Introductions - Hello from SF East Bay

Hello Everyone,

I'm located in Danville, CA and I've been lurking around the forums the past few weeks soaking up all the valuable info and opinions. I started riding in the 70's on a single speed with banana seat and upright handlebars, then onto a 10-speed free spirit from Sears, then onto miscellaneous mountain/hybrid bikes in the early 90's. I haven't been on a bike since then until I recently resurrected my fully rigid cromolly mountain bike which hadn't seen the pavement since 1994. I've been riding around the neighborhood the last couple weeks really enjoying the nice weather and working out. Well, the bug bit me pretty hard. I just recently found a LBS I liked and picked up a new road bike with all the fixins and am looking forward to getting back into shape and exploring new venues and, of course, continuing to learn from this wonderful forum.

Hello alainp, lots and lots of members in your area. What kind of bike did you get?

Check out the Northern California regional forum--oh, and stop by the Classic & Vintage forum to see if you can spot some of the lovely bikes from your fellow East Bayers :D .

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

Thanks for the welcome, East Hill. I'll definitely check out those forums. I picked up a Trek Madone SL 5.2 and am really enjoying it. Took it out on its maiden voyage yesterday afternoon and was grinning from ear to ear. Can't wait to put more miles on it.

Oooh, nice bike! Let's see some photos when you have time! In the meantime, check out bigbossman's Palo Alto for an absolute stunner. And remember, he lives near to you...:D .

East Hill

Hi alainp, I'm in Danville too, a bunch of nice places to ride around here. Have you tried the Iron Horse Trail? What bike shop did you go to? I've had good experiences from California Pedaler.

Hello, Raiderfan. Yup, dealt with John at California Pedaler. Very friendly, informative, and patient. He let me test ride a few bikes for a couple hours around the neighborhood and answered any and all questions I could think of before making my decision.

Iron Horse Trail... Yup. Discovered it around a decade ago and took it up to Walnut Creek a couple times back then. Hope to exceed that once I get my legs and confidence back up. Heck, yesterday was the first time I've ever used clipless pedals. Felt like being strapped into a snowboard for the first time. For now, I'm doing a short round trip from the theater to 680 a few times a week and going beyond that on the weekends. Rode into Windemere over the weekend and will probably try going into Dublin some time soon. Also, just got a bike rack a short while ago and looking to eventually expand my horizons.

...I started riding in the 70's on a single speed with banana seat and upright handlebars, then onto a 10-speed free spirit from Sears...

What a flashback I just had! I have been reminiscing about my bronze-colored 10-speed for the last few weeks, since I've been thinking about getting a bike, but I had completely forgotten my other bike. I had a purple metallic single speed with a yellow banana seat, upright handlebars, a white basket with three plastic flowers, AND a sissy bar. Man, I had some good times on that thing!

~sigh~ Back in the good ol' days when summer meant hanging around all day long with the neighbor kids, riding our bikes from place to place!

I'm new here, too, but welcome!

You are so near Mt. Diable I envy you. With such a light bike climbing it should soon be fun.

Try bikely.com and enter Danville in the search box. Lots of rides in your area are mapped out. Then hit Sonoma County and see rides up here.

Hi Margie,

Thanks for the warm welcome and greetings to you too. Yeah, those kinds of bikes were the most versatile. You could take them anywhere on and off pavement (on/off curbs, on rocky trails, and on makeshift ramps). My trouble with the 10-speed was when all my friends had bmx bikes, I tried to ride mine as if it was a bmx bike too! Needless to say, those bikes were real "beaters"!!!

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the link. I'm not too close to Mt. Diablo but I guess that's relative since I can't even fathom biking to the mountain from my place. Hopefully that'll change as my skills progress. I'm close to Blackhawk Plaza if that helps narrow it down but the mountain is visible from where I live.

As I said, don't forget to say hi in the Northern California regional forum. Some of the nicest people on the forum live in the Bay Area near to you...

East Hill