{"id":265532,"date":"2026-10-02T13:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/02\/credit-where-credit-is-due\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:50:00","slug":"credit-where-credit-is-due","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/02\/credit-where-credit-is-due\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit Where Credit Is Due"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As I\u2019ve said repeatedly, I didn\u2019t start a bike blog in order to do \u201cwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo why did<\/em> you start a bike blog?,\u201d you may be wondering.<\/p>\n

Well, it was all so I could meet the so-called \u201cFat Cyclist:\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

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Ah, the high-flying, free-wheeling* days of the aughties blogosphere. We were like gods back then. Fat Cyclist and I could walk into any bike shop** in America back then and get all the free inner tubes*** and derailleur cables**** we wanted.<\/p>\n

*[Actually there wasn\u2019t much free-wheeling, this was Peak Fixie]<\/em><\/p>\n

**[A \u201cbike shop\u201d was a kind of a store where you could actually purchase a bicycle in person<\/em>. Sort of like a <\/em>Bottega di Pinarello<\/a>, only with multiple brands at a variety of prices]<\/em><\/p>\n

***[An \u201cinner tube\u201d was sort of a bladder made of butyl rubber that you put inside your tire in order to hold the air. It was was a primitive system that was clean, cheap, reliable, and easy to service, though fortunately it\u2019s now been replaced by tight-fitting tires that are nearly impossible to mount by hand and filled with messy coagulants]<\/em><\/p>\n

****[A \u201cderailleur cable\u201d was\u2026oh, forget it, it\u2019s just too depressing]<\/em><\/p>\n

But those days are over. Fat Cyclist is now a food influencer:<\/p>\n

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And if anybody remembers me at all it\u2019s only to say, \u201cHe hasn\u2019t been funny since 2008,\u201d which is ironic, because in 2008 everybody said I hadn\u2019t been funny since 2007.<\/p>\n

But now it\u2019s 2025*****, and as lazy as I am, I\u2019m so grateful to you, my dear readers, that in order to reward you for your readership I\u2019m actually going to do something that, while it may not qualify as \u201cwork,\u201d is certainly at least work-adjacent.<\/p>\n

*****[Actually it\u2019s 2026, but I\u2019ve decided to stop counting, I can no longer come to terms with the passage of time]<\/em><\/p>\n

Or, to put it another way, do you like lube<\/a>?<\/p>\n

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Of course you do. And Dumonde Tech<\/a> makes some the best bike lubricants in the world\u2013and I\u2019m not just saying this because they keep sending it to me, either, but it certainly helps. Anyway, you may recall that earlier this year I curated a Spirit of Gravel contest, and that Dumonde supplied the prizes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Well, I\u2019m gonna do it again. But it\u2019s not about gravel this time. It\u2019s about Meh-roica bikes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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[No AI-generated flyers this time. This one is all me!]<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how it\u2019s going to work:<\/p>\n