Richard from Hercules, CA, now a 3rd yr student at Cal (GO BEARS!!!).

Right now, riding a red '86 (I think) Specialized Allez SE, pretty much stock. Oh how I love this bike... Usually just commute to school and hospital where I volunteer - about 5 miles ride a day (I tend to go back and forth a lot for some reason). Every week or so I go to the marina to fish (maybe 5 miles round trip). Haha, I guess this isn't much compared to a lot of the ppl on this forum...

Really only started biking when I got into college. Back in the day (3 yrs ago, lol), I thought my elementary school Huffy was good enough, with 24" wheels and an invisible anchor hidden somewhere on the frame. I actually rode up the hills to class in that thing. It was TOUGH, but I endured.

Then I rode my roommate's trek 820, and oh boy... that convinced me that my beloved Huffy wasn't worth crap. So I got used Rockhopper and loved it. With my Huffy training and now a much nicer bike, I could go faster up hills and along flats than many of my buddies... I loved that Rockhopper (still do) but unfortunately after a year and a half, someone decided to steal my love from my apartment... I still ride around town with an eye out for my bike...

Then i got my allez at the beginning of the year... my first experience with a road bike. I thought it'd be tough to ride, but I got hooked on it pretty easy. Then, with the help of this forum and sheldon brown's site, I taught myself to maintain and adjust my bike. I just love tinkering with my allez. Ended up learning to shellac cloth, use toeclips, truing wheels, etc, etc...

Geez... I really spend too much time thinking about my bike....

Hello Richard, welcome to Bike Forums!

--J