Commuting - Consolation

Do ever feel the need to console your bike? I do. Very strange, but I think of my bike as a live thing for some reason. When it gets knocked over, I run over and make sure she is ok,and tell her it'll never happen again. At night I wake up and make sure my bike is still there, and tell her we'll go riding when I wake up. I wonder if this makes my bike happy?

I have to be nice to Yorick. Since he gets to go out and play twice a day commuting during the week, he can get kind of snippy on the weekends when I don't ride or use another bike. I tell him "Hi" when I go into the garage to get something. It's not so bad every other weekend when it's drive train cleaning and bath time. He likes the attention and being up on the workstand so he has a better view than usual. :D
Regards,
Rainman

There's an Irish novelist whose books include bicycles that are like living beings. I can't think of the name. If I do find it, I'll let you know. Maybe Rich or MichaelW or long-lost Chris L. would know....

Thursdays are the day I drive to work. Resupply clean clothes, stock the refrigerator with food for the week, haul the golf clubs for golf league. (Golf sucks right now! Since I have lost all the weight, my swing is now totally different, so I have to learn all over! I would enjoy it more if I could carry a few clubs on my Sagres so I could ride between shots!) Anyway, on the way out the door this morning, I had to walk by my trusty Roubaix patiently waiting for me on the enclosed front porch. As I walked down the stairs toward the van, I glanced over my shoulder, and I thought I could hear "Hey! Here I am...aren't you forgetting something??" in the strangest Japanese/French/American midwest accent!
Poor Roubaix. Just be patient, because tomorrow, on the way to work, we will turn over 600 miles since you came into my life 5 weeks ago. And we will celebate this weekend with a trip back to Cycle Sports from whence you came, for a little TLC!:D

Nebill,
Back when I was playing golf regularly and shooting in the mid to high 80s, I would occasionally go out with nothing but a 5-iron and putter when I felt like my swing and scores were out of whack. I actually played some of my best rounds that way. Using the 5-iron only, a very hittable club, allowed me to focus on just hitting the ball because I had a lot of confidence that I would hit it well. You know you are not going to hit a 5-iron 275 yards, so you don't try. On the other hand, you can hit most par-5s with 3 good smooth 5-irons. Pitching iron-range shots were difficult, but for almost everything else, the 5-iron worked well. I think I took the pitching or sand a couple of times, but there was a certain minimalist purity about going out with 5 and P. Not unlike commuting by bike. :)

Anyway, I mention this because
1) It is a way to relax and have more fun with the game. Less pressure.
AND, most importantly,
2) You COULD carry a 5 and P on your bike. :D
Regards,
Rainman

Yeah, Rainman, that is how I started...a 3 wood, 5 iron and putter. Drives and fairways with the 3, approaches with the 5, and the greens with the putter. I was thinking a little PVC clamped onto the frame would carry the clubs okay. I wonder what the folks out at the golf club would say about a bike running around. Couldn't be any worse than the golf carts I wouldn't think! I may just try that yet!

Is this why my golf game sucks?

Ever since I started riding again about a year ago, and really for the first time seriously, my game has dropped off dramatically. I didn't know where this huge duck hook came from. Somebody help me!

But ever since I started putting lots of miles on I don't care so much about the golf game. There is no sport that can make you look stupider than golf except maybe forgetting to clip out in a crowd. I saw one guy do it three times a month ago in a charity ride waitng for the start.

I think the missing link here is that golf sucks..:D

Originally posted by fubar5
I think the missing link here is that golf sucks..:D
I thought everybody liked golf but me.

As a little kid I followed my father around on the golf course a couple of times. All I remember is that I ended up hot and tired and didn't have any fun.

But if my cycling friends like to play golf, fine--I'm sure there's plenty they wouldn't understand about me, too. :)

Originally posted by JonR
There's an Irish novelist whose books include bicycles that are like living beings. I can't think of the name. If I do find it, I'll let you know. Maybe Rich or MichaelW or long-lost Chris L. would know....

I don't know anything about it, but it's nice to know I wasn't totally forgotten here.

I actually don't mind the odd game of golf, but I'm not good enough at it to take it seriously though.

Chris

Originally posted by Chris L


...it's nice to know I wasn't totally forgotten here.

I wasn't really worried; I saw that film The Last Wave many years ago, and knew that strange things happen in Australia. I figured you still existed in some dimension or another....