Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Gung ho or flower smeller?

I'm definitely more of a scenery checker.

Both.

I climb mountains on my bike. That can take all out effort for tens of miles. I also stop to enjoy the scenery. These aren't opposites.

http://landscapephoto.us/Events/LeavenworthLoop/DSC00932.jpg

Please use the poll where I used correct spelling. Can't seem to delete.

I can't pick just one and be accurate, though I admit when I'm alone I tend to push my limits, such as they are. I have a hard time riding leisurely unless I'm with friends. Then it's no problem, and I enjoy it a lot.

Depends. I am most definitely a scenery checker on my hybrid and I love going down the local trails where I am right now, listening and looking at birds, just generally watching as I go through the woods and fields and around the pongs. I enjoy it so much that I am thinking about getting a mountain bike.

On the road bike I tend to push myself. Plus, because of neck issues I have to spend a fair amount of time with my head down and it is harder to check out the scenery as I go.

My answer:

http://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/398247_356549071060656_100001166989376_932368_1713485995_n.jpg

I guess I'm a scenery checker.

I ride as hard as I can while checking out the scenery, rarely stopping to smell flowers.

There's not a category listed for me. While I do attempt to ride as hard as I can, it really doesn't get me past the flower smeller stage. I'm an enigma.

Both depending on the ride.

If it's a training ride, then I'm pushing myself to achieve targets that may be based on time, speed, heart rate, or a combination of those criteria.

If it's a social ride, or just an "I want to putz around on my bike and enjoy the beautiful weather / explore a new area" type of ride, then I ride at a comfortable relaxed pace.

There's not a category listed for me. While I do attempt to ride as hard as I can, it really doesn't get me past the flower smeller stage. I'm an enigma.

Are you an enigma wrapped in a mystery, or the naked kind?

I could have started off with "How can we not say the word if you don't tell us what it is?" but that's for another thread.


Like most that have posted... both although I tend to push so given the choices, much like the political scene of choices we have available to us, I'll choose one.

This is *NOT* a political statement. I think all politicians should serve two terms...

One in office
One in prison

Are you an enigma wrapped in a mystery, or the naked kind?

Lol. Seattle, whenever given the choice, not the nekkid kind. :)

I ride with my wife most days, she can't spell slow. When we hike I tell her all the time she goes so fast she could walk over a bear and never know.

Of course I can't actually keep up with her on the bike, but it makes all my rides at my max trying to keep her in sight.

Evey now and again she agrees to what she calls a love ride, and that means I can actually talk without gasping for air lol

I ride with my wife most days, she can't spell slow. When we hike I tell her all the time she goes so fast she could walk over a bear and never know.

http://www.alexhopmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/whistler-trial-sign-cropped-small.jpg

On my normal rides I go as hard as I can and make it through, with an eye on the fact I will ride tomorrow. As my recovery improves I want to go so hard that I have to lay in the yard at the very end and wonder if I am going to die or not.

Perhaps a Mod can merge these two threads, delete the duplicate, fix the spelling error as this seems to be the first thread and has the earliest replies but what do I know.............. just an Admin of a different forum running vBulletin... guess I should shut up now before someone thinks I'm volunteering.....

I ride hard once in while just for the fun of going fast, but mostly I'm a flower-sniffing, bird-watching, livestock-inspecting, real-estate-appraising tree hugger.

Depends on the ride.

If I'm commuting I'm doing my best to make tracks. After all, I have somewhere I need to be.

If it's a day off and I'm just bombing around I'm stopping to smell the roses.

I occasionally ride all out, and I do love the feeling of going fast (having always been the slow kid) but I'm definitely more of a scenery-checking, cow-mooing, bird-watching type rider. I do really "hammer" it when I'm on the way home and I know I have ice cream in the freezer.

I've found that if I make my rides more about going out and doing and seeing things I tend to go on more of them. Since I started commuting by bicycle (I haven't driven since early April) I've lost 9 lbs without paying attention or trying, where previously no matter how hard I trained I stayed at the same weight (or gained).

Scenery 99%. I choose my bikes to carry cameras and lunch. I choose my bikes to be very efficient on the hills and comfortable for sun up to sun down adventures. I chase scenery and it may take me 12 hours to cover 50 miles but smelling the flowers also means wind in my face and the longer I ride the more my body demands and feels good about a lot of push and somehow that push just couples well with the euphoria I get from the spirit-of-place.
Today I am rushing around to make sure I have absolutely nothing I have to do tomorrow. It is likely I will be out sunup to sundown, turning out the miles for body and mind and taking more pictures along the way.

These are just a very few. This is what I live for.

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/IMGP2877.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/IMGP3285_edited-1.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/IMGP3234.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/IMGP3182.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/IMGP0314.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/FallColors-AppalachianTrail-Georgia.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/summit9.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/Muddies5.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/Basin1.jpg

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/IMGP0963-1.jpg

I ride hard once in while just for the fun of going fast, but mostly I'm a flower-sniffing, bird-watching, livestock-inspecting, real-estate-appraising tree hugger.

Yep. Anything outside. That's how the bicycles came to be for me in the first place.

Definitely a flower sniffer.

:)

Scenery 99%. I choose my bikes to carry cameras and lunch. I choose my bikes to be very efficient on the hills and comfortable for sun up to sun down adventures. I chase scenery and it may take me 12 hours to cover 50 miles but smelling the flowers also means wind in my face and the longer I ride the more my body demands and feels good about a lot of push and somehow that push just couples well with the euphoria I get from the spirit-of-place.
Today I am rushing around to make sure I have absolutely nothing I have to do tomorrow. It is likely I will be out sunup to sundown, turning out the miles for body and mind and taking more pictures along the way.

Beautiful pictures! I want to ride with you!

Beautiful pictures! I want to ride with you!

Well you are certainly most welcome. Plan on a slow and leisurely day. LOL.
I think I'm starting my day tomorrow on my hybrid as a spectator at the Lake Las Vegas Athleta Iron Girl Triathelon. Should be plenty photo ops there then I transition to my road bike to take a 35 mile spin around the River Mountain Trail. Better get on that bus if you're going to make it on time.

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/igonator/RMT-2-1.jpg

I cant do anything slow... I can't even hit a tennis ball gently....but I AM a commuter and I DO have a goal...and am ever so happy when I don't make a light :)

Personally I use a bike for transportation, for recreation, for travelling, and for sport. Sometimes I'm shopping or socialising, sometimes I'm training for racing, sometimes I'm actually racing, sometimes I'm touring, sometimes I'm just mooching around. Sticking to one style of cycling must be like sticking to one style of sex, it seems to me. Inherently undesirable.

I cant do anything slow... I can't even hit a tennis ball gently....but I AM a commuter and I DO have a goal...and am ever so happy when I don't make a light :)

:p

I was just thinking the exact same thing the other day. When I drove to work I hated stop lights. Now I love 'em. I don't get enough of them. :lol:

Gee, Igo, too bad you're stuck rding in such crappy places.;)

It's errand day today. I'm still flushing oil out of the chains on these new bikes and replacing with dry lube so it is chain cleaning day again. Also going to see if I can find me a summer helmet for the motorcycle. But maybe I'll get in a short spin tomorrow morning. Bad thing about Las Vegas is you've got to haul your bike up to the mountain in the summer time. 40 miles.

http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/332341.JPG

http://www.summitpost.org/images/original/332864.JPG

http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/332863.JPG

http://www.summitpost.org/images/medium/332336.jpg

But It took time and I worked very very hard to find a way to live my life in a beautiful Eco-recreation wonderland. I'm not here by fate.

Gorgeous photos, Igo. I can see why you're a flower sniffer!

Too late to vote on the poll but I'm also a flower sniffer. I love dawdling thru neighbourhoods and checking out the scenery on my bike rides.

Depends on the day. With a young family and little time in the mornings I ride when its dark. Not much to see so I just go as fast as I can to get as much distance as I can in the 2 hours I have. If I'm coummuting I try and leave early enough that I can go a little slower to make cleaning up for work easier. In the weekend I'll take it slower and enjoy the sights.

I got the new motorcycle helmet today. It's going to be hot tomorrow too but I can ride until 10 or noon until it's 110 degrees outside. I don't know if I'll take the Trek or the Honda. Only coffee with tell. LOL.

I ride hard once in while just for the fun of going fast, but mostly I'm a flower-sniffing, bird-watching, livestock-inspecting, real-estate-appraising tree hugger.You left out museums and historic sites. Otherwise, this perfectly describes me.

Used to be a gung ho dude but now that I involved Gina in riding, it's not possible to ride hard all the time. I pretty much ride for fun and exercise now but every now and then I get an itch to kick some arse so I will go out with bad intentions. :D

This year is looking very good for me so I think I might get back into shape and do a big ride like Breathless Agony again (114 miles/12,000 ft) to better my previous time. Pretty much the only way I can get myself to ride hard. Without a goal, I'm pretty much a crusier just riding to do something active.

But I am not much for the scenery while riding. I have no interest in looking around or talking (believe it or not). If we ride with someone that talks too much, I'll lift the pace to where they are not able ha ha! :D

I guess I am a "tweener".:D

must . . .pass . . . everybody . . .
plenty of time to smell the flowers when I'm face down reeling from anaerobic rage.


Great shots Igo, but I didn't see a single flower.

I expect not.

When I ride solo, there is mail that needs to be hauled. But then, sometimes, I ride with my parents or local school kids and the mail doesn't get through.