Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Treadmill

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It always struck me funny that people wanted to exercise but wanted to expend the least amount of energy doing it. Maybe I'm just cynical.

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All my buddies used to laugh when I'd do our daily cycles on a 1971 Huffy 10-speed with a rusty chain... thing is, when I'd get on my Mercier after that... I'd leave them panting behind me.

Bren R.

That's the beauty of riding a bicycle to work, 25 miles a day: Lots of exercize and transportation too!!

My Nishiki has a documented 15K miles on it and is still goin' strong.

(I would have put even more miles on it, but the anti-nukie protesters were gettin' a bit hostile tossin' nails in front of vehicles, and like that!)

But you know you're in shape when during a "century" you have to sprint out ahead a half mile or so from your buddies, hang a "Uie" go back a half mile of so and catch back up just to work out the kinks developed from goin' so slow!!

....they used to hate that
Rich.

I restarted my cycling commute. I need my car for work to visit clients so I ride home (16 miles) and ride back in the morning once a week, using my singlespeed cyclocross bike. Keeps me sane and doesn't take much time from family/work.

Unfortunately, I don't have the patience for a century, I get bored after 2 hours...

My dad used to ride his bike to and from work -- 60 miles round trip.

He had a decked out Lemonde bike, new wheels, brakes, everythign really nice. But then he got into an accident. Helmet saved his life. He was riding at night then hit a car that he didn't see. He's recovering now from a broken collar bone and 5 broken ribs. :-/

So, be careful. My dad had at least 3 rear lights, a helmet front light, and a bike front light. Stay visible out there!

I think he's only going to ride recumbents from now on. We also have a tandem recumbent which is pretty cool.

yup can be dangerous. fortunately, my route mostly takes me on running/biking trails w/ a couple of hairy intersections. i try to put the most obnoxious lites on mine, including lites on the stems of my tires, to make myself more visible. but sometimes you can't overcome bad drivers.

hope you dad gets well soon and back on the bike. i'm definitely a helmet police person too...

In reply to:

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But you know you're in shape when during a "century" you have to sprint out ahead a half mile or so from your buddies, hang a "Uie" go back a half mile of so and catch back up just to work out the kinks developed from goin' so slow!!

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I was just glad to leave these guys a few feet behind me... they were Tin Man (1km/40km/10km) triatheletes in high school. Always sounded like a fun sport... except for that swimming and running junk.

Then I found mountain bikes and ski hills during the summer.

Bren R.

Yeah guys, bikes can be fun, AND dangerous!!

I had to quit my daily riding partly because of the protesters, but mostly due to encroaching civilization. I knew the end was near when I started seeing more automobiles than cowsLots more CARS, and trucks! and RVs! and...and...

I was accused of looking like a traveling circus at night(and it was always night on the way to work in the winter as well as coming home)but I got lucky and and was never visited by an accident...other than falling on ice in the company parking lot three times.

The longest distance "to work" rider I was aware of, was one fella who had about 30 miles one way, but he rarely rode in more than about once a week in the summer.

Best century was the one to Hell: We got there before it opened....and it got worse after that!! But they did have a passle of fruit and snack stops along the way to help keep boredom at bay.

I eventually had to retire the bike, but it was happily replaced with cross-country skiis!

.....in the winter anyway.
Rich.

I've been in three bike accidents I can think of...

1) Once on my way to the park down Main Street... teen kid squealed out of the McDs parking lot and right into me... throwing me into traffic. I was maybe 12-13? Some scrapes, sore shoulder, nothing major.

2) When I was 14 or so, cycling to the same park, my buddy and I both whipped our heads around to admire the grace and beauty of some bikini clad young ladies... he saw the parked Cavalier, I didn't. Mostly injured pride.

3) In 2000 cycling yet again to the same park (this time with one of the aforementioned ex-triathlon guys) I asked for a speedometer check... he looks down, I look over, he says "34" and as we both look up, a wee little fluffy dog has run across my path, tried to bite his ankle, gotten freaked out and run back across my path... luckily I'd just gotten this new bike and hadn't installed my toeclips yet. Hit the dog hard, went over the bars and landed on my palms and elbows, and watched my sunglasses spiral off my face while marvelling in one of those out-of-body feelings "wow, those things are really flying!" Snap back to reality, my buddy's taken one look at my arms and is now throwing up on the curb (thanks for the support ***hole! )... I was p*ssed. A fairly affluent neighbourhood... I expected the dog was some rich snobby woman's accessory let loose... I took them to court (I was off work for a week, plus damage to the bike, plus my sunglasses)... got to the courtroom, turns out the owners were a young couple, just starting out life, working their arses off to own their first house... and they're from the same small town that Lisa's family's farm is in. I backed down, asked them to replace my sunglasses, and took the loss of work and bike damage myself. Oh, and little Elmo? He was unscathed. Resiliant little things, those dogs are.

Never realized before all three were with the same destination in mind. And now, where did we buy our house? A tee-shot away from the same park.

Bren R.

At least you don't have to ride your bike to that park anymore.

Bren you are very honorable, I would have asked for my glasses and one good kick at the dog.