Yen

This afternoon after today's ride on the borrowed Roubaix, as I was reflecting back to a year ago this time when I bought my hybrid (in mid-March, 2007), and now looking for a road bike, I thought: There's something about a bike.

In SaiKaiTai's post about his wife's first bike, TruF said "There's something about a nice bike".

What is it about a bike? There is something special once the bug hits you -- and if it hits it may hit early, and hard.

If I run or walk, I do it on my own energy. If I drive a car, the car does most of the work with only a little assistance from me. But riding a bike...... it's like me and the bike are one.

Is this why many cyclists own so many bikes? And, among those who do is there a special one they love above all others? Or, is it like having a lot of children -- is each one equally special?

TruF 

Hi Yen,

I think it has to do with passion. I saw the same passion in colleagues when I was into horsebackriding, when I was in the Volvo 1800 club, and even in knitting. There is something in many of us that wants to throw ourselves into something, to fall in love all over again. And again. And again. I think that's why it's never just one bike, or just one horse, or just one collector's car. I mentioned earlier that a friend just bought a Shelby and has totally gone to Shelbyville. He's joined the club, traveled to special events, taken it to tracks where he can go really, really fast.

I think for some of us it also has to do with community, with being part of a group. That club ride today was so totally about passion for the bikes and wanting to share that passion with the only other people who "get it."

I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say about this!

Jet Travis

With a bike, getting there is ALL the fun.

I currently own five bikes that came my way during the course of a lifetime of riding. In fact, I just went for a 35 mile spin today on the touring bike I bought in 1983. There's something special about tending to one's elderly bikes and knowing that you share both memories and a future together.

will dehne

Assuming you are into Performance biking. That means that you want to squeeze a bit more out of your body with the help of technology.
A bike will make a big difference for that. A Road bike with 23 mm 130 PSI tires will be totally different than this hybrid with 38 mm tires. A Tandem for two people, optimized for that task, costs a small fortune but will outperform fast road bikes on the flats.
A MTB optimized, cannot be compared to any other machine to do that task.
Money and Technology will give you an advantage. Perhaps only a small edge. Perhaps only a psychological edge. Why should we be different than the Golfers or Tennis Players. They spend fortunes on Technology.

w2brdbkr

As you can see on this forum you can ride a bike into your 60's & 70's so it is something you can do for a long time.

For me it started when me & my wife separated for 7 months (we are back together now) & it gave me a way to get away & think, In my younger days I played team sports but with biking I enjoy just being out by myself. It's like riding a motorcycle without all the noise & you get that rush. How often do you hurt so much climbing a hill but when you get to the top you are so excited & feel SO GOOD!!!!

People at my work can't believe I ride 1/2 hour before I even get to work but they don't understand it gets the blood flowing & I feel more energized then any of them. Just having that fresh air in the face feels so good.

I look at it as preventive maintenance, hopefully it will keep me from growing old & having to take medication. There are many here that had high blood pressure or other problems that just riding there bikes has helped.

BengeBoy 

It's great exercise. You can go hard, or relax, and there is nothing very jarring or stressful about it (once you get the fit right).

It's sightseeing -- in a solid day of riding, you can visit different neighborhoods, explore places you've never been, sightsee and daydream.

It satisfies the "gearhead" in me - just enough tech stuff to obsess over, but nothing is so complicated that it can't be fixed in an afternoon (without waiting on hold with "tech support").


And, it's because you can hear them screaming, "Ride me!"

SaiKaiTai

I guess, for me, it's a couple of things...
One is that where I want to go and do go is dictated strictly by what I bring.
In the well-worn cliche, I am the engine and that leads me to..

Two: No matter how i might hurt or how tired I might get, when I dig deeper, I always find more in me than I though I had.

Nothing else I know of has that level of satisfaction. When I come home from a hard ride, I feel GOOD.

oilman_15106

What is it about a bike? To quote a 7 time TDF winner "It is the s**t that kills them" reffering to the equipment that helped Lance win.

BikeWNC

I think adults that discover a passion for cycling are recovering a piece of their youth. We tend to get so serious about life as we age. Most adults I know have long ago forgotten how to play like a child, for the joy of it. Sure there are those that take riding seriously, just go to the road forum, but generally it is about having fun otherwise why do it?

I've been lucky to have friends that get it. They realize that child's play doesn't have to end at adulthood and that it's ok to be silly and have fun. I expect it is the same for those that surf or kayak (I know it is with kayaking because I do that too). Those that participate in these activities as adults challenge themselves physically and mentally too. It can't help but keep us young.

Beverly

Better health was my reason for getting back into cycling and I think it's working.

Staying with the cycling is for other reasons. I enjoy getting away on the bike, friends I've met through cycling and the ongoing challenges it can present. I never thought I would be able to ride a century on a bike but I did it and I'm going for back-to-back centuries this year.

donheff

Yup. I used to windsurf a lot, dabbled in kite sailing, still snowboard. I have about the same experience of fun in all of them that I have biking. The difference with biking, which I only took up a couple of years ago, is that you can do it almost anywhere, anytime and it is easy to vary your experience.

roadrider63

Hi everyone. I'll just turn 45 this summer but I do enjoy this forum a bit better than the road forum. I learn things from both but enjoy the banter that goes on in here much better....seems more about the fun and less about the power.

Granted, my goals are "further", "faster" but I just enjoy getting there. I only started riding last summer for health reasons mainly. BP was getting high and I'm trying to stay away from meds if I can.

I enjoy just being out in the countryside, riding, being free. Not everyone can claim that right. Not everyone has the ability or means to enjoy the wind in their face, laboring up a hill or into a head wind and then the feeling of accomplishment when it's done. Doing something better than the last time....going further, faster.

I have a friend at work who enjoys it for basicly the same reasons so we plan to ride together more this year. Planning on attempting my first century also which will probably be the Hancock Horizontal Hundred I think it's called. My furthest ride to date was 43 miles last fall.

I'll quit rambling now but would like to say hello to Beverly as we're kinda neighbors. I'm about an hour N. of Englewood outside of Celina.

Thanks to everyone for all that I've learned just by reading through this forum.

John E

For me, bicycling is a key to freedom, transportation, health, thrift, environmentalism, enjoyment, aesthetics, camaraderie, and mechanical tinkering -- what's not to like, on so many levels?

Beverly

We don't enforce the age rule around here

The Hancock is a great place to try for the first century. Another is the Greene Cycling Classic....it's an all trail century on the Little Miami Scenic trail.

You might see me at the Hancock. Friends and I went last year but ended up not riding as it was pouring down rain and we're weather weenies

Terrierman

They are elegantly simple machines that are very highly developed. Inherently attractive characteristics.

SaiKaiTai

Yep. Well put. I was watching Versus' broadcast of Paris-Nice and -as I do everytime I watch a bike race- I was marveling at how simple the idea of a front gear, a back gear and a chain connecting them is. And yet, they are also amazing precise is their workings. And you can use them to go anywhere your heart desires. Amazing. Just amazing.

Louis

I agree with all that has been said so far.

I've often said that bicycling is the only FUN thing I've ever done that is actually good for my health.

stonecrd

Cycling is the perfect hobby/sport. It allows you to go from entry level equipment to top of the line without paying a fortune. It allows you workout at your own pace, slow, fast, coast along. If you like to tinker you can do all of your own mechanical work, again with little cost and bikes have an esthetic like autos. Best of all you can do all of this and feel great because of the health benefits you get, so no guilty conscience. Very few other things provide all of this in one.

RalphP

Prologue: When I mount my bike, I am really very happy and the happiness and smile last without interruption until, hours later, I get off. This happens every time.
The Point: Young people need to be guided on their own searches to find one or more activities that produce this effect. Then, in the child's mind, the poverty of television and computer games will become apparent.

Long deKlein

I checked the Comcast listing Saturday night, which told me that "Cyclysm Sunday" was in 2 parts, from 1-5 PM. Alas, when I returned from my 42 mile ride in time to catch what I thought would be the last hour, what did I find but track and field--not that there's anything wrong with that, but it ain't no Paris-Nice! Thank the Supreme-Being-of-your-choice-or-not Vs. has plenty o' bull riding coverage to make up for it!

stonecrd

While I do enjoy cycling, watching two hours of a prologue is pretty boring, especially when it is wet so the speeds are down. I fast forwarded through most of it. 3/9 they will show the real race that will be better.

BSLeVan

For me it is two things. 1. Bicycles represent freedom - My body is free to travel faster and farther than it normally could. I can swoop and curve down a mountain. I can sit up and ride no-hands. I just feel free on a bike. 2. Bicycles also represent to me a form of art that takes form and function to new levels. Everything about a well designed bicycle has a function, and there are builders and designers out there that have created an aesthetic that is just hard for me to ignore.

rainycamp

When my knee gave out from jogging, I had to quit. When I get a flat on the road, I don't quit--I fix it, and resume cycling. When you've taken the time to get the bike fitted correctly, it's a pain free way to keep fit and see some of the back roads you wouldn't normally see.

stapfam

Paris Nice is the first big race to be be featured on TV over here-You have already had one. Some highlights will be shown at night but I just wish I could watch the featured part of the race live on the TV.

Thanks to Modern technology I can as We have a recorder built into the satellite receiver. So last night I set it up to record- sat down after dinner to watch it and----- Whats this- 30 minutes of a D.I.Y. programme. The wife had changed to it record a programme about building pools this morning.

So I am back to the edited highlights at 11 pm- just as I start falling asleep.

Kurt Erlenbach

I rode in high school and college, and put away childish things. Then I got cancer, which I am about to beat, against the odds. If I do, it will be thanks to my family, my doctors, and my bike. I don't really like exercising, but I love having exercised. Biking makes exercise fun. Cool bikes make it even more fun.