Bike Forums - 'Hello' from Chicago

I just realized I've been participating in BF threads without a formal introduction.

Hello, I'm Jasmine.

I love riding, and looking at, and talking about bikes. I might also love tinkering with and building bikes, but I'm too new to it to tell. I grew up in Portland, OR, riding department store bikes sun-up to sun-down, even going to mountain biking summer camp. But, halfway though high school I couldn't be bothered to ride a bike. My love had all but vanished. Then, this spring, my SO and I rented bikes on the SoCal coast and it all came rushing back to me.

My commute to work these days is a nice and easy two miles and I'm probably riding about 10 miles a day in all. I've currently got an '09 Jamis Sputnik as my main form of transportation and I'm working on a customizing a vintage mixte for my winter/rain commuter. In the end I hope my mixte turns out to be part winter bike/part rolling work of art.

While working on my winter bike, I caught some kind of strange illness that has me thinking about mixtes all the time. It seems the worst of the symptoms are constant scouring of the internet for hidden gems and an ever increasing collection of 'bikes I'll get to soon' in my basement. I think there's probably a cure somewhere, but I'm too busy searching craigslist to find it.

So, that's me. Thanks for all the advice and inspiration you've given me so far. I hope I can be as helpful in the future.

Jasmine