Sheldon Brown

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

But only if you have FUN doing the ride:
<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/thons.html>.

These events have never seemed like suffering to me. I get to
socialize with a ton of other cyclists; usually there are sag wagons,
mechanics at the rest stops, FOOD at the rest stops, enthusiastic
volunteers, and on and on. It's one big party with a nice long ride
thrown in, plus I get to raise money for medical research -- who could
ask for more?

Suffering? Hardly. :-)

-JR

SlowRider said:

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

But only if you have FUN doing the ride:
<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/thons.html>.

These events have never seemed like suffering to me. I get to
socialize with a ton of other cyclists; usually there are sag wagons,
mechanics at the rest stops, FOOD at the rest stops, enthusiastic
volunteers, and on and on. It's one big party with a nice long ride
thrown in, plus I get to raise money for medical research -- who could
ask for more?

Suffering? Hardly. :-)

But I'll bet you're an experienced cyclist, or you wouldn't be on this
Newsgroup.

It's the _newbies_ who suffer, and many of them get turned off of
cycling by trying to bite off more than they can chew...

Sheldon "Not For Everyone" Brown
+-----------------------------------------+
| Bicycling isn't supposed to hurt! See: |
| http://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html |
+-----------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Sheldon Brown said:

It's the _newbies_ who suffer, and many of them get turned off of
cycling by trying to bite off more than they can chew...

....from the man himself!

You've got a point there - in fact I've seen more than a few
not-so-newbies beating their bodies into submission on some challenging
rides.

I will say, though, that well-organized events take pains to emphasize
training months in advance of the longer rides. Some even organize
several pre-event training rides. If newbies ignore those
opportunities, then yup, they're going to be in deep doo-doo come ride
day.

Sometimes it takes a bad experience to appreciate the need for
training...

-JR

Sheldon Brown said:

SlowRider said:

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

But only if you have FUN doing the ride:
<http://www.sheldonbrown.com/thons.html>.

These events have never seemed like suffering to me. I get to
socialize with a ton of other cyclists; usually there are sag wagons,
mechanics at the rest stops, FOOD at the rest stops, enthusiastic
volunteers, and on and on. It's one big party with a nice long ride
thrown in, plus I get to raise money for medical research -- who could
ask for more?

Suffering? Hardly. :-)

But I'll bet you're an experienced cyclist, or you wouldn't be on this
Newsgroup.

It's the _newbies_ who suffer, and many of them get turned off of
cycling by trying to bite off more than they can chew...

I've done the mechanical support for the MS150 in my state for the past
several years. I do see quite a few riders who don't have enough base
mileage prior to the event and/or come out on an inappropriate bike.
That said, I don't recall seeing many folks who "suffered" to the point
of being turned off to cycling. More often, I see those folks back the
next year, better triained and/or on more appropriate bikes. The ride
has a very high returning rider rate. We have rest stops every 10
miles, really great lunch stops (with real food, not just sandwiches
and such), a "no stigma" sag program, a great "awards dinner" on
Saturday night and a really great group of riders.

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me. I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it. You don't know nearly as much about
politics, government and history as you do about bicycles. And really,
that [censored]-looking beard has got to go!!

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me. I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it. You don't know nearly as much
about politics, government and history as you do about bicycles. And
really, that [censored]-looking beard has got to go!!

Ah, the sun is in the sky, coffee is fresh, and /folson/ has made a complete
ass of himself (ASSuming he here) once again.

A new day is underway.

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me.

Thanckx, glad to help.

Quoted message said:

I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it.

Here's a tip: I generally keep my idiotic politial beliefs on my
_personal_ sites, sheldonbrown.ORG and sheldonbrown.NET. Those are the
ones you should avoid if you want to maintain your intellectual and
political purity.

While the my bleeding-heart liberal, tax-and-spend Democrat outlook may
somehwat pervade my thinking and writing, I try to keep most of the
more overtly political stuff out of the bicycle stuff at
sheldonbrown.COM

Quoted message said:

You don't know nearly as much about
politics, government and history as you do about bicycles.

True.

Quoted message said:

And really, that [censored]-looking beard has got to go!!

I tried that a couple of years ago, but when I discovered how many
chins I actually have, I realized it has to stay! ;-)

See: http://sheldonbrown.org/journal/journal-0305.html

Sheldon "Barbarossa" Brown
+----------------------------------------------+
| In politics stupidity is not a handicap. |
| --Napoleon |
+----------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me.

JUST STOP THERE

Quoted message said:

I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it. You don't know nearly as much about
politics, government and history as you do about bicycles. And really,
that [censored]-looking beard has got to go!!

I just wish you hadn't ruined your message of sympathy.

I doubt there are many people who know as much about politics, government
and history as Sheldon knows about bicycles.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me.

JUST STOP THERE

Quoted message said:

I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it. You don't know nearly as much about
politics, government and history as you do about bicycles. And really,
that [censored]-looking beard has got to go!!

I just wish you hadn't ruined your message of sympathy.

I doubt there are many people who know as much about politics, government
and history as Sheldon knows about bicycles.

On Nov 4, 10:50 am, "Edward Dolan" <[email hidden]> wrote:

***

Quoted message said:

A new day is underway.To wear a beard in this day and age is a sign of the barbarian. I do not
like any facial hair at all. It makes men look even dippier than they
already look. God, it is just so pathetic the way some men strive to gain
fake masculinity by wearing ridiculous looking facial hair. I mean, it is so
uncouth!

By the way, there are no women who ever liked men with beards. Even the
Greeks and Romans had sense enough to be clean shaven. It was only the
barbarians who looked like the savages that they were with beards down to
their navels. Hey, you look like an ape, you will behave like one too.

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine ...

And of course a large proportion of those acknowledged as saints by
anyone but themselves.

--
Paul Turner

On Nov 4, 10:50 am, "Edward Dolan" <[email hidden]> wrote:

***

Quoted message said:

A new day is underway.To wear a beard in this day and age is a sign of the barbarian. I do not
like any facial hair at all. It makes men look even dippier than they
already look. God, it is just so pathetic the way some men strive to gain
fake masculinity by wearing ridiculous looking facial hair. I mean, it is so
uncouth!

By the way, there are no women who ever liked men with beards. Even the
Greeks and Romans had sense enough to be clean shaven. It was only the
barbarians who looked like the savages that they were with beards down to
their navels. Hey, you look like an ape, you will behave like one too.

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine ...

And of course a large proportion of those acknowledged as saints by
anyone but themselves.

--
Paul Turner

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it.

Here's a tip: I generally keep my idiotic politial beliefs on my
_personal_ sites, sheldonbrown.ORG and sheldonbrown.NET. Those are the
ones you should avoid if you want to maintain your intellectual and
political purity.

I love the way that you handle these messages! I've seen a few
directed your way and I'm always impressed with your responses!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You don't know nearly as much about
politics, government and history as you do about bicycles.

True.

Quoted message said:

+----------------------------------------------+
| In politics stupidity is not a handicap. |
| --Napoleon |
+----------------------------------------------+

Was this part of your comeback? If not, quite an impressive
coincidence! :-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me.

I'll add my voice to those who are saddened to hear about your illness,
Sheldon. MS, in the words of Teri Garr, is "a vicious, nasty, sonofabich
of a disease." It's also completely idiosyncratic and unpredictable.
Some people are completely debilitated by it. OTOH, I read once about a
guy who went to bed one night completely healthy, and woke up the next
morning paralyzed in half of his body from MS. He fought back to a point
where he was able to do a Colorado "grand slam"--there are 54 mountains in
that state over 14,000' feet high, and he climbed them all.
May I offer some observations from the POV of a parent with a kid with
MS? (I'm not a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, and I could as
easily be wrong as right, but sometimes a detached perspective can be
useful.) If I read your account correctly, you've had an awfully large
number of those ridiculously expensive MRI's. Maybe your case is just a
difficult one to diagnose, but I think if I were in your shoes I'd be
asking the doctors why so many. My daughter's lesions are plain as day in
her MRI images. Are they doing anything for you besides taking pictures
and running tests? There are drug treatments out there, and maybe it's
time to start treating, not just diagnosing. At the risk of sounding like
a pharmaceutical company commercial, I suggest that maybe you should "ask
your doctor if Tisabri is right for you."
Judging from your posts and your web page, you are an intelligent, good
humored, tenacious, fit man. Use all of those qualities in your fight.
If bicycling gets too tricky for you, you might want to try yoga. My
daughter has done very well with it. Don't be like her in one other way,
though. If the docs tell you to jab yourself with needles,
fercryinoutloud do it.
Have you discovered alt.support.mult-sclerosis yet? It's a lot like
this group: fraught with spam, off-topic posts, and trolls. But there as
here you still meet some very knowledgeable, worth-while people.
NOTE TO ALL: it's kind of a silver lining to the dark cloud of MS that
it is linked surprisingly closely to bicycling. State and local MS
societies all over the country sponsor rides that raise substantial
amounts of money for MS treatment and research. The one I'm involved
with, for instance, raised over a million dollars last year. The Texas
MS-150, which IIRC runs one-way from Houston to Austin, has attracted so
many participants that they've had to put a cap on it: 13,000 riders!
MS is surprisingly common. If you went to school with 1000 kids, the
law of averages says that sooner or later two of the girls and one of the
boys will be diagnosed with MS. Even if you don't know anyone personally
who has MS, you know of well-known people who have it. Richard Pryor had
MS. So do Annette Funicello, Montel Williams, Teri Garr, Roman Gabriel,
David Lander, Alan Osmond, Louise Mandrell, and half a million others.
Cases range from mild to severe, and the onset can come late, as it has
with Sheldon, or early in childhood.
Anybody here who wants to do more than just offer sympathy to Sheldon
can join in and ride in an MS-150. Anyone who doesn't have time to ride
can donate. I will be posting a link sometime next year for anyone who
wants to support my ride, and I invite other riders to do the same.

Bill in Utah

__o | A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier,
_`\(,_ | there's no question about it.
(_)/ (_) | --George W. Bush (AP, 7/27/2001)

Quoted message said:

...
Judging from your posts and your web page, you are an intelligent, good
humored, tenacious, fit man. Use all of those qualities in your fight.
If bicycling gets too tricky for you, you might want to try yoga. My
daughter has done very well with it....

Sheldon Brown has already addressed the issue of bicycling being too
difficult: <http://www.sheldonbrown.org/greenspeed/> and
<http://www.sheldonbrown.org/journal/health.html>.

--
Tom Sherman - Post Free or Die!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me.

I'll add my voice to those who are saddened to hear about your
illness, Sheldon. MS, in the words of Teri Garr, is "a vicious,
nasty, sonofabich of a disease." It's also completely idiosyncratic
and unpredictable. Some people are completely debilitated by it.
OTOH, I read once about a guy who went to bed one night completely
healthy, and woke up the next morning paralyzed in half of his body
from MS. He fought back to a point where he was able to do a
Colorado "grand slam"--there are 54 mountains in that state over
14,000' feet high, and he climbed them all. May I offer some
observations from the POV of a parent with a kid with MS? (I'm not a
doctor by any stretch of the imagination, and I could as easily be
wrong as right, but sometimes a detached perspective can be useful.)
If I read your account correctly, you've had an awfully large number
of those ridiculously expensive MRI's. Maybe your case is just a
difficult one to diagnose, but I think if I were in your shoes I'd be
asking the doctors why so many. My daughter's lesions are plain as
day in her MRI images. Are they doing anything for you besides
taking pictures and running tests? There are drug treatments out
there, and maybe it's time to start treating, not just diagnosing.
At the risk of sounding like a pharmaceutical company commercial, I
suggest that maybe you should "ask your doctor if Tisabri is right
for you." Judging from your posts and your web page, you are an
intelligent, good humored, tenacious, fit man. Use all of those
qualities in your fight. If bicycling gets too tricky for you, you
might want to try yoga. My daughter has done very well with it.
Don't be like her in one other way, though. If the docs tell you to
jab yourself with needles, fercryinoutloud do it. Have you
discovered alt.support.mult-sclerosis yet? It's a lot like
this group: fraught with spam, off-topic posts, and trolls. But
there as here you still meet some very knowledgeable, worth-while
people. NOTE TO ALL: it's kind of a silver lining to the dark
cloud of MS that it is linked surprisingly closely to bicycling.
State and local MS societies all over the country sponsor rides that
raise substantial amounts of money for MS treatment and research.
The one I'm involved with, for instance, raised over a million
dollars last year. The Texas MS-150, which IIRC runs one-way from
Houston to Austin, has attracted so many participants that they've
had to put a cap on it: 13,000 riders! MS is surprisingly common.
If you went to school with 1000 kids, the
law of averages says that sooner or later two of the girls and one of
the boys will be diagnosed with MS. Even if you don't know anyone
personally who has MS, you know of well-known people who have it.
Richard Pryor had MS. So do Annette Funicello, Montel Williams, Teri
Garr, Roman Gabriel, David Lander, Alan Osmond, Louise Mandrell, and
half a million others. Cases range from mild to severe, and the onset
can come late, as it has with Sheldon, or early in childhood.
Anybody here who wants to do more than just offer sympathy to
Sheldon can join in and ride in an MS-150. Anyone who doesn't have
time to ride can donate. I will be posting a link sometime next year
for anyone who wants to support my ride, and I invite other riders to
do the same.

Great post, Johhny Sunset notwithstanding.

Edward Dolan said:

By the way, there are no women who ever liked men with beards. Even the
Greeks and Romans had sense enough to be clean shaven.

The Greeks and Romans were not looking to have sexual
relations with _women_.

Kenny said:

Came across some information concerning Sheldon on RBR.

http://sheldonbrown.org/journal/health.html

Sincere if belated best wishes to Sheldon.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Mike Kruger said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Sorry to hear about your poor health, Sheldon, because your site has
been a help to me.

JUST STOP THERE

Quoted message said:

I just wish you hadn't ruined it by injecting your
idiotic political beliefs into it. You don't know nearly as much about
politics, government and history as you do about bicycles. And really,
that [censored]-looking beard has got to go!!

I just wish you hadn't ruined your message of sympathy.

Trolls being what they are- pathetic people desperate for *any*
attention, even if it is negative- I doubt either folson or Dolan will
take your message to heart. Of course, I also doubt they realize that
if someday they were to develop a debilitating condition that prevented
them from posting here the likely reaction wouldn't be an outpouring of
well wishes but a mostly unspoken, "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy".
Not a particularly humanitarian attitude but a well deserved one.

Regards,
Bob Hunt