obsidian6

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the boards here and anxious to get back into riding. I've been riding bikes all of the 22 years of my existence but not as much the past couple years. I've had a recent "self-awakening" that has brought to my attention my efforts at the gym simply are not enough to get my big frame back into shape. I'm 6'3" and about 280lbs, to be fair, a lot of that is simply muscle-mass as I've done a lot of weight training over the years. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some body-fat to shed!

Anyways, a little about myself.

As I mentioned, I'm 22, currently working for Apple as a Creative (or a Teacher for those not in the know.)
I'm residing in Murrieta for now, but commuting (by car) to Costa Mesa 5 days a week. Needless to say with today's economy and fuel costs this is becoming an expensive endeavor as it costs me approx $30/day just to GET to work. I'm currently working on moving into the Costa Mesa area so I could bike to work.

My first and foremost love is and has been Photography, I went to school for it in Santa Barbara, and have worked professionally for a few years now. It is a very expensive hobby to have sadly lol! Especially if you're a gear-head like myself. My second love involves Volkswagens. I drive a 2007 GTI that is just an absolute hoot to commute in. I've been a longtime VW fan personally, and I enjoy modifying cars in general.

As I talked about earlier in my post, I had an awakening and feel an immediate and absolute need to change things in my life. I'm going to be buying a road bike soon to replace, or compliment my existing mountain bike (it's a Raleigh M40dx, nothing special.)

I'm really excited to find this forum and I look forward to gaining a lot of knowledge from all of you! I also look forward to making new friends and possibly riding partners!

Thanks for reading

- Abram

East Hill

Hello Abram, is that you in the avatar, then? Does your job with Apple allow you to use your photographic skills and training?

Both your hobbies are nice expensive ones, but the car modifying will soon be priced too high for many of us. That's all right, cycling can be just as expensive if you allow it to be .

What road bike are you looking at? Oh, and check out the regional SoCal forum, too.

Welcome to BF, and feel free to PM me with any questions !

East Hill
Forum Moderator

obsidian6

Yep that's me in the Avatar, from a few years ago at school. Yes working at Apple does allow me to utilize my natural teaching abilities AND my photography (I get to shoot a lot of events.) So it's quite quite fun. I too have come to the very apparent realization that modifying my car, let alone driving it, is going to be a very expensive venture. So I figured instead I could use that same money and invest in my own health

As far as road bikes are concerned for my first one I'll get a geared bike then when I move closer to work maybe I can pick up a Single speed. Right now I'm looking pretty much solely at Felt bikes because a friend of mine has connections and may be able to get me all set up. I'm looking at the Z65 currently. I really like the SS Dispatch from felt as well, I may try to get that one down the line

East Hill

Both geared bikes and FG are nice ways to get around . I don't yet have a FG, but I am working on it. I have a lot of hills around here, but I feel the urge to see if I can get myself up those hills with just one gear .

East Hill