and pull off the road if necessary :)

Also, they talk to each other so often they'll know where you are before they see you.

@ascentale @sam @bikenite Q5: the LBS that really surprised me was someone selling cheap flood-damaged Rohloffs who turned out to be a grumpy old bastard, but who was the sort of eccentric that buys a container load of flood damaged bike parts. He saw my weird bike, we had a great chat and my 'pop in to pick stuff up' took nearly two hours.

During which he told two people to piss off and threatened to call the cops on another.

@ascentale @wesley @bikenite A4: yes, but I have towing attachments built for the purpose. Just strapping the front wheel to the side of the longtail rack is common, they even make attachments to facilitate that. So I'd do that and use the trailer as you say, ideally using a stick to extend the towing arm so it stays pointed more or less in the direction of travel :)

@ascentale @markn @bikenite A3: Te Waka O Maui, Aotearoa, on the Otago Rail Trail with my longtail touring bike. It was a great tour, I didn't really have a plan so I just rode round looking at interesting things for a few weeks.

I know the country fairly well, I wasn't lost and I had a pretty good idea of where to go. But I saw a bunch of 'historic dam 5km up side road' type things. And visited some sites that are significant to me.

@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A2: I regularly take 'short cuts' or just ride down streets to see where they go. Or navigate by going in the general direction of my destination. It mostly works, only occasionally do I have to backtrack more than a kilometre.

IMO that's part of the fun of being on a bike and not in a hurry.

@ascentale @cainmark @bikenite A2: I used to ride a channelised creek for part of my commute and day there'd been enough rain that it was marginal. Turned out that a clump of grass I needed to brush through was quite solid. So me and the velomobile went swimming. On a nice frosty Melbourne morning.

Luckily the velomobile is plastic, and a wind shield, so by the time I got to work I was warm and wet rather than cold and wet.

@ascentale @bikenite A2. I found this interesting and realized a few things about it: I already followed most of what it said, what I didn't was generally good new knowledge, and I disagreed with a few things. The helmet thing mostly because I live in a bike unfriendly area.

But this is because I was a utility cyclist first not a recreational cyclist. So I have pragmatic views that doesn't jive with the other types of riders sometimes.*
#bikenite #biketooter #mastobikes #cycling

@ascentale @pete @bikenite

#BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite

Seven days a week.

4-5 Short rides to work and back
3-4 40-50km training rides
1-2 100km+ day trips

Plus
3-4 weeks of cyclo-tourisme per year

@ascentale @ai6yr @bikenite #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite

I think if you are wearing lightweight cycling shoes then specialised thin socks really work, if you prefer normal shoes then I would go for normal socks too.

I literally could not fit my foot with a "white cotton athletic" sock into my cycling shoes.

A good thin unpadded sock in cycling shoes that fit will last for years, and your feet stay dry and unblistered.

@ascentale @scottsthoughts @bikenite A8: if you're up for DIY there's everything from plastic buckets bolted on (via clips if you prefer) to plastic welding with a heat gun to DIY Ortleib-style panniers in the size and shape you prefer. I've built the latter to fit various recumbents in the past.