I Want To Ride My Bicycle
A comment by Teri the other day regarding her riding her bicycle through agricultural country reminded me how much I miss my long distance bicycling days.
Before I moved out here I used to go for a 30 mile bike ride every day. 30 miles may sound daunting, but it wasn’t. It was a discipline. I had two bicycles, one I used for flatter rides and a lighter one for hilly rides. The heavier was a touring bike and the lighter a racing bike.
The racing bike had these extremely thin tires but the roads back East were smooth. The first time I rode that bike out here the tires were shredded by the coarse roads we have here. I ended up giving those bicycles to someone with appropriate roads and I got a mountain bike.
The mountain bike is no pleasure to ride. It isn’t very ergonomic and my neck hurts for days after a ride. The fat knobby tires have a raised ridge for road riding, but turn slightly and the knobs start humming. It’s simply no fun at all and it makes me glad to ride a horse instead.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
7 Comments:
this makes me want to ride my bike now. except not on the ice and snow, nor the 8 below weather we are currently having.
Amazingly enough, we rode our bikes alot in Alaska. But only in the summer time. Fairbanks had miles and miles of bike paths. The first large sized city I had ever seen with dedicated bike paths. The wife and I bought some cheap 10-speeds and went out to ride often. Up there we had to jam in alot of fun in three months before winter returned.
veri word: ovites- dietary supplements for laying chickens.
I ride my skinny-tire road bike around here without any difficulties. Yeah, we have some rough roads (Walluski Loop, parts of Hwy 202, Parpalla Road come to mind), but I'm riding on 25mm tires at about 100 psi comfortably. I bet 18mm @ 150 psi would be rough and the tush and hard on the wallet; save that set-up for your track bike. And I'm with you on mountain bikes: not so good for paved roads, but not bad if you want to explore the logging roads around here. Weather today looks good for a ride; think I'll do the Dismal Nich loop.
I don't want a pickle......
veri: "whies" - really whiney cries from whiney-assed pee pants whiners.
I have a hybrid bike that is a cross between a mountain bike and road bike. It's light weight but a solid frame to handle rougher terrain. During the summers in Vt I take 30-40mile rides mixed between paved road and dirt road, flat land and hills. As long as you have some more narrow tires the bike soars quite fast. Also, you could put thinner tires on your mountain bike...
Selkie, Ice chains don't work well on bikes os it's nest you stay in.
Darev, you were OK as long as you could go faster than the mosquitoes.
Mark, when I first moved out here the roads in Lewis and Clark were just nasty. They've all been repaved, but now they are nasty because it easier for speeders to drive on.
Auntie, You on an Arlo kick?
Robb, It's easier to ride my horse.
i have a vintage supercycle that i love... liam bought it for me, and likely will keep it if we ever break up. thank god it's available in-stores, so i don't need him or his awesome retro cycle.
i love bike riding.
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