17.1 as pictured.

Great looking bike, very sleek looking.

One thing I never understood about those bikes though...the seat! Are you literally not supposed to sit 95% of the time when riding? Seats on road bikes look like the most uncomfortable thing ever.

The thing with saddles is you want one that supports your sit bones. You do this by getting the right width. As long as you are well supported, you will be comfortable. As for padding, any decent pair of bib shorts will make the lightest and hardest saddle feel comfy.

The honest truth is of the two race bikes I own, the mountain bike's saddle is the worst. They have more padding by nature so to shave weight you go narrower. Go narrower than your sit bones and you'll hate life. Thing is on a mtn bike you spend a lot of time out of the saddle. Road cycling.... Well lets just say I'm a seated climber.

Interesting. :)

By the way, you still down one of these days to do a photo shoot with my car? Just had tint done all around (fucking $679...shoot me) so I'm thinking maybe next weekend? Can't wash the inside of the windows for a few days so can't do it this weekend.

Yeah totally down.

I'll need the day off and weekends are tough but doable with notice. Also this time of year with a car = nothing between 10-4 because of the sun's angles.

Nice bike. I road a mountain bike for years all over and made the switch about 5 years ago to a nice carbon fiber Trek. What an amazing difference (especially since Santa Barbara isn't even remotely flat).

The only thing I would worry about on a road bike in Phoenix is that everything in the gutters seems to be sharp edged (trash, debris, and anything natural from local plant life).

I'd carry at least (2) tubes at all times (along with the co2 canisters).

I had enough problem with road tires on my mountain bike riding the streets when I lived there.

Do you keep your tires properly inflated? I've only had two flats in over 1,500 miles, and I don't exactly ride with care. :haha: I've not had a flat in 3 years of singletrack riding on my mtb ever since i switched over to a tubeless wheelset. I even run tires designed for tubes, and I ride technical terrain, still no flats. Tire pressure is the best defense over flats.

When I was in Santa Barbara in March, I had every intention of riding, but it happened to be almost 100 degrees the week I was there with humidity and I decided it wasn't worth it.

Well, 15 years ago when I was in college? Who knows. But since moving to SB 8 years ago I do regular maintenance on both of my bikes and haven't had too many problems.

But I guarantee you that with the narrow tires on your road bike, you'll be getting many many more flats. It's just part of riding them.

Perhaps you think this is my first road cycle? :shrug:

I'll be in SB in October (likely) and will be briging my bikes. Perhaps you might have some time off to show me some neat rides preferably in the ~50mi. range. A lot of the roads out of town that I have driven on seem very narrow and I've not seen cyclists on them, namely the road by the lake on the way to Santa Ynez.

So I took a trip to Sedona yesterday and damn what an awesome backdrop that would make for some photos...too bad it's 1.5 hours away. :P

Took a couple pictures with the cell phone...

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6428512_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._8072734_n.jpg

By the way...L'Auberge de Sedona has to be one of the most beautiful locations in all of Arizona...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...3&l=d789a06d1b

yeah I saw you blowing up facebook checking in everywehre in sedona.

L'auberge is awesome, did you eat brunch there?

Haha...oh yea, I forgot we're friends on Facebook. :P

Yea, had brunch there, shit is not cheap ($148 w/ tax & tip for two people! WTF!) and there wasn't even a price listed anywhere, found out after the fact.

well, they have to pay the bills somehow! I've had lunch on that patio a few times. It's one of my favorite places. Next time you go out of town within the state, you should contact me. There ain't much of this state I haven't covered.

In my prior life, we went to L'Auberge at least once per summer.

Those days are gone, however. I haven't been there since 2007. It is an amazing place, no question.

--don

Restaurant week is making me fat! First went to Cowboy Ciao, just got back from Fuego Tacos (thank goodness we didn't reserve for the bistro as it's rainy and cold), next I want to do Cheuvront.

So what's with the smokey smell and haze in the air today? A storm system just came through with rain and wind that cleaned out the air. Now this morning I wake up to a smoke smell and everything is all hazey. What is up? Some brush fire? Tire fire? They talked about it on the radio and didn't know what was going on, and I can't find anything online about it. Anyone know?

Blame Canada.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...-abk19-ON.html

I was checking out other forums and ran across this photo thread of Denver and almost crapped my pants. It shows hundreds and hundreds of the most beautiful buildings that we just don't have here and it's mostly JUST ONE NEIGHBORHOOD. A tad bummed.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=189739

Many people don't realize that Denver is a big city. It is more east coast than it is midwestern or west coast.

So I'm not sure why our own PhxDowntowner hasn't mentioned this since he's been posting here recently but check out this project of his:

Valley of the Sunflowers

Here's the info:
It sounds like an awesome project. I hope the City will let the lots they own be used for temporary projects like this that will reduce blight, dust, the urban heat island and beautify downtown.

It would be great if that series of lots between Roosevelt Row and the Downtown core (between like 3rd st and 7th St) could get fixed up first. I imagine visitors and folks here for Conventions would go check out Roosevelt Row more if the walk there wasn't so visually scary.