Hi, I joined a couple weeks ago and just lurked a bit but figured since I'm utilizing the awesomeness of this forum, I should introduce myself a bit at least.
I'm from Long Beach, lived here most of my life, used to bike a lot in my younger years both for fun and commuting to work, but gave it up for a car and a boring desk job about 20 years ago.
Twenty some odd years later and a WHOLE LOT fatter, I've been back on the road to getting active and healthy again for about a year now, been walking, and in the summertime, swimming, but I'm finding I need something new/more intensive that I can do year round to burn more calories because it's taking longer to lose the weight than I'd like (partly because of high blood pressure meds which keep my heart rate too low grrr) anyway, doctor says biking is OK to do and I really enjoyed it in my younger days.
Only bad thing is I don't have a bike! Haha so I lurk and lust until I can gather up enough funds to buy a decent bike or get lucky and find a cheap decent used one that'll fit my short but plump self. Oh, and I'm unemployed too which doesn't help the funding problem.
Anyway, nice forum here, lots of nice pics/videos of rides that I've been enjoying until I can get a bike myself and hit all the trails in the lovely Long Beach and surrounding areas.
(And yes, I will try my hardest to resist the temptation to buy an x-mart bike ... been there, done that before and it never worked out right, although I did learn a lot about bicycle maintenance.)