I joined this forum some time back, but since I finally started posting yesterday I thought it appropriate to send an introduction post.
I have always loved bikes, but seem to have drifted in an out of riding over the years in cycles with the inverse effect being a lot of weight piling on in the non-cycling years. I raced some track and crit as a kid in the early 1970s in Palo Alto, CA area (track in San Jose). Rode the Davis Double in 1973 at the age of 15, and many other endurance type rides around that time.
A few years back I had ballooned to over 275 pounds (I'm only 5'8" but I do have a large frame with sprinter's legs). I got back in the saddle with the help of an e-bike at first, commuting to work (around an 800 foot climb over 3 miles, 5 miles each way total commute). After a year of that I decided to off the ebike, bought an old Stumpjumper at a yard sale, and built up my commute bike that I still commute on to this day (with the help of a bike trailer service provided by my employer to get up the hill some days). Around a year ago I had dropped around 20 pounds, but "fat old and slow" were still the descriptive words. Then my wife and I signed up at 24 Hour Fitness and I got into spin classes. We do 3 to 4 spin classes a week and now I also ride up the hill (now without the help of an electric motor) two days a week. I'm down to 210 pounds and am still old, still a little fat, but I am finally feeling fast again...and loving it!
What do I ride? Well, the stumpie commuter bike mostly, but there is quite a collection hanging in the garage. I share with my wife, it helps making the collection bigger if I call some of them "hers"
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All are old school.
Road Bikes:
The oldest is a frame my cousin and I built around 1974, or so, with 531 and hardware bought at Palo Alto Bike Shop where my best friend was the sales manager. It needs to be painted, restored, and built back up..on my "to do" list. The big problem is I designed it myself (steeling the design from a Bob Jackson) and made it "a little big" like a pair of pants you would buy for a growing teenager. Well, I'm 52 years old now and it is still a little too big for me.
Next is a Kestrel 4000 which I bought on the last big wave of cycling interest back in the mid-1990s. I cracked it and had Kestrel in Watsonville fix it, paint it a pretty dark blue, and added an EMS for to replace the original aluminum fork. Built it up with a mish-mash of parts and it is now "my wife's bike" because I fear cracking it again--I went back to riding steel.
My latest acquisition was a 2009 Father's Day gift (I got to pick it myself). That being a 1982 Chris King Cielo, all Dura Ace. A very sweet ride I hope to enjoy for years to come.
MTBs
My other baby (besides the Cielo) is my vintage Ritchey Ascent, red of course. I commuted on this back in the 1990s and ride it some now as well, but I want to put it back into MTB mode and not setup as a commute bike.
My first MTB was a 1986 Cannondale, which is another of my wife's bikes now.
A 1986 Stumpjumper, all original, screamed "buy me" at a yard sale so it hangs in the garage, unrestored at this point...a project in the waiting.
And of course my aforementioned commute bike, the later stumpie with high pressure slicks, fenders, rack, lights, etc. for surviving the rough life on the streets of Santa cruz day in and day out.
I still follow racing, road mostly, and love the sport, as well as love to ride. I have always done my own work. One of my first jobs as a teenager was at a used bike shop doing renovations on crusty rides to make them sellable.
So, that's me and here I am.