u/Playful_Dance968

I have thin wrists and am trying to improve my dumb bell incline bench press. Beyond about 75lbs the effort to get the weight from my knees to the starting position is a bit hard - it's doable but I'd like to improve it as it takes a fair amount of focus at the start of the set and I can't always get a spotter.

Are there any particularly good accessory exercises to help with this?

I have a Sirrus X4 and the stock bar grips have gotten all goopy after 6 or 7 years. It usually lives outside at work or in my garage where it can get a bit wet at times. Anyone got any recs? Bike is dark blue with black accents.

I had the Ghost 11 in an A width (Size 12 mens) and loved them for running and everyday use.
I have tried both the Cascadia 19 (11, normal width) and the Ghost 17 (11.5, Narrow) and both felt quite different than the 11s - waaaaaay cushier and didn't seem to hold my heel as well. Not horrible, but just not excellent. I have fairly high arches. La sportiva bushidos fit me well but are sooooo ugly. Any other suggestions?

In the last month I spent time in Japan (Nagoya and Tokyo) and NYC and walked away thinking of the things BART and Bay Area Transit could be doing better. And before you ignore this post, yes, obviously I'd love the comprehensive networks of those cities, but that's not the point of this post - I'm looking for things that are pretty low lift but could make a difference

• Small shops in the stations. I don't know why this isn't a thing; I'd love a small place to buy drinks, snacks, magazines, simple coffee in stations. On the platform, outside the fare gates, whatever. This made Japan awesome
• Better wayfinding in the stations. Many stations in Japan had colored guides on the floor that guided to you to the various lines and platforms. Way better than what we have here. They also had numbered exits to the stations - this was a tiny fix that made using the system so easy, especially for a tourist using Google. 'Take Exit 7' is way easier to understand than any cardinal orientation/direction.
• Information communication on the trains: They'd actually tell you how much time to each station ahead, and when transfers were arriving. Also, all stations in the system had numbers associated with them which helped with identifying with them as a foreigner
• Great timing of transfers and full integration of the different trains/routes in the system: This was awesome; we've fumbled at the goal line for connecting a bunch of our systems better, hopefully this can be rectified but some of the transfers that do exist aren't 'clean' enough and take too long. The MUNI to BART integration is just not good.
• Strict timetables: Everything is on time, all the time.
• Quiet trains: I'd been an appologist for BART but coming back it's insanely loud. I know they've made some improvements but we need to expect better of our transit system.
• Safe atmosphere: BART's really improved in the last year or two on this, so this is a 'more of the same' type of comment. It makes a big difference. Clean, quiet, and safe.
• Efficient payment systems: It's great to have more tap to pay options, but please, get rid of the 5 second delay to tag thru the gates. This is just clown-y. I shouldn't have to break stride to go thru a gate

Most of these are pretty straight forward and I think would help. Would they lead to a massive surge in ridership? No, but every little bit makes a difference.

At a higher level, I've seen a lot of posts about what type of expansion would help BART the most. While I'd love to see a Dumbarton bridge trans-bay element (dare I say something that'd go from Livermore/Tracy, follow 680/84 all the way to Palo Alto?), I can't help but agree that some form of urban infill (ie Geary corridor in SF, a spur in Oakland) is likely best. I know it's not a true urban system but it really could help SF feel more connected. I also think in Japan the jobs at these agencies are well respected and desireable, which helps attract talented employees that grow the system. I'm not saying this ins't the case to some extent on BART, but I do think the US as a whole would do well to make bureacratic jobs more attractive (higher pay, better perks, etc).

Finally, I do think BART still has many great attributes. The southern part of the green line is actually pretty spectacular in terms of views, the trains are really fast, access to the airports is way better and faster than in NYC (it's like half the time to get to SFO from the mission compared to JFK from Brooklyn). It just has a ton of untapped potential.