u/Fanantic8099

I'm not sure if this is a good place to ask this, but it's a start.

I've always taken pictures on my trips to share with less able/willing to travel family members but seeing what YouTubers are doing with 360 cameras I decided it was finally time to upgrade my tech.

I picked up an insta x4 air because they got a nice discount last week when the x6 was released and I've been experimenting with the selfie stick and bike mount that came in the kit and am finding them a little inadequate to the task.

The gimbal mount by itself mounted to the handlebars makes decent POV video of a ride, but how do you get those shots where you pan to the scenery on the side without your arms ending up in the frame? (The 360 studio software is decently intuitive for framing, but can only show what the camera sees). I tried running the selfie stick out ahead and above a bit but that lead to the other issue I've encountered.

With the stick extended for selfie shots, front or rear, the gimbal mount can't quite keep the camera from sinking with even the light bumps of road cycling no matter how tight I crank the gimbal screws. I'd hate to try it on gravel or single track. At the rear I improvised with the seat bag as a secondary support in combination with the gimbal mount on the seat post while I was testing the camera, but it I wouldn't trust that over a long ride. Is there some sort of secondary support that can be added, particularly for the forward handlebar mount configuration? A different mount altogether? Is there a good position to put the camera in and just leave it for an extended ride?

I'm not sure if this is a good place to ask this, but it's a start.

I've always taken pictures on my trips to share with less able/willing to travel family members but seeing what YouTubers are doing with 360 cameras I decided it was finally time to upgrade my tech.

I picked up an insta x4 air because they got a nice discount last week when the x6 was released and I've been experimenting with the selfie stick and bike mount that came in the kit and am finding them a little inadequate to the task.

The gimbal mount by itself mounted to the handlebars makes decent POV video of a ride, but how do you get those shots where you pan to the scenery on the side without your arms ending up in the frame? (The 360 studio software is decently intuitive for framing, but can only show what the camera sees). I tried running the selfie stick out but that lead to the other issue I've encountered.

With the stick extended for selfie shots, front or rear, the gimbal mount can't quite keep the camera from sinking with even the light bumps of road cycling no matter how tight I crank the gimbal screws. At the rear I improvised with the seat bag in combination with the gimbal mount on the seat post while I was testing the camera, but it I wouldn't trust that over a long ride. Is there some sort of secondary support that can be added? A different mount altogether? Is there a good position to put the camera in and just leave it for an extended ride?

I'm working on the logistics of a trip from Pittsburgh to DC and have found a fairly long list of B&Bs in the various trail towns but was wondering if folks who have done it before have any recommendations.

My base plan is to do ~60 miles a day because that gives me plenty of time to spare each day for stops along the way or getting done early and exploring. I'll also have a personal shuttle driver so I have the option of lodging away from the trail or farther along if the options are better.

My biking plans involve stopping in Connellsville, Meyersdale, Cumberland, Hancock, and Harper's Ferry, but I'm pretty flexible if there are towns that make better overnight options. Meyersdale to Cumberland for instance is only 30 miles, but I could fit that half day in elsewhere if there are better lodging options or points of interest worth taking a half-day to detour for.

I've been eyeing a trip from Pittsburgh to DC for a while now and have been putting it off because it seems like there is always some section or another closed/under-construction and that bothers my completionist nature. I've finally decided to just do it anyway and deal with the detours, but with that decision made it has me wondering if it's worth also skipping out on some of the less interesting sections.

For instance Point Park looks nice enough, but then it's 4 miles on a sidewalk sandwiched between (and sometimes under) highways. After that it skirts an industrial area (part of which is currently closed for rock scaling) then a rail yard.

I'm seriously considering starting at McKeesport and skipping all that first 30 minutes of urban hellscape, are there any other areas worth avoiding?

TLDR: Is a points based reserve retirement for "the same period of service" as AD years that add points to it?

In the mid 90's the military was undergoing yet another round of RIF/BRAC and there were a lot of different ways they were getting people out of the military. High-Year-of-Tenure was one of the involuntary ones.

I was told at the time that the ISP given to HYT separations fell under different rules as VSP incentives given to members who left of their own accord. Particularly that if you ended up getting a military retirement later from the Reserves that it wouldn't have to be paid back whereas the VSP would.

The DFAS website goes on and on about VSI and VSP being recouped, and once in a while mentions ISP also being recouped because you can't get retirement pay for the same period of service and you received a separation bonus for.

The gray is in the fact that Reserve retirement is based off of points, not periods. Years don't matter (other than needing 20 "good years" (in which you earned at least 75 points by showing up to drill and the two-week annual training). Your actual retirement pay is just based off the point total.

The AD time *is* counted towards those points (365/year) so maybe it's the same period of service, or not. Does anyone know the relevant USC title(s) that might make it more clear?

I'm a gray area/dual status retiree and have been doing Roth conversions while my income is in the lower brackets by rolling over the funds into a private IRA and converting there. This year the TSP started allowing conversions within the TSP and I'm wondering if there are any reasons not to use it.

I know a lot of folks will jump on the "private IRAs are more flexible" bandwagon, but I'm not in a position to need those funds for anything in the next 10 years, so easier access is a non-issue and I'm not going to put funds in anything more exciting than an index fund anyway so the C-fund is fine by me.

Are there any other differences that would be a reason not to just do the conversion within the TSP?

There is a simple tool (perhaps too simple) for checking chain wear, but is there anything to measure the wear on chainrings and cassette cogs other than eyeballing it?

Along that same line I've seen a couple of posts about different tools to more accurately assess chain wear. I mean I would like something a little better than a go/no-go tool, but is a "three point" tool really enough better to bother with?

I need to replace a drivetrain on a secondhand bike I'm fixing up. Since I'm replacing the drivetrain anyway I was considering swapping out the 2x9 setup for a 3x9 setup.

The ST-3400 shifters are spec'd for double or triple front gears, but the FD-4400 derileur says is only good for two, yet stops in three positions with the current shifters. If I swap to a triple crank can the FD-4400 be adjusted to do the job or will I need to replace it as well?

Typically mega energy is gained at 5 energy per km walked with your buddy collected in lump sums when you collect the buddy candy.

Poffin's cut the candy distance in half, but does that mean that you get the full 100 mega energy from a legendary or just 50?

After a couple of decades of riding I've finally worn out the chainrings on my Ultegra groupset. I don't know their actual alloy, but they have enough iron in them for a magnet to stick so it's some kind of steel. All the replacement rings I can find claim "high-grade, light-weight aluminum" (while mostly failing to state which actual grade of aluminum). Chains are steel, and continuously rubbing aluminum with steel just seems like a recipe for having to replace the rings again in a hurry.

Are modern aluminum chainrings as good as the steel ones or are they just the industry's way of selling something that will wear out faster so the can sell more chainrings?

I've been a bike rider for decades and largely depended on a bike shop to do anything more invasive than clean, lube, change the brake pads, and general adjustments. Now I'm in a position of needing to replace chainrings and the cassette and am trying to determine the best set of gears to use, particularly because they don't seem to make parts for my Ultegra 3x9.

In my searching I've come across a lot of aftermarket chainrings in a range of gear sizes and gone down the rabbit hole of "what happens if I replace the 52t with a 50t, or a 53t, or..."

After a lot of math (okay a spreadsheet) I realized just how much crossover there is between the gears. I've always known that it a generic sort of way, but putting numbers to it 1-6, 2-3, and 3-9 are the same gear ratio on the original set (not that I'd ever cross chain into 3-9).

A 3x9 gear set really only has 14-15 gears that are a functional step up from the next one down. With a lot of twiddling you can squeeze in a few extra if a ratio change of .03 is worth it to you at the risk of cross-chaining, but a more typical gear change is between .15 and .25 with a few as high as .33 near the high end.

From my number crunching it looks like a 53/39/30 with an 11-28T 9 speed cassette has the most range and usable gears. but it has some big jumps near the higher end (.4 between 3-8 and 3-9) and pushes the middle ring to 2-8 to avoid a bigger (.47 from 3-5 to 3-6) jump.

My questions are two fold:

1. At what point are you too far cross-chained (and does which chainring make a difference). (Is 1-5/3-5 too much? how about 2-2 or 2-8?)

2. At what point is a gear ratio change to large of a step?

I have an older Bianchi Vigorelli that I have ridden for the last decade or so and I have finally worn out a couple of the chainrings and cogs on the original Ultegra groupset. They no longer make the 5 arm chainrings (though there are some aftermarket brands that do) and the local bike shop is recommending I swap out the 3x9 system for either a 10 or 11 cog cassette and 2 (or even 1) ring in the front as an upgrade.

Is this really an upgrade? The shop rep was saying that a couple of taller gears in the back would make up for the loss of the smallest front chainring.

This is more a retiree question than one for active folks, though it could apply to some looking at getting out and getting ISP. If it belongs in another sub, please point me there.

I got off AD in the 1990's under "high year of tenure" rules. I didn't make E-5 before reaching ten years of service. At the time they were also offering voluntary early outs left and right because they were doing force reductions, but if you re-joined later and ended up retiring, those had to be paid back. I rolled out to a traditional National Guard job though Palace Front and I received an ISP that I was told I wouldn't have to repay because my separation was involuntary.

I eventually retired from the guard with 20+ years. My retirement will be point based rather than years and I don't get it until I turn 60, but I will get that military retirement.

The VA is saying they'd deduct the ISP from any disability claim (tinnitus), and now I'm questioning the "don't have to pay back the ISP" stuff I was told.

Is it just that the VA is a different animal or was I misinformed?

If it does have to be paid back, it is like buying back years for a federal job where the dollar amount goes up if you don't repay it when you get hired?

Seems to me that Flock and other companies like it are stalking every citizen that passes by their cameras. Sure, there is no expectation of privacy in public spaces, but the fact that they are logging your every move and building a database on your life? That sounds like stalking to me.