Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Bonding with a bike

I wonder if most people who ride long distances have love hate relationships with their bikes of if they feel mostly positve.
I would imagine there is something special about depending on a simple piece of equipment like a bike to take you long distances and get you there safe and sound.

I don't have experience traveling with a bike but I remember my old honda I got well used in the md 80s. That little car took me all over the place and I once drove it home from college with a broken clutch by not coming to a complete stop all the way home.

I did not realize how much I loved the car until traded in and looked back to see it when driving away with my much newer next used car.
The funny thing, I saw my old car still running around town a few years later (had an old sticker in the rear window) and my newer cars engine lasted less than one year after I bought it.

I love Machak, my Marinoni Ciclo. I loved him and bonded with him the first time I rode him. It was like he was a part of me when we rode together. Over 7 years he and I rode something in the neighbourhood of 60,000 km together ... commuting, recreational rides, tours, 24-hour races, centuries, double centuries, lots of brevets, and three of my four 1200K randonnees. I did many of my long distance rides solo, but riding on Machak I felt like I was riding with a very good friend.

Sadly ....... Machak was stolen on Easter Sunday, just over a month ago. I haven't felt the same since. I feel like a very good friend has died.


Rowan has built me a new bicycle which is a very nice bicycle, and I have ridden that bicycle for about 60 km now and it has a great ride and is very comfortable. I will likely bond with that bicycle at some point. I'm just having some trouble bonding right now.

I love Machak, my Marinoni Ciclo. I loved him and bonded with him the first time I rode him. It was like he was a part of me when we rode together. Over 7 years he and I rode something in the neighbourhood of 60,000 km together ... commuting, recreational rides, tours, 24-hour races, centuries, double centuries, lots of brevets, and three of my four 1200K randonnees. I did many of my long distance rides solo, but riding on Machak I felt like I was riding with a very good friend.

Sadly ....... Machak was stolen on Easter Sunday, just over a month ago. I haven't felt the same since. I feel like a very good friend has died.


Rowan has built me a new bicycle which is a very nice bicycle, and I have ridden that bicycle for about 60 km now and it has a great ride and is very comfortable. I will likely bond with that bicycle at some point. I'm just having some trouble bonding right now.

I hope you are able to get your old bike back, even if you ride the new one more.
Can you tell somethings about the bike you liked and post some pictures.

I hope you are able to get your old bike back, even if you ride the new one more.
Can you tell somethings about the bike you liked and post some pictures.
And tell us some of the circumstances surrounding how it was stolen?

Whenever I get back home after a really good ride (which is most of them) I always say "thank you for the nice ride" out loud to my bike. I got this bike off of CL last August and it was like we were made for each other. Well, actually it was made for the previous owner, whose physique I just happen to closely match. But you get my point...

And tell us some of the circumstances surrounding how it was stolen?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?634735-Machak-was-stolen

I would imagine there is something special about depending on a simple piece of equipment like a bike to take you long distances and get you there safe and sound.

I definitely get a charge out of the idea of traveling great distances on a simple machine that is powered primarily by pop tarts and shot bloks. But to be honest, for me it could be just about any bike (well, assuming it fits and has the features I want). Bikes are just things. I bond with people, ideas, experiences... Bikes? Not so much.

I like to prop my bikes in the corner and admire them. Some of them have some pretty good memories attached. And because I build the frames that I ride, I have some personal investment in them.

But I'm pretty much with Steve. A bike is just an inanimate object. They usually work, they sometimes break, they occasionally get stolen. I save my love and affection for my wife and children.

I think you will find most people feel that same way but there are a lot of people out there who bond with objects.
I am not talking about getting married to a bike, starting a family and having kids with it but I am talking about having a bond.

BB King could probably find quite a few guitars that feel and play like his guitar Lucile and might even sound better but he would be devastated if he lost it, same with Willie Nelson and trigger, same with Jame Blake and the three racquet's he uses now because he likes the way they were made.
I don't have one material thing I would not be willing to trade for a new nicer model but I think it's cool some people have objects they care a lot about.
People will spend ten fold what an old car will ever be worth restoring it simply because they may have had it in their family years ago and it has meaning to them or perhaps they wanted one when they were young but it was out of reach.

I used to play golf with a guy that had an old cheap putter he loved, this is not a guy that earned millions on tour, he was below average and not a great putter but must have made a few puts at some point with this putter and had good memories because I doubt he would have traded it for the newest 200.00 putter out there.
The hardest material item for me to loose was the glove I played little league with at the age of 12.
I looked for that thing for a looong time, baseball season was over but I kept looking.

I never thought I'd name a piece of exercise equipment, but I did :). I haven't built up the strength to ride like these guys and gals but I've gone from sweating and panting after a 10 minute ride to being able to ride her up to 3 to 4 hours now. Sometimes I wish I had gotten a different more useful bike but in the end I really love my Bora (Korean for "Purple" and "Look at me!") My bike is probably my 2nd favorite material possession after the stuffed animal I was given the day I was born.
There is this lake park about an hours ride away that my in-laws like to go to sometimes. There is a bike track around the lake and they rent bikes and we all ride. I could go and rent a bike just like them. The park is so crowded and they ride so slow it really wouldn't matter. But I always leave early and take my bike while they drive b/c spending time on my bike is fun, I'm proud of it and of course it fits me so well.

Oh...but would I trade my lovely bike for a solid new upgrade? You bet your ass I would!

IMO, it's silly to get emotionally attached to a hunk of metal.

When I think about my tours, I prefer to remember the experiences and the efforts rather than ponder a commodity I happened to use for the occasion....

I rode my Soma Double Cross 5000 miles last year. It was comfortable and reliable. I looked forward to every ride.

This year I haven’t used the bike once. It's been replaced by a Lynskey made Ti bike. I also use a vintage Trek in wet weather.

Michael

P.S. see my signature for more info...

"I have bike that is physically incapable of rusting. So when it rains I ride my steel bike." :p

No doubt a particular bike and a certain fit with a certain saddle can become familiar after several thousand miles.

Sadly ....... Machak was stolen on Easter Sunday, just over a month ago. I haven't felt the same since. I feel like a very good friend has died.

Easter Sunday? Why, that wasn't a theft, it was an Ascension!