Bike Forums - Greetings from Kansas City

My name is Gary and I am 50 years old. I am a corporate pilot flying a Learjet here in KC. I bought a brand new mountain bike, Giant Rainier, last August and have been having a blast with it, most recently in the snow around here.

I biked as a kid but got my first real road bike some 18 years ago when I bought a used Bianchi Sport SS from a triathlete buddy of mine. He was nationally ranked in his age group (73 at the time) and he got beat by another fellow by 7 seconds so he needed a better bike! My girlfriend at the time, now wife, did a lot of road riding and was involved with the MS150 here in town. She is long legged thing and could really fly. I was impressed so I asked and she said yes. We got involved in other sports ( backpacking, canoeing, homebuilt airplanes) and sorta let the bike thing slip. After a trip 4 day layover in Portland I saw all these people riding their bikes everywhere. Rain or shine day or night. Wow. So I got the old Bianchi out of the basement and converted it to a commuter. Fenders, lights, rack, blinky, new tubes and tires, frame bag, new spare tube, patch kit etc. Last Monday, not having to work, I did a practice commute to work. I worked out the route, got an idea of how long it would take to get there and generally tried to figure out how hectic this commuting thing might be. I now have 2 fun bikes. Cheers.