I've come across this forum a few times and have found some great information here. I keep meaning to sign up...

I live in Spokane, Washington. If you've heard of Seattle, we are nowhere near it, and nothing like it. Our summers are hotter and drier, and we get a fair amount of snow in the winter, which seriously limits riding from about now until mid-March most years.

I used to ride a lot up until I was about 20. In high school I had some routes I liked to ride, and on one of them I would occasionally run into a team out on a (training?) ride together. At the time I didn't think anything of the fact that I could keep up with them. I just thought it was cool riding with guys who could maintain MY pace, since none of the guys in my neighborhood could. I never deliberately tried to get in shape or get faster, I just rode a lot because I liked to ride. It never occurred to me to get involved in racing or any organized rides, if there even were any (rides) here back then.

My senior year in high school, one of the teachers put together a 500 mile ride over spring break that I and 24 other students participated in. To date it is still one of the funnest things I've ever done. On that ride, one other rider and I, who kept ending up at the front of the pack together, hooked up and figured out drafting- seriously, I had never done or heard of it. We just kind of figured it out on our own. Each day we would arrive at our destination 1 to 2 hours before the next group behind us. Here again, I never thought I was, or tried to be, anybody special, my body just worked well for bicycling.

That was a few decades ago. Over the years I bought a couple cheap mountain bikes, but didn't put many miles on. About 3 years ago I decided it was time to start getting some exercise. In my late 20's and early 30's I used to do some running to help keep in shape for motocross riding. I didn't have fond memories of running. A bike seemed like a much better idea.

Being considerably overweight, the riding position of a conventional road bike wasn't very comfortable for me, so I bought a 'hybrid' Giant Cypress DX. The extra weight of this bike was incidental compared to the extra weight on the rider, and the extra low climbing gears were great on the hills. After one season on this bike, I was ready for a road bike.

I picked up a Raleigh Grand Prix at a local bike shop in the neighborhood where I grew up, two days before they went out of business after several decades here. It was a bargain at over 50% off, but it was sad to see the shop go. I got my first bike there when I was 6, and several others after that.

I put 1000 miles on last year (2008) doing mostly 20 to 50 mile rides. I hoped to do many more this year, but had a knee injury this summer (non-bike related) and subsequent surgery, which was a major setback. I was back on the bike three weeks after the surgery, with the good leg clipped in and the repaired one just kind of going along for the ride. I rode in a local, 21 mile, fairly hilly, organized ride called "Spokefest" five weeks after the surgery. I had ridden that ride the year before, and it was really fun, so no way was I going to miss it this year. I know there are guys on here that ride that far one-way to work every day, but it was quite an accomplishment for me at the time, all things considered.

My aspirations for the future include using bicycling (along with diet) as my primary tool for some much needed weight loss. My goal is to do my first century by next fall, and then the STP (Seattle to Portland) at some point after that. I picked up a used trainer for this winter, but I need to modify it to fit my quick-release axle before the snow flies.

Anyway, sorry about the rather lengthy introduction. It looks like I got a little carried away here.

Thanks for making this forum available!

Welcome I'm in Spokane as well. Is your Raleigh from Columbia Cycle? If so, you can find Jim up at WheelSport South these days. Great guy.

Thanks!

Yes, it is from Columbia Cycle. I kept going in there as their closing date approached (I think it was Dec. 31), looking at bikes, and they kept dropping the prices. Of course, they were selling a lot of bikes as the prices dropped, so the selection was more limited each time, too. The Raleigh wasn't my first choice, but it was the only good option left in my size when I finally decided to buy. I'm glad I did. Other than problems with spokes breaking, it has been a great bike for me. After replacing several spokes that started breaking more and more frequently, a shop mentioned that there had been a problem with the spokes in a batch of this brand of wheels a while back. I just figured I was too heavy. I had all the spokes replaced, and have never broken another one. The funny thing was, they never seemed to break close to home! I quickly learned how to true a wheel with a broken spoke alongside the road.

I wondered where Jim went. I'm sure he had job offers on the table when CC closed. He is a great guy.

Do you have any recommendations for shops here for gear or service?

Most of them are actually pretty good. Which part of the city are you in, or closest to?

I'm in the Upriver / Minnehaha Park area. I've used North Division Bike Shop quite a bit, because the owner used to come crew on my sailboat occasionally. What's funny, is that he never mentioned owning the shop, and we had even talked about bicycling during some of the races. Someone else mentioned it to me. Maybe he just assumed I knew. He's a great guy, but there don't seem to be any discounts, even among sailing crew.

I bought my Giant from Spoken Sport, and I was impressed at the level of service and attention I got, considering that it was a fairly low-end bike. I bought a couple things from the little shop in Millwood, on Argonne, since I rode by it every day on my way to work, but the guy always acted like I was bothering him or interrupting him from working in his shop, and seemed to try to rush me out of there. REI seems to have a lot of gear. I have bought some stuff there, but I would rather give my business to a locally owned bike shop. There do seem to be a lot of options here. It sounds like a lot of the people on this forum buy their stuff online.

Lots of options - now if I just had any money...