Introductions - Hello Everyone

I'm new to this forum and am glad to have found it. I'm from central California and have been an on-again, off-again bike commuter for about 12 years or so. Just ending one of the "off-again" time periods and rode my bike in today for the first time this year. Ouch!

Looks like a 15mph headwind all the way home, just what I needed when I'm so out of shape. Oh well, might as well bite the bullet and get with it.

I have two bikes (an old KHS and a Peugeot) in various states of disrepair, plus my old trusty Hard Rock Sport. This is my 3rd Hard Rock Sport. First one was stolen about 11 years ago, and the second sank in the river (long story). I'm somewhat of a tightwad which is why I like the Hard Rocks (cheap, yet sturdy and reliable).

I've done one self-contained tour, and am planning another for this summer. Looking forward to a lot of biking this year. I've let myself get away from it somewhat, which isn't good for my belly or my psyche.

Welcome aboard! Go on, share the story about the sunken Hard Rock Sport :)

Hi AdrianB, thanks for the welcome! Well, I was living on a boat in the California Delta. There had been an unusual amount of rain, and as a result the river was very high and moving pretty fast (about 8 knots). My boat was moored at the upstream end of this wooden dock, and there were about 10 pilings there at that end also (for those who don't know, pilings are those telephone poles sunk into the bottom of the river to hold the dock in place). There was a big cross beam going across the top of all the pilings to stabilize them.

Unfortunately though, the river was so high that this cross beam was directly in front of my boat, blocking my path to the exit (in the summer, for example, the cross beam would be about 4 meters above the dock). So every morning during this high water I had to lift myself and my bike over the cross beam to go to work. Well, one morning I was doing just that, when the piece of wood I was holding for support broke loose. The bike dropped to the dock on the other side of the pilings, bounced once and then went in the river. I dove to the dock and tried to grab it, but was only successful in touching the rear tire as it disappeared beneath the murky surface. The water was far too cold, and was running too fast to dive in after it. I never saw the bike again. For all I know it ended up in the San Francisco Bay.... :(

P.S. It's the bike in my avatar.