James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

[Santapez]

Man, being a little rough on @Norm?



Last year i flew Frontier to Salt Lake City, which they have like 10 different options to upgrade seats. On the way out, my seat didn't recline and had less padding or something. So on the way back I had a connection, on the first leg, which was shorter, I went for more leg room but still no reclining but less seat cushion. On the longer leg, I went for all the upgrades (below first class) and somehow messed up, had leg room, cushy seat, wider seat BUT STILL NO RECLINE, I mean, WTF.

No. People are built differently. I'm not referring to someone his size. We've all been on planes and saw the huge 6'4" guy spilling out of the aisle seat feeling bad for them. I have less sympathy for the midwesterners.

Oddly I never feel the need to recline, unless the person in front of me does. I think what I miss most is the pre-planning and grabbing those seats with the more leg room at the same cost. Looking at what seats are better, checking the flight the day of the flight to see if any of those seats opened, etc. Now they just charge more $$.

 

[Patrick]

Many of the seats don't recline anymore - esp discount airlines ala frontier and allegiant. it makes the seats cost and weigh less.

Exit row FTW. No kids in that row. more room automatically.
always buy advanced boarding/seating, to get the overhead nearby. assuming the overhead fee is paid..why make the seat any more cramped....

paying those fees means being treated better by the gate people - if you have a "question" about seats with more room, they can make it happen.
if they see you've already spent some coin, they can let it slide for customer satisfaction. more than likely they won't make you
"size" that slightly oversized piece of carry-on too. get back in the cattle area, and they are looking to suck more $$ out.

from a company perspective, esp if not billing for travel time, and doing it during non-work hours, the co should be happy to pay an upgrade.

--

also when possible, fly out of trenton or allentown. totally different experience.

--

i miss bringing my own liquor in the plane!

who remembers...



as an aside, it was the same advertising company that served phillip-morris.

 

[Norm]

Hey, I'm not short.

I have a United card so I always board group 2 no matter what. I don't check my carry-on. The group 3/4/5 schlubs can eat it.

 

[MadisonDan]

Exit row FTW. No kids in that row. more room automatically.

This, with an *

If there are two exit rows, sit in the second row. The seats in the first exit row (and the row in front of that) will not recline (so they don't block the EMERGENCY EXIT).

I have a United card so I always board group 2 no matter what. I don't check my carry-on. The group 3/4/5 schlubs can eat it.

+1 on this, plus the United Club stuff for all you can eat cookies and beer FTW.

 

[jnos]

The cheap seats people want dirt cheap and are willing to give up a bit for it.

The extra room seats and such I do agree is bullshit, but I think that comes down to people not paying those additional costs. When I fly personally I get the cheapest seats and am willing to give up any sense of luxury for 2.5 hours. If I'm flying for business and expensing it, I check off that $75 charge for more leg room. I'm willing to bet the people sitting in those seats are:
-People who aren't paying the additional cost
-People who couldn't get cheapest seats due to them being sold out.
-People who throw money around. They're buying the lattes and muffins in the airport and living paycheck to paycheck.
-Large people for whom it's worth it.

I'm short and not fat anymore, so I'm fully aware the cheap seats are probably less of an issue for me. I'll sit with the cargo to save $100.

Options are really dependent on the flight and the plane. A 2 hour flight to Detroit, you get economy or first. Nothing in between. On my last flight to Europe (on a 747), I booked Economy Deluxe (or whatever it's called). It was somehow cheaper than regular economy (probably some fluke regarding timing and availability) and was basically like first class on a domestic flight in terms of seat quality, leg room, and food.

Being group 2 is key if you want that overhead space. If you don't have priority boarding with United, get a window seat. That puts you in group 3. Aisle seats are group 5.

 

[Norm]

This is for @i ride after 5

This is ALL THE THINGS worth seeing. No explanation. Just the food.

 

[Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST]

Love it!

 

[BCurry]

What’s the chocolate pyramid? Fudge?

 

[rottin']

@Norm was that all at one meal?

 

[Norm]

It's a new year.

I think one of the problems in keeping up with this blog is that a large portion of what I write isn't really much to do with biking anymore. At the same time, my "audience" is really just the bikers here and as much as I could extract it out and put it back on the Blogger site, would it garner any views or comments at all? I am fairly sure that it would not. All it would do is serve as a central place to collect my random thoughts over the years. But then I ask, is that of any value? I do not know.

I also say to myself, from time to time, that I should just randomly sit down and put something in the blog here. I mean, even if it is 3 sentences and nothing more than that. A simple, "Hey I'm here!....not dead yet...k thanks bye."

I am not so tough that I want to ride outside very much now. And since I have joined @fidodie in the winter challenge, I am hiding my indoor rides. I also know that posting about trainer rides immediately causes a penis-measuring contest where blind anger comes out of the woodwork. That is one thing I will never really understand about the demographic here - but let me refrain from that.

It's a new year. But why bother with a new blog? I mean, for now, we will stick this one out. James (pronounced 'HA-mes') says blogging is dead. I am not doing so much to counter that argument. In fact, I am probably supporting it.

Here is something I know. The trainer rides in the last 2 days have been far more productive. Yesterday my HR was 147, which is usually impossibly hard. I have been tweaking my setup and I have gone with the laptop equipped with Netflix/Youtube and the Ecoxgear speaker to make it loud enough to hear over the bike & fan noise. I have been able to get in real workouts, and not the half-assed efforts of winters past.

Lots of good things to look forward to this year. I enjoyed writing the Xmas letter we sent out this year so I want to try to write more. If I manage to do that, perhaps you'll get to hear about it. If not, well there's always Instagram.

I like this picture:

 

[jShort]

No earbuds? That's madness

 

[Ryan.P]

Christmas letter was cool , but it's 2018 and blogging is Def dead now

 

[Patrick]

can i just click like - meaning i liked it - in 2018? or do i need to post to say i liked it, and click to say i read it?

i think there are people not keeping their trainer rides off the leaderboards! thank you sir.

everyone likes pie - you never talk about pie. although i think you talked about pi once.

 

[rlb]

I also know that posting about trainer rides immediately causes a penis-measuring contest where blind anger comes out of the woodwork.

Well technically if you ride inside there's no shrinkage...

I enjoy reading your entries here, though I don't always catch all of them. I think the collective is past the point where we need everything to be about bikes. Look at some of the most active threads here these days.

 

[stb222]

Trainers rides are ok as long as they aren’t called rides and they don’t go towards any kinda of streak. It is annoying now that 80% percent of the people I follow are now only posting Zwift rides.

One of my co workers did a workout where he got 75 PRs, I wonder if this actually gives a sense of achievement? I am sure it does, similar to KOMs and PRs on Strava but in a game with a trainer? Maybe I will ask him, they already think I am an elistist DB so what’s the difference, minus will play into the roll.

But screw it, I am at a loss for goals at the moment, maybe I will turn to fitness goals as I am transitioning out of the milestone phase. Not sure wtf to do if I stop riding most days though, suggestions?

 

[Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST]

@Norm I like reading your blog.
Maybe you should write a book.

 

[Santapez]

The trainer definitely has it's place. It's a way better workout on a weekday night when it's 9 degrees and dark out than I'd do otherwise. Or weekend for that matter now that it's so damn cold out.

And the biking things are intertwined with the non-biking things. If all you did was bike stuff, you'd be boring.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Trainers rides are ok as long as they aren’t called rides and they don’t go towards any kinda of streak. It is annoying now that 80% percent of the people I follow are now only posting Zwift rides.

One of my co workers did a workout where he got 75 PRs, I wonder if this actually gives a sense of achievement? I am sure it does, similar to KOMs and PRs on Strava but in a game with a trainer? Maybe I will ask him, they already think I am an elistist DB so what’s the difference, minus will play into the roll.

But screw it, I am at a loss for goals at the moment, maybe I will turn to fitness goals as I am transitioning out of the milestone phase. Not sure wtf to do if I stop riding most days though, suggestions?

Hmmm, I see what you are saying. Zwifting isn’t riding but it may be much more difficult than some “real “ rides people do. I know someone that zwifted all last winter, rarely getting outside because he has teo young boys and then came out and killed it at HOH. Another friend alternates between zwift races and outdoor rides pretty much every other day because of time constraints. He’s putting in the time but should it not count? I usually avoid zwift because the trainer is for work. Here and there I can incorporate it into my workout but it is far from fun.

 

[stb222]

Hmmm, I see what you are saying. Zwifting isn’t riding but it may be much more difficult than some “real “ rides people do. I know someone that zwifted all last winter, rarely getting outside because he has teo young boys and then came out and killed it at HOH. Another friend alternates between zwift races and outdoor rides pretty much every other day because of time constraints. He’s putting in the time but should it not count? I usually avoid zwift because the trainer is for work. Here and there I can incorporate it into my workout but it is far from fun.

I think what you wrote is exactly why I don't ride a trainer, regardless of zwift or not. Riding bikes and some kind of fitness go hand in hand but I have never stepped on a bike with the goal of it being a workout. I have ridden a trainer, exactly twice for a total of maybe an hour after my son was born. I also bought rollers when my girls were born and rode them twice, maybe 3 times for a total of an hour. The rollers were slightly more tolerable. It didn't take long for me to determine that I like to ride bikes, not just exercise on them. I am sure there are plenty of people that are stronger/faster/whatever because of trainer, but they just aren't for me.

That being said, I put my saddle time in and do my work., it just follows no structure other than riding most days.

 

[UtahJoe]

Why wasnt your letter hand written? It was like the trainer version of a bike ride

Never apologize for trainer rides.