I should apologize...

I started writing a rant about the holidays, but without even looking, I'm sure I've covered that at some point over the last ten years.

Ten years.

The end of 2015 means this blog will be decade old.  I should do something.  Maybe make a cake...  out of beer... without any cake.  If you've been reading this for ten years, maybe I should make you a beer cake.  Or pay for your therapy (same same).

Of topics more relevant, I paid closer attention to my brake pad use this year.

And by "pay attention," I mean this:

I've been running the TruckerCo metallic pads on the Stickel since 6/28 and the organic semi-metallic pads on the Vertigo since 2/27.  I hadn't changed any pads since then.. until this past weekend.

I finally decided that maybe, just maybe, all the skwonky noises from my front brake on the Vertigo might be an indication of some contamination.   I took out the old pads, tried all the stupid pet tricks I've used in the past to silence the screaming waterfowl, and eventually decided to toss them, despite the fact that they had a little bit of life left in them.

And the skwonks are gone.  Sometimes, when your pads are fucked, they're fucked.

Something else I noticed.  What TruckerCo says about their pad compounds is true.

The sintered metallic pads have proven to be noticeably more powerful than their organic semi-metallic counterparts.  That's not saying the braking power of the organic pads hasn't been ample enough, as I ran them at races with plenty of long descents in Pisgah, Breckenridge, Shenandoah, etc.  It's just that I can tell that the semi-metallic have more graboidness.

That said, the semi-metallic are a bit noisier when wet.   I don't know if they're any noisier than other brands of pads or not.  When there was a bunch of us coming down Big Creek a couple weeks ago, my brakes were squealing, but I was definitely not alone in the noise department.   But I was still slowing down, so whatever.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's nice that their pads do what they say they do, and it's a noticeable difference.

Those crabon backed pads?

I'm saving those for the 2016 "season."  Because they're crabon... and everything crabon is better... except frames.  Those are terrible.