Who has this Transaxle?

Well, the Rhode Island Bikeway is relatively safe (until my group of Geriatrics show up!), but since “Olga’s Cup and Saucer Cafe” closed in East Providence as a caffeine destination, we’ve been back on the streets.  Fortunately, I ride a LOT of back roads near me where there’s not much traffic around the upper Blackstone Valley.

This really made me chuckle, though>. “I commuted to work on bicycles for 15 years and only had a few accidents.”

Yeah, me too....for 12 yeahs.  I only remember the two bad ones (well, the worst one I can’t remember much of).  The four or five minor ones were mostly getting car doored by parallel parkers and besides buckling their door hinges, they got a severe tongue-lashing from me (it was usually epic and highly un-printable).  

BTW @Michael Pickett you can now ride the Blackstone Valley Greenway from downtown Worcester all the way down to Newport via the Rhode Island Bikeway.   A long way to go for a lobstah roll, but a very nice ride.

Good for you Stan, 18 pounds is well on your way.  Have you tried a carnivore diet? Or just some variant of keto? I wanted to come out of COVID minus 19 to 30 lbs myself  see what I did there .  
IMHO carnivore is the only satiating way to eat, but any way you lose it and keep it off is great.

I miss my custom made Marinoni super record 1983 version a lot these days, As I live near a bike path for the first time in my Life my mountain bike gets little use though.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

Well, the Rhode Island Bikeway is relatively safe, but since “Olga’s Cup and Saucer Cafe” closed in East Providence as a caffeine destination, we’ve been back on the streets. 

BTW @Michael Pickett you can now ride the Blackstone Valley Greenway from downtown Worcester all the way down to Newport via the Rhode Island Bikeway.   A long way to go for a lobstah roll, but a very nice ride.

Sad to hear about Olga's. I spent many an hour there. It's really cool that the Worcester to Newport bikeway is in place. I bet it's a beautiful ride these days (if it has stopped snowing).

Nope.....Snowed a little off and on just after lunch.  

Wicked windy today, too.

And I don’t ride below 50°F.   I’m old enough to be particular.

@Eric N posted:

. . . . cb 2210-2332 builders kit 170-200hp, and either a 185 65 r15 or 195 60 r15 mounted on vintage 5's. Rancho Transaxles recommended their Pro-street IRS model with a 3.88r/p - 3.11/1.93/1.22/.82 gearing.

Eric Nickell

IRS ???   Are you sure you want a IRS transaxle, not a swing-axle setup?

And, at 170-200 hp I think you'd be happier with 3.44 r&p.

He really wants IRS, Mark. Everybody should.

@Stan Galat congrats on dropping poundage. Me too, I lost 11 pounds since January. Working on it, but my wife keeps making awesome desserts, darn her. I'm sure my weight loss would be more...

I have 3 hobbies that my money gets used on, biking, kayaking and my Spyder. I got a job in a bike shop as a wrench to help support one of them. I want a new boat, but I also want to dry sump my car. What to do, what to do.... I live in the mountains next to Pisgah National Forest, close to a river, a few lakes, and lots of curvy tight mountain roads.

I don't do the road bike thing. That scares me. But I do have a gravel/adventure bike that I'll ride on backroads, gravel and light trail. For the trails I have a Specialized Stumpjumper carbon long travel. I also have 7-9 other misc bikes, but they only get brought out on special occasions. @Gordon Nichols I still have a 1989 Trek 950. It's on my trainer. I'd probably die if I rode it on the trails around here, but it was my adventure bike for most of it's life.

To add some transaxle content. Like I said, I live in the mountains so I need a tighter gearset. I hardly ever use 4th and I don't care to ever drive this car on a highway. All I know is it has a 3.44 ring and pinion. So when Danny moves on down here, he'll help me switch them out. Bwahahahaha.

I was actually shocked to see that I kept my weight stable during our 2020 trip to Hawaii (157, for you guys counting) and then as the Pandemic started we both dropped 4 to 5 pounds.  We thought about it and because we were getting groceries via "Instacart" (still do), rather than wandering the aisles of "Market 32", we weren't picking up impulse-buy snacks to eat.  Don't buy 'em, can't eat 'em.

So we've stayed +/- a couple of pounds for the past year.  I'm currently up 2 (at 155) but that'll come down by next week as I see a couple of good riding days coming up and some yard work.

I usually drop 2 - 3 pounds on a ride and gain back 75% of that overnight so I can run it up or down 3-ish pounds per week, depending on food intake (more salads for lunch = down) or miles ridden (less miles = up).  It's easily managed once you get used to the process and you know how much riding does what.

Just like deciding on transaxle gearing!

And yes, everyone should have an IRS rear, but those who don't can say that they're true to the original 356, right?  

@Stan Galat posted:

FWIW, @Joe Fortino was influential in finally getting me off my butt.

Aw thanks @Stan Galat! I bought a Peloton bike right before the pandemic hit (Dec. 2019) and with work travel cut and a healthy diet change I managed to drop 50lbs. I have been able to keep it off and ride about 350 miles per month. At some point I will dust off my Trek hybrid and get outside but I have a really nice set up and it works with my schedule. The treadmill and marathon medals are the wife's, I am definitely not built to run long distances.

IrS is king, of course.

@Joe Fortino - your best advice was, "it's OK to be hungry sometimes, I don't ALWAYS have to eat when I'm a little bit hungry". The thing that motivated me was when you said, "Once you start seeing results, it becomes a game - a challenge".

Both have proven to be 100% true.

So far, this is 100% diet related. I'm looking forward to being able to add the exercise component once I'm to a point where I can get on my bike again. Running is impossible - even walking is miserable (like most aging/fat tradesmen, my knees are shot).

50 lbs is a huge accomplishment. Most excellent, man.

I've dropped over 60 pounds from my high weight - 158 lbs.

Good for you all Joe, Stan and Michael.

My daughter a kinesiology grad and says to me dad, diet is 80% of weight loss and control, exercise is the icing on the cake.  She uses MyFitnesspad to track everything.

Being hungry a bit is sometimes needed, but if you never feel satiated, Carnivore will get you there and you will not feel your going crazy with hunger.  Just saying.

When I broke my arm in spring 2016 I ballooned in the stratosphere range and have been slowly going down using an on and off Keto diet but after Xmas I decided to go for it again and I have been on a carnivore only diet for a month now and I feel satiated pretty much, when I get hungry I have steak  

Maybe after we all get slim, we will get jacked

I'm up a few pounds this last year. But I'm also riding my bikes less, with all of the kids activities. I fast everyday for 18-20 hrs. This helps keep my hands out of the cookie jar, somewhat.

I also dont ride on the road often, too many people driving distracted.  Road is great for base miles, but its a bigger time suck for a good workout. I do have a Ti gravel bike, with a second road wheelset if I have the itch. I also have a 2000 Specialized Sworks mtb, that I have as a garage ornament. It is flawless and maybe has been ridden a couple of times. Its a neat conversation piece. My main mtb is a 2020 ibis Ripley v4. If I'm only able to get out once during the week. I have a 2020 Santa Cruz Chameleon carbon, setup as a Single speed that I ride for the best workout.

When Covid restrictions closed the gyms, my wife couldn't do her spin classes, so we bought the Peloton, and I converted a corner of the master into a workout area. This was the best decision, I got many kuddos from the wife on this one.

In addition to everything else, I also do my own house remodels / improvements (just ordered kitchen cabinets yesterday). This was my bargaining chip for the car purchase. I build her the kitchen- I get a car

Sigh...

Meanwhile my poor '12 Trek Domane sits in the garage and grows cobwebs.  For a number of years I rode 3-5 days a week at lunch on the Joint Base Charleston Weapons Station, which was a great way to get in shape (safely), but the folks I rode with dropped off and eventually I did as well.  Now that I'm not on base anymore I should be riding in my neighborhood, but the construction trucks and my work schedule have conspired to make that difficult.  So COVID-19 added about 19 that I have been struggling to rid myself of.  I have been doing resistance training 3 days a week and can see results, but that alone will not get rid of the padding around the middle.  Every time I walk by my poor, neglected bike I hear it call out to me.

Sigh...

I think I peaked out at 173 when we were down in South Carolina (on a 5'6" frame).  Lazyness, beer and a diet of processed foods did me in.  When we moved back to Massachusetts and I interviewed a new Gastroenterologist  (I had Ulcerative Colitis since 1993), he recommended this book to me:

https://www.amazon.com/Plan-El...ital-text&sr=1-1

Once I went through the book's discovery process and knew which foods weren't working for me and eliminated all of them, we ended up on what is basically the "Mediterranean Diet" with a few twists to accommodate our (slightly different) food allergies.  Dropping bad reactionary foods was huge for us.  I went from 173lbs. to 150 in about a month and then stabilized at 153 since then.  The whole process took less than three months and we ended up on a MUCH better diet: No processed foods, No beef or milk (we're lactose intolerant, so we use almond or coconut milk and sheep or goat chesses), lots of pan roasted veggies, little red meat (and then, just Bison), moderate fish (no shell fish for Kathy), minimal salt and sugar and so forth.  It is a very easy and fulfilling diet that we're certainly living well with.

Oh, and after three years on "The Plan" and being on our new diet, I had my every-other-year colonoscopy and my doc could find no indication of ulcerative colitis at the microscopic level (except for past scarring) so he pushed me out to 5-year scope intervals.  That's a pretty good endorsement, in my book.  For about 15 minutes I was a celebrity patient at UMASS Medical Center's Gastroenterology department for having beat Ulcerative Colitis.

That’s great! @Gordon Nichols thanks for the book recommendation... my copy comes tomorrow.

Just remember that it is NOT a diet book (even though it contains a bunch of really tasty recipes).  It is a book that helps you understand your body chemistry and how different foods react to that chemistry, good or bad.

Good luck with it, @Eric N

I just got back from a ride in the woods.

13.5 miles and 3700 feet of elevation change.

All the trees are ready to pop.

Sorry, no more transaxle content.