Hello there, from southern Utah. I rode bikes a LOT when I was a kid, and then I decided to take about ten years off. I rode a Schwinn High Plains for two years in Texas and Louisiana in the early 90s during a church mission, and somebody must have loved those bikes, because I had two of them stolen, hahaha! Once I got home, I took a 22 year break from bikes. Then recently, I came across a blog called Mr. Money Mustache. The owner of the blog made me feel like a gigantic wuss-bag for driving my car two miles to work in a relatively bike-friendly area. So, for the past 4 months, I have ridden my bike nearly every day for at least four miles, and I log about 25 miles on the weekend just for joyriding.

My bikes are okay, I guess, but nothing to get excited about. I mean, they mostly get me from point A to point B. My son, who is currently on his own 2-year church mission in Canada, left behind his barely-used bike, which is a $100.00 Walmart Schwinn special that I adopted for myself (21 speed Side Winder mountain bike that is probably too small for me). Well, the other day I got a blowout, and as I flipped the bike over to change the tire, I discovered why the gears were so sloppy for the past week or so -- a gear was missing, and the remaining gears were slopping all over the spindle! I walked that bike home.

Enter my backup bike, which is a Cadillac AV8.oi, 2005 model, with the 8 speed Sturmey Archer gear box. Worked like a champ for about two weeks, and now the upper gears (6 - 8) keep slipping about every fifth pedal revolution. AARRRGGHHH!! So I guess my next stop will be the Bike Repair forums, hahaha.

I absolutely love biking. I don't have beautiful bikes, or high-priced bikes, but it is still fun as hell. I hope to learn more about biking as I talk with some of you, look through the forums, and continue my own biking adventures.

Welcome to Bike Forums and welcome back to cycling!

Welcome to Bike Forums. Time to buy a bike repair manual or head over to the bike shop (LBS) for help. Good luck.

Welcome to Bike Forums, good to have you aboard with us. You might enjoy our Cycle Commuting Forum if that is your primary interest in bicycles:https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/ , but there are a whole world of varied interest forums here to participate in, just browse them and find the ones that meet your needs. If you would like to find others in your geographic area, the Mountain Plains Forum will allow you to connect with others there:https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-plains/

Bill