Introductions - St. Louis commuter

Hi.

I'm a 44 yr old guy who rode his Sears 10 spd as a kid, took about 10 years off, tried road racing for one season (screwed up my right leg for awhile), did very little riding for the next 10 yrs, and then started up again last year.

I now have a Trek 6500 MTB set up with semi-knobby tires. Mostly I commute (~12 mile round trip) through the urban/suburban area between my home in southern St. Louis and my job at the Washington University Med School near Forest Park. I also do some light trail riding or road rides on the weekends. I did 50 miles on the Katy Trail recently.

Sometimes I think it'd be nice to have a road bike, but I can't justify the expense just to go slightly faster. I'm slow, really slow, and changing bikes isn't going to help much.

For exercise I also lift weights and use a rowing ergometer. My approach to exercise isn't performance oriented: I'm not so worried anymore about getting faster or stronger ( I always end up not very fast or strong and get injured) but more about staying healthy. My numbers are good (BP 110/60, midday pulse 62, total cholesterol in the 150s) except for my BMI. I need to lose about 15 pounds.

My other interests are photography (mostly high school sports, community events) and small pet turtles/tortoises.
My son, who lives with me while attending college, also likes to ride.

I'm also interested in anyone's recommendations for a good road tire for an MTB. I've looked at 1.25" Michelin Wildgripper City tires, but they are heavier than the 2.0" semi-knobbies I have now.

thanks.

Welcome Brad. Be careful though.

My first bike was a hybrid, meant to help me with fitness. I thought I'd be happy with a reasonably good bike to peddle around on just for the exercise. Well, after about 6 months, I got the road bike. I still tell myself it's for fitness and exercise:p

Hi Brad!

welcome to the forums,

Your comment about road bikes only being slightly quicker than mtb`s is a little off the mark. The modern light weight racing bikes are a whole lot faster. its just amazing how much more ground you cover, if like me until this Summer you only road the mtb type bikes.

Regards Willi`c

OH! Forgot to mention the Continental 2000 touring is an exellent road tyre to fit to your hybrid/mtb performance and durability are both good.

Hi Brad,

Just took a 50 miler on the KATY myself. The past few days have been great around here. I took up riding this spring on a hybrid, and it wasn't long before I began to lust after road bikes. My old French one is beyond repair, so I hope to find a decent one this spring. The hybrid, though, is great for the crushed limestone on the KATY. Biking to the med school area sounds like a great alternative to driving and parking.

Hi Brad

I'm new to this forum as well. I'm a young feller like you, just a little older, 46 years old. I live in the Vancouver, Canada area. I do some commuting as well plus other rides on the weekend.

I started to ride more seriously a year and a half ago when I learned during my physical that my BP was 165/115. My BMI was over 28 and my eating habits were terrible. Made the lifestyle changes needed plus riding more often. Dropped 30lbs, increased my physical activity from one weekly ride to 5 to 6 weekly rides. BP down to 150/105 then with meds down to 127/75.

My commute to work is 53 k / 32 mile round trip. I averaged 3 times per week in summer and now once per week. I'll do my second commute of the week tomorrow. I'm working on getting back up to 3 or more per week, even if I have to use the bus once in awhile to help me. I live on a bus route and buses have front bike racks.

Anyways, be careful about this biking stuff. I bought my second bike in 27 years, a Kona MTB and now use as my winter commuter bike. A friend of mine gave me his '83 Apollo Prestige road bike. I thoroughly enjoyed riding the Apollo during the summer including on my commute. And I'm hooked on riding a road bike. Now, I'm planning on buying a brand new road bike in the new year (with my bonus money), possibly a Trek 2000.

I'm working on my wife to get out on a bike more often, with me of course. Considering buying her a hybrid/city bike outfitted with panniers, etc. so she can use it to get around instead of the car.

My teenage son has done some biking and participated with me on 4 charity rides (200k rides). My other son and two daughters are very spotty when it comes to getting out and doing some sort of physical activity, let alone getting out on a bike. But I'm still working on them. (The girls do encourage me to commute by bike, just so they can have the car to drive to school.)

But, gotta like this biking stuff. I do. :) :) ;)

I've already decided to prepare for more winter commuting.

In the past I've only commuted during seasons with sufficient daylight. But this results in almost no riding time from November to nearly March.

So I invested in a set of bike lights from Trek. 4 watt bulb in front and flashing red in back.

And a set of Zefal fenders.

And a pair of Bontrager Select Invert Kevlar 1.5" tires.

I think I'm ready to go.

Now will it come to the point where I'm willing to commute in truly bad weather? Probably not. The bus service is convenient enough that I don't have to take the added risk.