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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550

I would like a large version to ride to work, like sitting in a bathtub moving very slowly
 

Montana rider

Turbo Monkey
Mar 14, 2005
1,741
2,164
The solution to your weight loss is clearly to start spending more time in the 'shed with Mike...


It doesn't sound like your calculations factor in the possibility of increasing muscle mass.

If you are able to replace a percentage of your fat / Kare pan with increased muscle and fitness then your metabolism would stay higher than your previous 'baseline' irrespective of whether you're "dieting" or "fasting" -- right?

I've found as I get older (~50 this year) the quick tricks (ie watch what you eat for a few weeks, avoid late meals) no longer work or take much longer to achieve the same effect.

I've been on the JPB day laborer workout program fixing up the cabin and while I haven't lost much "weight" per se, I have a bit more upper body strength and my pants are loose again...

Hoping for a good fall biking season to make up for slacking off...

YMMV
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Muscle mass increasing metabolic rate is a factor, yes, but there are numerous pathways that the body uses to dial back that rate if merely using calorie restriction. See The Biggest Loser figure that I inlined--these people were exercising incredible amounts (or so I'm told--never watched it) and thus presumably increased muscle mass yet had their metabolic rate drop 500-1500+ cal/day.

I don't foresee myself going much over 175 lbs lean mass on my 5' 8" frame anyway. If I could cut to 190 lbs and maintain that lean mass I'd be ripped instead of looking like an underinflated Bibendum.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
More re The Biggest Loser. Their experiences are those of calorie restriction dieters writ large, literally.


Weight loss at the end of the competition was (mean ± SD) 58.3 ± 24.9 kg (P < 0.0001), and RMR decreased by 610 ± 483 kcal/day (P = 0.0004). After 6 years, 41.0 ± 31.3 kg of the lost weight was regained (P = 0.0002), while RMR was 704 ± 427 kcal/day below baseline (P < 0.0001) and metabolic adaptation was −499 ± 207 kcal/day (P < 0.0001).
So they regained over 2/3rds of the weight loss and now have a permanently slowed metabolism, even slower than when they were at their nadir!
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
The 470 mm reach Commencal was nice, but I think I will stick to occasional DH days and just rent each time. It didn’t feel too long, but then again I couldn’t get the front end up, either.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Last night I mentioned to the wife-bot my plan to jettison the Tesla sometime in the January 2020-May 2020 timeframe, as long as I can get enough for it such that its monthly cost inclusive of tax is $600 or less.

She parried that she likes to drive it and would vote to keep it if it were more practical for the (3) kids. (It’s good with any combination of 2 of the 3 except for the whole lean-under-low-roofline-to-buckle-kid aspect.)

So I might keep it medium term for that reason, or if the resale market is soft such that I can’t get my number.

Or I might keep it until the Y ships: Now that the elder kid can harness herself in reliably the third row in the Y might be useful enough for day to day use.

I’d daily the Land Cruiser and bike commute as possible. The minivan and 3 would be sold or traded for the sales tax benefit. Wife would have a Y for kid shuttling: baby and middle kid in 2nd row, half up half down 3rd row for elder kid.

At that size it clearly wouldn’t be a road trip vehicle for all of us so I could go with a standard range RWD model even... hmm. Perhaps an option dependent on shipping realities vs her other future options (Chrysler Portal, Mercedes EQV, VW ID Buzz).
 

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,862
4,159
Copenhagen, Denmark
You need to put some more thinking into your car choices :-)

The new Renault Zoe electric is looking good for a nice city car but not for the US crowd plus I have no excuse to get a second car:


I on the other hand is about to buy a robot lawn mower and I think it will be a fancy model from Husqvarna that I have been able to get at a discount from them.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Not necessarily for me—my belt drive commuter works well enough and I don’t have enough service appointments to really need something like this. Rather for commuters who want to transition to public transit but have the last mile problem. Something less capable, lighter, and more portable probably would be ideal.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I didn't see much if any fanfare about this in the press, but Colorado recently enacted an extension to its "innovative motor vehicle" tax credit program.

House Bill 19-1159 as signed into law by Governor Polis on May 31, 2019

This table summarizes the new credit, with I think a typo for "light duty… vehicle over 8,500 GVWR":



For context the light duty vehicle credit was $6k and applicable towards used vehicles not previously registered in CO until 12/31/16. The previous iteration of this current 2017+ credit was to be $5k 2019, $4k 2020, $2.5k 2021, then 0. Now it goes $5k 2019, $4k 2020, $2.5k in 2021 and 2022, $2k from 2023 through 2025. (What's changed is thus what is in italics in the table.)

Better than nothing, I guess.

Some definitions for the purposes of this credit that may or not be interesting:

- electric or PHEV vehicles need at least a 4 kWh battery and ability to plug in to charge
- 4 wheels, 55 mph+ top speed, legal to register in CO are mandated
- no used vehicles eligible since 2017
- light duty electric truck category is for GVWR < 10,000
- medium duty electric truck category is for 10,001-26,000 GVWR
- heavy duty electric truck category is for 26,001+ GVWR
The gas F-150 has a GVWR range depending on trim/cab of 6,100-7,050 lbs, so an electric F-150 would presumably similarly be well < 10,000 and thus a light duty electric truck.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I had two robust morning poops just now—robust dinner last night after a 25.5 hour fast. I weighed myself before and after poop 2.

I weighed 0.2 lbs more per my scale after the second poop. Magic!?
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,941
13,134
Portland, OR
@jimmydean Once/if you finish Frita and you want another project then this is promising:

I was just reading about the 912 they did with a Model S motor that was about 550hp and looked awesome.

The 914 at work forever ago was certainly along those lines of classic (even better air cooled) ev with usable range and serviceable parts.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I rode Mountain Lion today, which is not noteworthy in and of itself. What is new is that I did finally used the second battery that I’d bought within a month of buying the Shuttle (so at a 20% discount via GBS).

I had 3/5 bars on battery #1 when I turned in the bike to GBS for the wheel retensioning so probably would have been fine (as that means I used 2/5) but with that poor level of granularity of state of charge I thought it safer to use battery #2 which turns out to have drifted down to 4/5 bars just sitting on the shelf—BMS self-balancing is my guess.

Swapping batteries on the Shuttle is not a super easy process. 8 T25 Torx screws, 2 4 mm Allen head screws and just over 11 minutes as I timed myself. All that for a cleaner look and a slightly lower CoG. Probably worth the tradeoff given that I apparently haven’t seen the need to swap much at all.

(@SkaredShtles may recall that I tried to swap batteries one day when I rode with him mid day after an earlier jaunt, but was stymied at that time since Pivot uses a custom front piece for the otherwise-all-Shimano battery into which the two Allen screws thread. Said custom piece was later acquired from Pivot and now all is in order.)

((Retensioned wheels seem to be fine now. We’ll see how they hold up.))
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550



Truck GVWR vs. payload illiteracy at work. From the text by James Gilboy:

The Tesla's driver told weigh station operators that "the truck is meeting or exceeding the range estimates" with an alleged 75,000-pound test payload of nine concrete blocks on their trailer.
Uh, no. Most states have a max GVWR of 80,000 for 5 axles, and the semi + trailer tare weight isn't 5,000 lbs...

The actual CHP post from which this content was cribbed is correct, as one would expect given that they police overweight vehicles: https://www.facebook.com/CHP.TruckeeScales/posts/2683646465013336

Tesla is out testing the new electric truck tractor. The driver stated the concrete blocks are for testing purposes only. According to the driver the truck is operating at approximately 75,000 lbs and the truck is meeting or exceeding the range estimates. Electric trucks are definitely the future. We look forward to seeing more electric trucks on the road.
"The truck is operating at approximately 75,000 lbs" means the gross weight including the tare weight and the payload (maybe 45k lbs?) total 75,000, under that 80,000 limit as above.

:facepalm:
 

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
Not necessarily for me—my belt drive commuter works well enough and I don’t have enough service appointments to really need something like this. Rather for commuters who want to transition to public transit but have the last mile problem. Something less capable, lighter, and more portable probably would be ideal.
I assumed it was a generic: ‘A 16” wheeled, folding, plus e-bike? What the actual fuck!’ facepalm rather than a personal attacking. Maybe.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I assumed it was a generic: ‘A 16” wheeled, folding, plus e-bike? What the actual fuck!’ facepalm rather than a personal attacking. Maybe.
I interpreted it as "you don't need more electric stuff, fat boy!"

which is also true.

:D
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I would like a personal flying-pod, yes please


I'm pretty sure I posted a video of a prototype of it many pages back. This one is a toy, only for use over water like in the video. Max height is 10 feet from water surface so I'm guessing it relies on ground effect?

This other model of theirs seems more promising. 2 person capability, autonomous, VTOL but then a pusher prop and normal wing for 93 mph flight. 62 mile range.

 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
An update on Mariko's school stuffs, for anyone who might care:

Backstory is that she tests high on the WISC-IV but only got 90th percentile on Denver Public Schools' preferred kindergarten-level test, the NNAT. 90th gets her bupkis from DPS in terms of admission to magnet schools (97th unless one is FRL, which we are not) or even in-school pullouts (95th).

Through her network of moms of similar local kids my wife got word of the Young Scholars program through the Davidson Institute. It sounds pretty good:

The Davidson Young Scholars program provides FREE services designed to nurture the intellectual, social, emotional, and academic development of profoundly intelligent young people between the ages of 5 and 18 (students must be between the ages of 5 and 16 when applying).

Families choose their level of involvement in each of the following:

Gifted students in a chemistry class in a lab Consulting Services
Family Consultants offer individualized support. We can assist with resource location, school navigation, talent development, college planning, academic support, and social and emotional development.

An Online Community
Our private website provides the opportunity to connect, share experiences, and learn from other parents and Young Scholars, as well as participate in online seminars with experts in various fields. We also offer online fee-based middle school classes exclusively for Young Scholars.

In-person Connections
Attend the annual summer event to meet other Young Scholar families and the Davidson Institute team, or make local connections by attending informal get-togethers arranged by Young Scholar families throughout the year.

Community Service Endeavors
Young Scholars may submit their community service activities to be recognized in the online community. They may also apply to the Ambassador Program to develop, initiate and manage a significant community service project with training and advisement support.

Summer Programs (fee-based)
Residential summer programs are available for Young Scholars ages 8-16. More information
Well, we applied, having the kid's summer cooking class teacher (who also has similar kids) be her reference instead of her kindergarten teacher, who was nonplussed in general. She's now officially in the program, and we hope the consulting services/advocate part of it will be of aid to her as we navigate the bureaucracy of DPS.

She'll also be taking the CogAT this fall in 1st grade as an official DPS-administered thing. We've admonished her to actually pay attention and try to get everything right, as we're not positive she actually did that on the NNAT, not to mention that that test was with a computer with mouse and keyboard, something she's not used to at her age.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550


An update on the Italian minivan.

Note the very high percentage of electric only miles despite the 33 or so mile electric only range. Having a level 2 EVSE that takes it from empty to full charge in 2 hours flat enables this.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,138
16,537
Riding the baggage carousel.
@Pesqueeb Do you have ProPilot Assist on that Renault thing of yours? Thoughts on the system if so?
I do. I find it giggle worthy. Certainly useful on the freeway, capable of navigating any freeway speed curves, stop and go cruise is nice, though it auto kicks off after 3 seconds at full stop. Kind of wish it had a longer window, 5-6 seconds would be more appropriate IMO. Lane keep ping-pongs a bit. Definitely seems to be reactionary vs fwd looking, if that makes sense. Mountain roads are a bit trickier. As long as the lanes are marked well the car navigates them appropriately. Any curve marked for 60 or less seems to be a too much for auto-steer and it gets close enough to the edge/lane departure warning to force you to take over. Adaptive cruise is very nice in this car, compared to the mazda. While they both have this feature it seems much more natural in the Nissan.

City driving, meh. Lane keep kicks off as you pass through basically any intersection, but will come back on after 2-3 seconds. One lane stripe also is not enough to keep the car focused. Perhaps in a city with functioning infrastructure this wouldn't be an issue, but here in libertarian wonderland things like proper road markings are a slippery slope to gay agenda re-education camps.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Like it totally turns off after 3 seconds? Or forces you to hit resume to start moving again?

When I test drove that Rogue with it I found that it had a lot of trouble finding the lane lines in the city. The Tesla is very willing to use the curb or the cut edge of the asphalt as one of two lane markings, for better or worse.

I find the adaptive cruise in the PacHy to be better calibrated than that in the Tesla. The Tesla’s is too responsive in slowing down and speeding up, at least in normal throttle response mode (as opposed to Chill or whatever it’s called). The PacHy has softer braking responses if someone cuts in, which is more like what a person would do. It does try to gun it if slow traffic clears out and suddenly the road is clear (which would kick it from electric into gas, too), so we’ve learned to instinctively turn it off immediately if that situation crops up.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,138
16,537
Riding the baggage carousel.
Like it totally turns off after 3 seconds? Or forces you to hit resume to start moving again?
I phrased that poorly, one needs to hit resume.

I find the Mazda to be like how you describe the Tesla, someone moves in in front of you it brakes pretty hard. Hard enough to elicit a "response" from my uptight, right seat driver, wife. Acceleration is much the same, goes to what feels like 80-90% throttle the second traffic opens up. It's quite obviously not "natural".

Pro-pilot feels much more "human" in regards to slowing/accelerating.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Ok, good. Resume is acceptable--PacHy does the same at 3 seconds. (Tesla will resume on its own at any interval, which is occasionally disconcerting if you've been stopped for a long while at a light.)

The Outlander PHEV I test drove (and the Jeep Grand Cherokee as well, for that matter) would actually turn off after coming to a cruise-dictated stop. Beep, beep, turn off, start creeping forward on its own. This is the worst of both worlds.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
I dove elbows deep into the math of how much interest I'll pay on car notes and the mortgage, and it looks like attacking the car notes and student loans with utmost zeal and then refinancing the mortgage to 10 years (with the goal of paying it down in 5-6 years from that point) is in order.

If I do nothing but the term minimum payments the car notes will be done in 2023-2024, and the student loans (except for one small random one) in 2023. So I can aim to get those done by 2022 if I stay focused, perhaps? Or at least 2023 for everything. Then 5-6 years from that is 2028-2029, or 9-10 years from now.

I could potentially be debt free in 10 years. That's when I can drop to 0.7 FTE…

Yass.

:fancy:
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
On the topic of things that could push back that 10 years a bit:

Mercedes-Benz EQV unveiled

(if you're having deja vu it's because the Concept EQV was unveiled before as opposed to this production spec)







150 kW motor, 100 kWh pack (90 kWh usable), estimated 405 km/250 mile range. 11 kW on board charger, 110 kW DC fast charging capability, presumably via CCS. I have not seen US availability confirmed yet, let alone a price.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Got two rides in today, Mountain Lion and then White Ranch from the top lot. Something like 2,700 vert between the two.

I didn’t swap battery packs (although I had the extra pack and the tools to change it in the back of the vehicle) as I had 3/5 bars after Mountain Lion, and it worked out fine.

Was down to 2/5 charge bars and probably on the edge of dropping to 1 by the end of the slog back uphill, but I called my ride because I was feeling tired, not because I was worried about the pack proper. That extending the route would involve doing Maverick (thumbs up) and then up upper Longhorn to the lot (thumbs down for climbing up a trail with a million water bars) made the choice easy.



EBLAS photo

 
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