Facebook and Me

Last week I watched the Netflix documentary “The Great Hack,” which told the story of how a British company, Cambridge Anilitica, used online profiles of millions of people to manipulate not only the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election, but the outcome of the UK’s Brexit vote.

The Great Hack didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already suspect, but it did bring home the enormity of the operation, and the lengths people will go, for the purpose of making money. Facebook was the main tool they used, and their strategy was alarmingly simple.

Through online profiles they sought out people who were undecided, and lived in key states and areas, and bombarded them with advertising, and fake news.

It has been obvious to me for some time now that if I buy something online, or even simply research something, I am immediately swamped with ads for that same item. It becomes clear that my online data is being collected by someone, or someone’s robot.

It is one thing however to have someone sell you a product that you may or may not want, but another to be able to buy the outcome of a democratic election. It is alarming to say the least.

The first knee jerk reaction is to say, screw Facebook, I’ll remove myself. But in my case that would hurt me more than it would them. I have spent many years building an online presence. This blog has been here since 2005, that represents hundreds of hours writing.

I left the bike business 26 years ago and at times it feels like I am still selling the bikes I built, and in a way I am. But not for the purpose of making money, don’t expect to. I do it for the personal satisfaction of knowing I built a worthwhile product that people still enjoy.

I would hate for this Facebook group to disappear, and If anyone does decide to leave, I hope they will still follow this blog and stay in touch. The Dave Moulton Bike FB page is an example what Facebook claims was their original intention. To bring people together.

The page does just that, there is never a political or a hateful comment, just people sharing a common interest.

Shame on you Mark Zuckerberg for allowing a wonderful idea to be used in this manner. I hope when you get to be my age you can say you left the World a better place than when you came into it.

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E-Bikes and Scooters

My last article about bicycle steering brought the following comment from Steve. I know Steve as a long-time reader of this blog, and often asks thought provoking questions.

“What do you think of the sudden fascination with scooters, which used to be considered a child's toy, now a legit, and preferred over bikes, transportation mode?

(Compare the irony of bicycles being seen as toys to scooters not viewed that way.)

Is a scooter's steering as safe as a bicycle?

Does leaning help or hinder steering and the stability of a scooter, with its geometry?

Do the companies that unloaded these onto the public know the physics of riding scooters? I know the people don't, they just ride them, which is the same with bicycles.

You don't need to know the physics behind riding a bike, because science only helps explain the act of riding. And riding well has nothing to do with knowing the science of riding a bike.”

The traditional child’s scooter is relatively safe and doesn’t even need brakes. It is kind of like running with one leg, and when you want to stop you simply stop running. The small wheels gather very little momentum, even downhill, and often it precedes a child’s first bicycle.

Add an electric motor and it worries me to see very young children riding these. A few years ago, right around Christmas, I witnessed a girl about 12 years old riding an electric scooter in the street outside my home.

She appeared to be traveling at about 15 mph. As I watched her ride up the street about 100 yards from my house, the scooter suddenly pitched forward, and she went down hard on her face. She lay motionless in the road. I was about to run out to assist her, when her parents came running out. Her father picked her up and carried her indoors. I never saw her ride that scooter again.

From what I witnessed, and the fact she was outside her own home, I surmise she turned the handlebars to steer into her driveway. She was probably going too fast and the front wheel flipped 90 degrees and sent her over the top landing on her face.

This can happen on a bicycle too, and usually causes the front fork blades to be bent sideways. In all my years framebuilding, I straightened many forks bent in this fashion. The difference is, the bike has to hit a serious pothole, or most often is the result of touching another rider’s back wheel.

The larger wheels on a bicycle give it stability, and it would be difficult to accidentally turn the front wheel 90 degrees, unless you hit some object.

If you put a child, or for that matter an inexperienced adult on a bicycle, they will be riding relatively slow to begin with, and should they fall, injuries will nothing more that a few scrapes and bruises.

By the time the rider has the ability to ride fast, he or she as gathered some bike handling skills along the way. Not so with e-bikes and electric scooters, you have the instant ability to ride fast without necessarily having the skills to ride at such speeds. Making this person a danger, not only to themselves, but everyone else they encounter.

My opinion is, if you add a motor, it no longer a bicycle, it is a motorcycle, and if you are going to ride a motorcycle, get a proper one, like a Harley-Davidson. You will at least get more respect from other road users.

As for Steve’s question about the scooter’s popularity. I can only surmise that people have no shame anymore. What next Electric Pogo Sticks?

Feel free to add your views for or against E-Bikes and Electric Scooters.

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Going around corners

Roll a wheel or for that matter any round flat object on a flat surface and it will roll in a circle. Even something as small as a coin. It will continue rolling in ever decreasing circles until it finally falls and settles in one spot. This is a demonstration of gyroscopic action, and the way it works.

That is, a spinning wheel will remain upright as long as it keeps spinning. When it loses momentum and starts to fall it will turn in the direction it is falling, which is why it rolls in a circle.

This law of physics gives a bicycle a simple built-in self-steering capability. You can demonstrate this to yourself by holding a wheel in both hands by the spindle and spinning it. The first thing you will notice is that the wheel wants to stay upright in the same plane, demonstrating the first law mentioned in the paragraph above.

If you forcibly move the top of the wheel to the left or right as it is spinning it will also turn in the direction you are leaning it. Just as a rolling coin will turn in the direction it is falling. As you lean a bicycle into a corner it will steer itself around the corner.

Let’s not forget the rear wheel. Although it is in a fixed position and cannot turn within the frame, it is still spinning and leaning therefore assisting in steering the bike as a whole around the corner. 

Because the steering tube on a road bike is angled forward, usually at an angle of 73 degrees, when the steering is turned, the fork blade that is on the inside of the turn drops and the other side raises. Therefore, the front and rear hubs are not in the same plane. (See top picture.)

If the head angle of a bicycle was vertical (90 degrees.) when you turned the handlebars to round a corner, the front and rear hubs would remain in the same plane. 

Going through a turn the front wheel is leaning slightly more than the rear wheel. This adds to the stability of the bike because the front wheel is outside the centerline of the frame. 

Because the front wheel is leaning slightly more than the rear wheel, it is turning at a slightly tighter turning radius, creating over steer. This is a good thing, centrifugal forces are pushing the bike wide on the corner, over steer is counteracting this.

Again, the law of physics states that a moving object will travel in a straight line until an opposing force causes it to change direction. These centrifugal we speak of are nothing more than momentum causing the bike and rider to continue straight while attempting to turn left or right.

We lean into the corner; the wheels steer us in the direction we need to go, and gravity counterbalances the forces that want us to keep us going straight.

At slow speeds this is an instinctive move, higher speeds require more skill. Lean too little and you will go wide and off the road on the outside. Lean too far and the bike will slide out from under you, and you will slide across the road in the direction momentum wanted to take you in the first place.

The design of the bike, in particular the frame will give the bike these desired steering qualities. Head angles, fork rake and wheelbase, even the weight distribution of the rider, all play a role. After that it is the skill of the rider. Done right it is a joy to execute, and a joy to watch others do properly.

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Dave’s Bread Pudding

When I started racing in the 1950s there were no protein bars, the food we carried in our jersey pockets while racing, or musette bags on long training rides, was prepared at home. One of my favorites was my mother’s bread pudding.

Many bread pudding recipes turn out so soft that you need a spoon to eat them, and too wet and sloppy to carry in your pocked and eat in your hand. This bread pudding could be cut in handy size pieces, wrapped in grease proof paper or aluminum foil, and would not fall apart in your pocket or your hand as you ate it.

However, it was moist like a pudding, rather than dry like a cake. Therefore, easy to chow down while riding. I can pretty much remember what went into it, having watched my mother make her bread pudding for many years, long before I even got into bike racing.

The main ingredient was left over stale bread, milk, eggs, butter, etc. like any cake or pudding, but what proportions for the ingredients?

There was only one way to find out, actually put one together, bake it and eat it. Maybe my mother was looking over my shoulder as I assembled it, because it turned out exactly as I remember.

Ingredients:

8 cups white bread, cut into ½ inch cubes. If you can crumble the bread further into breadcrumbs, even better.

3/4 cup raisins.

3/4 cup brown coconut sugar, (Substitute regular brown sugar.)

4 cups whole milk.

3 Large Eggs.

2  Tablespoons Coconut oil. (Substitute butter.)

4 Tablespoons Cocoa or cooking chocolate.

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Directions:

Mix the cubed or crumbled bread thoroughly with the raisins, then place in a greased dish, to fill the bottom of the dish to the halfway line. (Grease dish with additional coconut oil or butter.)

Place all the other 6 ingredients in a blender and blend. If you don’t have a blender mix thoroughly by hand.

Pour the liquid from the blender over the breadcrumbs to cover the bread completely, but not excessively. Use a little extra milk if it doesn’t.

I used a fairly large oven proof casserole dish, 10 in. x 10 in. x 2 ½ in. deep. It took 8 cups of bread (About 12 slices.) to half fill the dish. If you use a smaller dish, discover how much bread it will take to fill the dish to the halfway line, and scale back the other ingredients proportionately.

The pudding will rise slightly as it cooks, hence you only fill the dish halfway. But the dish needs to be deep enough that the uncooked pudding is at least one inch deep, or it may dry out in the center.

Place the open dish in the center of the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife pushed in the center comes out clean. I baked mine for 55 minutes, a smaller dish may take less time.

Allow to cool, then refrigerate. The bread pudding should be hard and crisp on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Cut into handy size pieces, and wrap in aluminum foil, or place in a zip-lock sandwich bag.

A good size piece like the one pictured above should be good for 50 miles. Your mileage may vary.

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Are Socks the New Necktie?

It used to be men wore suits and neckties, the tie was the way a man expressed his individuality, often his personality. Men had large collections of ties and would choose a different one each day, often his choice would reflect his mood that day.

If there was an important business meeting, job interview, or promotion in the offing, the choice of tie for that day was extremely important. Men would seek tie choice advice from wives, friends and colleagues.

Today, apart from certain businesses and formal wear, men wear suits less often. Some men don’t even own a suit.

If you see a man in a suit at McDonalds’ or riding a bus, he is probably on his way to court.

It used to be if a man wore a brown suit, it would be worn with brown shoes and socks.

The whole ensemble would match and blend in. Today it's okay to wear brown shoes with a dark blue or grey suit.

On occasions it seems men will wear a formal suit and tie and wear a pair if bright multi-color socks.

One doesn’t see the socks until the wearer sits down. They are a surprise item. 

I always think, ‘Wow, that man has balls. He is either the boss, very good at what he does, and therefore indispensable, or he’s a celebrity.’

With more and more people abandoning the suit and tie altogether, and opting for casual wear, it occurred to me that without the necktie to express individuality, a person can do so by his choice of socks.

This thought came to me when I was contacted by Ozone Socks who asked if I would review their socks on my blog.

They offered to send me a free pair, and although it is nice to get free stuff, I opted to buy a pair of my own choice. If I am to wear socks that express my personality, then I need to choose them.

The socks I chose are mid-calf, I was impressed that they stay up but are not at all tight, they were light and extremely comfortable.

Check out the large selection of men’s and women’s socks at Ozone, the art of socks.

By the way, I took a selfie of my own socks, (See top picture.) not easy without a selfie stick. Just goes to show for an old guy, I’m still pretty flexible.

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