Posted on 08/02/2019 1:38:36 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Welcome to the first Bicycle Thread, thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.
Glad to be here!
Back in my late 20’s to mid 30’s I would rideThis is one of the things I regret screwing up in life. Not riding then.
You will be their inspiration when they are sixty.
No doubt.
Yes I regret not riding early too. Ive always run marathons and swam. I could have done triathalons some. Sadly my running days are limited to 5k now so too late.
Specialized Jynx 27.5 for trails.
Trek Hybrid for Greenways and country roads.
Me taking a rest on the trail. I ride alone and have a Go-Pro mounted on the bike. I was working the remote on my wrist to take the picture.
Back in the day before I moved we used to have a couple of group rides each
week. Wednesday nights beginning about 6pm and ride for a couple hours.
It was a group thing both male/female, slow ride thru town/residential areas
and enjoy each others company. On Saturday it a faster pace covering about
35+ miles or so. Just never got with another group after the move.
Our local bike shop hosts those types of rides. They host road rides and trail rides. I have thought about going on some of their trail rides but most of them are so young that I doubt I could keep up. In summer they have family rides at the local Greenway and as soon as my foot is 100% I might give that a try. There is a Baskin-Robbins on the trail and they always stop there for ice-cream. The road rides are way too difficult for me. I live back in the hills of TN and they would lose me after the first couple of steep hills. LOL
I rode 12 miles today and tomorrow I hope to finish the restoration of an Austrian-made 1966 JC Higgins and start work on a fixing up a Trek 715 touring bike. On Sunday I want to figure out how to fabricate a headrest for an M5 carbon low racer. Please add me to your ping list.
Thanks a *lot*.
Cervelo R2, I think Shimano 105s.
I'm doing 36 miles tomorrow with some of my wife's out of shape co-workers on the Tour de Tonka around lake Minnetonka in about 5 hours. I really ought to go back to bed.
Yesterday I moved my bike from one bicycle shop a few miles to another shop. I happen to live on-top of a bicycle shop. I brought my new trekking bicycle in for some customization. Which was fine except they didn't have a handlebar swept back enough. The guy was like: You don't really want a cruiser handlebar on this bike. He was busy so we didn't have time to discuss it much. Even though I was willing to pay all the costs, even just for testing it out.
I got a new seat (which was properly adjusted), mirror and bell. Then I rode it a few miles to where I bought the bike. To see what they had to say. A guy there explained a bunch of stuff including handling and control and then sold me the same handlebar the other shop was offering. Which is slightly curved back but not as much as I was willing to test.
Later this morning I am going to pick it from the shop but today is my MIL 93rd Birthday so we will be celebrating that with her. Maybe some tool adjustments and then I should be all set.
Thanks for joining us!
Yesterday I moved my bike from one bicycle shop a few miles to another shopHere is a picture of my new bicycle with the second bicycle shop on the right. Place used to be a slaughterhouse. It's an old landmark so they had to restore the original structure to use it.
Inside, what I call Bicycle Heaven (picture shows half the place):
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48439933787_9d07f34461_b.jpg
I reinstalled the STRAVA app. I was using a German developed app because it sounds a beep and tells stats every mile like distance, pace, calories burned. But does not stamp stats to a picture taken like STRAVA does. Using both drains the camera battery.
It's like nothing can be perfect.
There is an area a mile away that is sanctioned for graffiti. I often go out of my way to ride by and see what's new. Graffiti there gets painted over in a matter of days by new graffiti. Yesterday when moving my bike to the second shop, I rode to the area and took this picture for STRAVA stats. Problem is the app got glitched so the stats are not correct. It lost GPS and remained on a long time after I was done. But it is still a good thing, first problem I had with it.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48440298216_cfd4174f33_b.jpg
I added the name and date with another app. My name isn't really Thomas Christmas. Years ago my daughter asked what my name is so I told her Thomas Christmas. I don't know why I lied but she really liked it so I kept it.
Really nice rides. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Reminds me I wanted a Go-Pro.
I had a Go-Pro like camera by Kodiak mounted on my helmet but it caught too much sun-glare so I returned it.
Happy the guy swerving into traffic survived.
One of my favorite jokes. Except it was the preacher that lost the bicycle. My uncle told one. “I bought my wife a bicycle - now she peddles it all over town!”
The guy in front on the tandem bike: “Boy that was a tough hill!”
The guy in back: “Yeah! And if I hadn’t had the brakes on the entire time - we would have rolled right back down!”
Me and my buddy across the street had friends that lived about 4 miles away in suburbia (Junior High). I’m amazed now at how we thought nothing of riding our bikes over there. And often we would end up riding home to go get something (like a baseball mitt) and then ride back.
Now a days, if I have to DRIVE 4 miles I try to plan my trips to be able to hit a few of my errands on one day!
Mine catches some if I’m riding into the sun. I mostly ride trails back in the woods though and it does great. My husband can’t get out much except to drive his truck so I document some of my rides to show him the good parts. He’s 81 and not able to do much walking and he can’t ride so he enjoys watching the videos. He’s only 4 years younger than my Mom and both are not in the best shape. Some of the remote wooded trails I ride worry him since I’m usually alone so I have to attach the gun to the bike too. :-)
Great jokes and stories, FRiend!
There’s a few places close to me now, a packed gravel canal park and a rail-to-trail. Used to ride the NJ coast, straight and flat usually with a good wind from the south (for anyone familiar its from Manasquan Inlet to the end of Island Beach State Park). Wide shoulder lanes except the park where traffic wasn’t a bother to me since there was nothing else around!
Have a Trek Hybrid with many miles on it...
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