Upon looking at my profile I realized I registered some time ago but I never made an introductory post. I'm trying to correct that with this post.

I live in the rural Northeast(even the dimmer internet sleuths can probably guess which Northern New England state from my username). I used to really be into motorcycling, having had a motorcycle most of my adult life. Becoming a father has been a major contributor to changing that(hard to find time/money to justify something that I can't take the wife and kids on). Another contributor has been taking up running, which has resulted in a lot of soreness and anxiety related to all the other serious runners I've known that have developed joint issues that also switched to cycling.

Anyway, from a long hiatus I've come back to cycling. Cycling has been my long-hidden guilty pleasure(cycling is a more hardcore and rebellious lifestyle than the motorcycle, amiright?). More free of a feeling that even motorcycling(though motorcycling has its own pleasures and massive advantages), an oft overlooked advantage is the dollar value.We're the engine after all and the true cycle forces us to appreciate the terrain more as the more eloquent Hemingway reminded us. The cost and fitness value is also far easier for us simple barely-middle-class family men to justify to ourselves. The lack of insurance, registration, tag, gas, and massively lower maintenance costs also helps.

I enjoy trail riding with a pretty typical lower-end hardtail. I'm blessed to have a pretty technical trail that connects to a public(that's right, free to use but tips appreciated) mountain bike park within a mile of my home but I do most of my riding on typically broken and poorly maintained rural northeastern asphalt on a flat bar bike converted to a drop bar gravel-esque bike sporting slick 700cx35 tires.

Long winded introduction, I'm sure. I also want to note I've never been a typical cyclist. I've never been involved with cycling groups/events(though I would be interested in group rides in the future and know the local contacts to follow up on it). As such, I'm probably quite bohemian compared to most reading this. Though I have some cycling experience(I used to ride an older French 10 speed older than myself), I never got the appropriate cycling education. I'm a millennial that was brought up on substandard department store bikes(I used to think shifting issues were typical and NOT malfunction).

My typical cycling clothes involve track pants, a t-shirt, and yes, a proper helmet(at least I don't have that wrong). I could use guidance on proper cycling clothes. I'm a committed pants-wearer and don't wear shorts except when swimming so if you cant guide me toward proper undershorts or more preferably cycling pants(though I'm sure a limited market), it would be much appreciated.

I plan to ride through this upcoming New England winter by outfitting my trail bike with studded tires and fenders and letting my road bike take the winter off.

In conclusion I appreciate you reading my post and hope to converse with you all more in the near future.

If it helps, MUP's are foreign concepts in this part of this country(they really don't exist), so you won't hear any related mundane gripes from me. I guess this also proves I've perused the forum a bit.

Hi Jeff,
What a great introduction to the members of B.F's, it was great to get some sense of who you are as well as your cycling regime.
You will have to ask others about their cycling wear because I just wear a pair of shorts and a t-shirt..not the height of cycling fashion but it gets the job done.
You will meet a lot of great folks here to share stories and information.
Welcome, Ben

Hey Jeff - a fellow VTer here. I admire your plan to ride through the winter - I hang it up when it gets below 40. You know that saying, “I’m from Vermont, I do what I want”? Wear whatever’s comfortable for you!

Welcome Jeff! Nice intro!

Welcome Jeff! Vermont - heaven for some of us roadies. I didn't spend a lot of time in your state (I raced out of Boston 40 + years ago, but the races of Stowe and Putney were my favorites and 8 years ago I got to ride with my old riding partner and her husband along both sides of the Connecticut River.

I got early in life that I had no business ever getting on one of the motorized bikes; that the lightweight ones were, for me, far safer. But I have always considered those riders brothers, knowing if I was in a real jam, it was the tough Harley riders who might actually stop. (I used to get thumbs up from them as they pulled out of stoplights after they spent the entire sequence studying this skinny guy with shaved legs, black shorts, colorful jersey and black Italian shoes. Them in full leathers.)

Ben

Welcome!!

Hi Jeff,
I'm originally from Mass. and I hear you! I'm about to turn 41, got married a couple years ago, and we're talking about kids sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile I have a Kwacker Ninja 650r out back that's in need of some attention!
When I first got a motorcycle, an old Ninja 500, I loaded it up with camping gear and took a 4 day trip through Western MA, to NY, then North through VT and NH, then back to MA. I was half way through my trip, feeling like a really bad apple rebel, on the open road etc. when going up some switchbacks in the mountains I pass him.
A dude on a loaded touring bicycle spinning slowly up the same pass. That experience stuck with me for a long time, that guy was the REAL free spirit. No gasoline, no oil changes or insurance premiums, just a guy on bicycle using his legs to get where he was going.
That has stuck with me for YEARS.


Matthew

Welcome to BF from SoCal.

Wow, nice intro!

Hello brother welcome to the forum!

Welcome Jeff!

We have reversed roles, I cycled for years (since the 1980's), but when I turned 40 I wanted to do something I never did before and bought a 2009 Kawasaki 650R with 400 miles on it . . . the whole front end had been in a front end collision. I wanted to not only learn how to ride motorcycles for the first time, but learn how they work and to be able to repair them. It was a nice change of pace to have a mechanical motor in the frame and not be the motor for a change! Rode 44,000 miles on that green bike the first 2 years.

Glad you got back into cycling. If you can't find studded tires, my friends and I used to make our own studded tires when we rode our mtn. bikes in the winter time in Iowa. Get a set of tires that are worn down or slicks, drill holes in a pattern in the tires, feed small and short machine screws with button heads from the inside of the tires, poke them through the tires and tighten a nut on the screw on the outside. Worked great on frozen creeks!

Welcome Jeff!

I have a vintage Fuji road bike that I'm planning on doing the same, as a gravel bike. Swap in some new tires, ride through the winter, keep the road bikes in the trainer. My husband thinks I'm nuts. But hey, all last winter was marathon training in some pretty brutal temps, so why not? I'm in NH, about 20 miles from the VT border as the crow flies.

Welcome Jeff! Good to have you!