Don't remember where I saw that, but it's someone's sig line around these parts. Thought it was a great line. Anyone else around here into cycling? Got out for my first ride of the season this afternoon. Nice easy spin - only about 15 miles, but how great to hit the roads again!! And nothing even hurts......................yet. Anyone else here enjoy cycling? What do you ride? How far do you ride? Any commuters? Racing? I have a 2003 Specialized AllezPro with full DuraAce and a bunch of carbon stuff. No racing for me, thanks - purely recreational. I generally ride 20-25 miles after work most days and 30-50 on Sat and Sunday. Takes a lot of time, but I do enjoy it. One of these days, I WILL do a century! Wish commuting was a bit less of a logistical pain - wouldn't mind trying that. Anyone else? Or did I just waste some bandwidth?
I like to bike (when I actually get out & do it!). I don't have a road bike for now, but I sure would like to get one. I have a few mountain bikes though: 1996 Bridgestone MB3S (in storage), 1999 Specialized Stumpjumper, 2005 Cannondale Prophet. I'm definitely not fit for competitive/racing events. I don't really count the miles, but rather how long I'm riding (usually no more than 3 hours of riding).
I used to bike all the time. When I lived in oregon My friends and I would bike from Sandy up to Timberline lodge on Mt. Hood and back down again. I think it was about a 65 mile trip. good hills. I went from road bikes to mountain bikes when I was in the Marines (rode a trail called the pirahna pit in North Carolina quite a bit when we lived there) Now that I have kids, I like to go out riding with them sooooo: Sold my Mountain bike, and got one of those comfort bikes. Lets you sit up taller has a nice thick saddle and shocks under the seat and on the front of the bike. Very comfortable, but definately not going to set any landspeed records. which is good for keeping pace with the kids. Lots of fun with them.
I used to be heavy into biking, both road and mountain biking. At the time I lived in Columbia, Missouri, which has excellent mountain biking in several parks and lots of lightly used roads good for road biking. But I guess one too many face plants finally turned me off the mountain biking (though it can be huge rush), and these days I run rather than bike.
Hey Michael, They have a good 100 mile race here in Texas called the hotter 'n' hell 100. Yeah, takes place in august. I'm thinking about doing it one of these days just to get the t-shirt!!!
Yeah, I've heard of that. Don't think I'll make that one my first century! Gonna ride your "comfort bike"? :rofl
I did a metric century once. I had been doing 20 mile rides several times a week prior to the event, but never more than that. The last 20 of those 62 miles were a death march. So prepare well for your century.
:rofl I'm going to train by eating donuts and drinking chocolate milk. I think I'll even drink milk instead of water during the ride.
Bob, I used to run years ago, but somehow got away from it. I often found that running caused body parts to hurt! Cycling, OTOH, doesn't. I can ride for 40-50 miles and while I may be wiped out from the long ride, nothing is sore! Well, except for that portion of my anatomy connected to the saddle. And even THAT stops as soon as I get off the bike! Not so with shin splints or a strained achilles! Shin splints hurt when you watch someone ELSE run!!! As for the long term effects of running, most of the time, my knees are fine (and they never hurt on the bike), but occasionally, I'll get a rather painful zing in one or the other as I'm just walking the dog or something. Happens even in the dead of winter when I haven't been on the bike for months. I figure all those years of running 4, 5, 6 miles a day finally caught up with me! YMMV of course. Then again, running's dirt cheap. You can buy a $100 (or less) pair of running shoes and do nicely. Cycling, on the other hand, can be just a BIT more expensive...I paid more than that for my PEDALS! And you can buy a HARLEY for what some (not mine!) bicycles cost! Oh, and as for road bike routes, Ellington and South Windsor's deserted, flat country roads are within a half mile of my house. If I want hills, I can always head for Crystal Lake or Stafford Springs. Or Crystal Lake AND Stafford Springs! I think if I had to throw the bike on top of my car and drive somewhere to ride it, I'd probably never ride!
Sounds like you're not far from my neck of the woods. I'm in Manchester, but work up in Windsor Locks. I was out today on the rails-to-trails thing that goes from Manchester to Vernon to wherever. Jogging, not biking.
If you take the back roads to WL, you probably drive within a block of my house! Still have your road bike? Maybe we can get together some weekend. I think I'll pass on the running thing though...I'd just embarrass myself!
The bike I bought is BIG and SOLID. I got soo sick of my bikes breaking down (gears,handbrakes, lights etc) that I decided to buy something that couldn't so I bought this one: A Giant Triple X citybike. It's big and massive, very comfortable and has Kevlar tires that are twice as big as standard tires. A back kick brake and a front handbrake, no gears and lights that work on batteries instead of a dynamo. I love it. It's the best bike I ever had. Offcourse it cost me around 400 euro's (which makes it thee most expensive biks I've ever had) but it was woryth it.
I'm a big fan of biking. Started last year and pretty much try and bike every day. I'm a commuter during the week (12 miles round trip to unless I take some fun detours) and also bike to the store and such. For that I am riding a 2006 Marin San Anselmo with the Shimano A-520 pedals, fenders, Old Man Mountain rack, lights, and panniers from Arkel. It's a great ride, though not as big on the speed as I'd like. I did the Marin bike on cycling club rides all summer and struggled. Always bringing up the rear, dropping off the back of the packs, etc. Finally decided to get a good bike. For the weekend warrior, I have a 2006 Specialized Roubaix Comp Double (full carbon, Ultegra + 105). Smoothest ride in the world. Need to get it a little more fine-tuned to my body. Been having some knee issues... hope I can solve them. Biking is too much fun.
Welcome to TSD, Brad! What kind of shoes/cleats/pedals are you using? Could be something as simple as getting some cleats with more float. I have Look Keo Carbons with gray cleats (4.5 degrees float) and Sidi shoes. The red cleats have 6 degrees. They also have black ones which have zero float. My Specialized is awesome!! Hope you like yours. And good luck with the knees!
Fergie, I have the Shimano A-520 pedals on both bikes with Adidas shoes and the standard SPD cleat. I'm considering trying Eggbeaters, but I don't know. I'm not sure what expensive leap is the right one (I need to upgrade both bikes so I can continue with just one pair of shoes -- thus it's important to have recessed cleats).
Check out http://www.probikekit.com in the UK. Awesome prices! I've purchased from them a couple of times and had no problems. Picked up the Keo carbons last year for about $100. They're $125 now, but Colorado Cyclist is selling them for $200! Until 4/1, they had free shipping to the US. No more, but it's still a flat rate of $10. Anyway, might be a place to start looking if you're buying two. Sorry, but they don't sell shaving stuff!
