Introductions - Joining in from Portland OR

Well, actually Vancouver WA, but most folks know where Portland is and I'm only 10 minutes away.
I've been riding since 1988 when I bought my first Mtn Bike in Bozeman Montana - the first Trek aluminum framed series and have been hooked ever since.
Grew up in South Georgia so after I moved back down there with my Mtn bike and there were no hills I got into road biking, then moved to North Georgia and back to the Mtn bike. I now have lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 10 years and have ridin my Mongoose Pro Mtn for the past 5 years. The last few years I've been slacking due to time and work and too busy doing other things on the weekends. I broke down last weekend and bought a new road bike, an 05 Specialized Allez Sport - Black. I've been down and out for the last few weeks sick, but hopefully I will be out this weekend burning up some miles and maybe meeting some of you guys on the road as well, or the trails. At least my wife has been nice enough to allow me to keep the new Allez in the home office so I can keep an eye on it, but it's sure itchin to get spinning.

Anyway, just wanted to say Hi to an awesome group of folks, Ive been reading and lurking for the last several weeks trying to pick up some points on the best road bike for under $1K and have had no problems at all getting excellent information. (Thanks roadies!) This forum is awesome, I've read no bashing and only great support for newbies, which surely isn't the case in some of the auto forums I've been involved in.

Well, thats about it I guess, I'll catch ya'll later,

Lance (not Armstrong) Noell

welcome! look forward to reading more thoughts from you :)

Welcome SamSpade. Glad to see i'm not the only one on this side of the river.

Welcome SamSpade. I left Bozeman years before you started riding! It certainly has grown. I also bought my first road bike this year, a Felt 80. I live south of Salem and am not that far from you. In fact, my daughter and son-in-law live in Vancouver. Do you belong to a club or riding group? There are a few near me but I haven't joined one yet.

Had to chime in here. I'm in Bend, OR and am returning to the bike scene after many years away. My eventual goal is to get a road bike and do some Centuries and maybe some Cycle Oregons, but right now I'm looking into bikes mainly for commuting on road/path. Good to see so many folks from PDX and Vancouver. At one time I lived in Longview, WA. Not a bad bicycle town. Hope to "see" more of you guys on the forums! P.S.: My intro is farther up towards the tippy top of the page.

Hi Bertt, that's cool your over here, hopefully I'll see you on the road soon!

Butch, yeah, I would like to make it back out there sometime, I've got a buddy I work with that grew up in Bozeman and said its changed quite a bit. The old bike shop was still there though, don't remember the name but it was in an old house.
My Mtn bike partner lives in Salem and we've done several rides out of there, mostly the Detroit Lake area, but also west side Dallas area.
Nope, not a club member as yet, but plan on it as soon as I get my road legs comfortable on the new bike :) Hopefully I'll see you up in the "Couve" sometime for a ride.

Later,

When you get ready to join a club take a couple rides with VBC. They offer easy/beginner rides to longer more advanced rides. I have been a member for the past couple of years and have never had a bad experience with them. Here is a link to there site. Enjoy. http://www.vancouverbicycleclub.com/

Well, actually Vancouver WA, but most folks know where Portland is and I'm only 10 minutes away.
I've been riding since 1988 when I bought my first Mtn Bike in Bozeman Montana - the first Trek aluminum framed series and have been hooked ever since.
Grew up in South Georgia so after I moved back down there with my Mtn bike and there were no hills I got into road biking, then moved to North Georgia and back to the Mtn bike. I now have lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 10 years and have ridin my Mongoose Pro Mtn for the past 5 years. The last few years I've been slacking due to time and work and too busy doing other things on the weekends. I broke down last weekend and bought a new road bike, an 05 Specialized Allez Sport - Black. I've been down and out for the last few weeks sick, but hopefully I will be out this weekend burning up some miles and maybe meeting some of you guys on the road as well, or the trails. At least my wife has been nice enough to allow me to keep the new Allez in the home office so I can keep an eye on it, but it's sure itchin to get spinning.

Anyway, just wanted to say Hi to an awesome group of folks, Ive been reading and lurking for the last several weeks trying to pick up some points on the best road bike for under $1K and have had no problems at all getting excellent information. (Thanks roadies!) This forum is awesome, I've read no bashing and only great support for newbies, which surely isn't the case in some of the auto forums I've been involved in.

Well, thats about it I guess, I'll catch ya'll later,

Lance (not Armstrong) Noell
there has been a lot of bicylcist on this site from Portland. Whats up with that? Is it something in the water? Are you listening, Scottogo?

Welcome Sam Spade. Hope you enjoy the forums. Have you detected a few others from this area?

Hey Bertt, thanks for the tip on the VBC, looks like quite a group there. I'll have to talk to a friend of mine, I think he may be the "Viles" in the new ride rating system they have going. I've seen those guys doing the time trials out by Vancouver lake when I was riding my old Raleigh and talked to them once but wasn't prepared to join in.

Have I detected a few others from this area? You can't turn around without running into someone on a bike, going to get on the bike, or wishing they were on the bike. too cool.

Hey Samspade,
Are you riding a Fixie? I've been wanting build one myself but thought I better wait until I have some better lungs and legs. How is it for riding around town?

Hey Atom,
Nope, no fixie for me, I thought about it but I like changing gears too much, I've got a triple road and I like my granny to push me up those hills.

Hey Sam,
Being that Eugene is so much smaller than your neck of the woods I'm thinking about building one for summer. Just to run around town on, pub crawls and the like. :) Right now I need gears, it's not an option for me. lol. :)