Road bikes are finished

In a recent conversation, someone said, “Road bikes are about as good as they are ever going to get.”  That was a bold statement, but the more I listened and thought about it. I had to agree.  Road bikes are about as light as they can be, as stiff as one wants then to be, about as aero as they can be and between tubeless, discs and the evolution of modern shifting, those are pretty close to optimal as well.  

I recall the stiffness journey as frames, cranksets, shoes, and wheels all got stiffer and stiffer, before getting more compliant.  The frame shapes that once traded aerodynamics for weight now manage to tick both boxes.  The axle standards have settled in at 12mm TA. Disc brakes are now standard and we are never going back.

There isn’t any frontier that has much to give up for road bikes.  

Mountain bikes and gravel bikes are still changing and changing rapidly.  AS amazing as those bikes are, there is more to come.  

Privacy isn't what it used to be

 

Apparently, I'm dead.

As a kid when we would get a new phone book I would open it and find our name and phone number.   As an adult I went to the trouble to get an unlisted phone number.  Today I'm on the FCC do not call list.   

When the internet was fresh, it was interesting to type in your name and see what came up.   Now it is scary.  Name, birthdate, address, phone number, spouse and employers past and present all pop up.  Also showing up are former spouses, their spouses, kids, parents, former addresses.... all connected to me! Too much for my liking. 

It turns out that even when your data is taken from legal sources (tax records, public filings, etc.) it is still YOUR data and you have a say in how it can be shared.  But it takes action.

A tech savvy friend told me what it would take to get my info removed from the websites that collect and offer up our personal data.  I spent about an hour starting the process myself and was overwhelmed. I realized it would take me hours of effort spread out over weeks, no, months, no.... years!  

There were three things that struck me; first it would take a ton of one time effort to remove my personal information, second, I would need to learn how to do it as the rules keep changing and third, as new services pop up, or my data resurfaces I would have to search out my info and repeat the process again and again and again.

Knowledge, expertise and sophisticated tools, that is what makes something a business opportunity.  There must be a company that does this.

My Data Removal does this.  You confirm who you are and what data is yours (they can't remove incorrect data, only real data) and they remove your data from the sites that mine your data.  On an ongoing basis they use software to constantly look for your data to pop up again and if it does, they remove it again.  I'm at a point in my life where I have enough assets that I am someone who can be targeted and also someone who does not mind paying less than my coffee budget to keep my data safe.  No brainer.  I would strongly recommend you consider this.