Thank you for the welcome, Jim from Boston. Yup, I paid my way through college as a bike mechanic. Those are some pretty fond memories. I have an almost complete bike shop in my basement now. It's tremendously relaxing to work on bikes when I have time. That's why I surround myself with too many bikes.

Metric Man, yes, we keep getting new members. Unfortunately, I'm sure we lose old members.

Have you noticed how many famous people have died lately? Now, that's a crisis! No new famous people are reported to being born in the last six months! What are we going to do?

leob1, I ride all around. When I ride in Irvington, I get smiles and hellos from the people on the sidewalks. I don't know why that is, but it's heart warming. (For those who don't know it, Irvington, NJ has become an extremely poor (small) city, and its crime rate is horrific. But for some reason, I don't feel threatened when I'm on a bike. It was the same way when I rode my bike through bad neighborhoods in New York City, growing up.