Did that. I ordered my Freeradical, then discovered that the bike I was going to put it on was NERTS. So I wound up going to the LBS and bought a brand new bike. The very first brand new bike I have ever bought.

Made me LOL, because the other day, my wife said I was driving like I was on my bicycle.

All the above.

If you can read the weather forecast behind the weather forecast.

When your car turns into a storage unit in your driveway...


(My Honda Element is now full of surfboards and other gear)

You feel amost annoyed when people want to give you a lift to work and back.

People at work have stopped asking you: "are you cold on the bicycle?" in the middle of cold december.

You get in the car for the first time in a while, and as you pull away, you keep trying to find just the right hand position and making sure your elbows are bent, but it just doesn't seem to be...oh yeah. It doesn't matter, you're driving. So you switch gears and start wishing you were riding.

When you lubricate your Walmart bike chain, with Crisco shortening, just before riding to work!

- Slim

When you look forward to finally getting to test the new winter bike in the snow.

Starting out at 4am in a snow storm with 17degrees and 25+mph headwind with gusts of 40mph....and looking forward to the challenge.

Didn't read the whole thread, so forgive me if somebody else said...

...you recognize pieces of litter in the shoulder, and notice when your favorite old hubcap is suddenly gone.

The crossing guards all know who you are and get worried when they don't see you.

You take better care of your cold weather gear than you do your work clothes.



The first thing you do when you get to work is e-mail your wife saying, "Here in one piece. Beautiful ride. Have a great day."

When the back seat of your truck is still messy with armor, knee pads, helmet, and other gear from your last mountain bike trip... And it's January!

You are driving in your truck, and you think something might be wrong with your "change engine oil soon" light. Then you remember: oh right, you started commuting by bike last year!

And my filing cabinet stinks too

+1 on those two.

...you keep trying to look in your helmet mounted mirror when you're walking.

You snacks are larger than you friend's entire meals

Your bike has twist shifters and you're asked to be the designated driver at a bar. Though you're completely sober, when you attempt to accelerate, you try to twist the steering wheel.

Eat like a ravenous lion all the time and not gain weight.

20 degrees F feels balmy.

You forget how to drive a car and feel bad when you do.

When it's 20F degrees on the weekend and you're going skiing and think, "I wonder if I can sneak in a ride before we hit the slopes?"

* Maybe next year I'll try bike commuting to the mountain.

Hard core is when you feel embarrassed about driving in, during a cold storm when your bike's in the shop.

You purposely forget things at the grocery store so you can do an, "Oh, darn. I guess I'll just have to go back."

You get a little depressed when you see you have a four-day week because it means you'll be missing a commute.

You grind the gears on your automatic transmission because you feel the need to downshift as you approach a stop sign.

+ 2 I did that a few years ago when I worked at the ski hill I would bike to work. Hit the slopes then put in about 7 hrs of work.
What makes it hardcore is doing it 7 miles your sec year biking. With a wal mart bike you found on the side of the rode that only had one petal. I did that. It sucked and now I thank my new bike every day for having both its petals. It's really funny to see people going to the ski hill while your biking that way aswell lots of looks and lots of people cheering me on lol.

When you are forced for some reason to leave home without your bike, and feel like something's missing until you realize you aren't wearing your helmet.

Guilty as charged (except that the 1 hour commute was 2, and drivers were 3 hours-to-not making home that night).

Again... Guilty! I've even named some of the litter... "Sam" spade, etc.

I was a hard core commuter once. Now I just ride...everywhere.