Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.Urban Terrorist
06-30-05, 12:02 PM
Hey folks hello from the land downunder i am a Kiwi(New Zealander)who has lived here for the last 25yrs i have just returned to cycling for health reasons and loving it i ride a Trek 3700 stock now replacing pedals,seat and tyres to roadies also just started with toe clips what bliss.My doctor insisted i start a healthier lifestyle as my blood pressure and other readings were off the chart so i started walking back and forth to my job for a year then decided i was fit enough to begin(survive)biking ,well!! the first ride home took longer than the walk due to my lack of using the gears properly and avoiding the hilly bits haha i know now that i underestimated the needs of riding in traffic and as i live in the inner west of Sydney and work in the central business district i use some of the busiest roads in and out,having survived the notorious traffic which all cyclists know are the same everywhere and coming to tangles with a Mercedes sports driver i ended up over the front of her bumper when she clipped my pedal in the middle of central Sydney in slow moving traffic i now know to legally take a lane for my safety if i need it ,wear the brightest clothes night or day, bought the brightest lights i could afford after too many car misses at night(had usual flasher leds) and take a longer safer alternate route and find places like this that abound online to get info and a laugh at our shared experiences on the road,at the moment my doctor is happy as my first weighin was straining the 20 stone limit on her scales and when i got the bike it was 18 and half stone last August, my next visit it was 17 and half stone plus blood pressure was normal she commented that the walking was working i then told her i had been biking for a few months she said that sounds too dangerous haha.I now use my bike for all day to day stuff and don't have a car or use public transport when i need it, having only owned one other bike a mountain bike unlike the new generation one i ride with user friendly bits even a clutz like me can fix brakes etc i want to get into touring and adding to my commute experiences i just love it, as for my username one of the local scandal sheets did a story about bikeriders ignoring road rules and terrorising people on the sidewalks under the headlines"Urban Terrorist",and,"Hell on Wheels",as we all know there some riders who should do better but theres many more Steel Coffin drivers tooting on their moron horns creating havoc out there, i never owned or used a bike as a child or teen till my first one in my thirties for one year in Perth very flat terrain and now in my forties having returned to it my balance was not that good but the more i ride the better i am getting and i won't be giving it up,cheers from Oz and i love this site. ps.Helmets mandatory in Australia and fine issued for not wearing it,my commute distance 8ks each way 25-30 mins bike 1hr by foot.