Bike Forums - Hello from the Wood River, IL area.

Hello everyone. Here's a semi-short bio of my bicycling self...

I'm starting to ride regularly again due to a combination of my cholesterol and the price of gasoline! ;) I have a 1992 Specialized Crossroads, which I bought new (when I had money!), and still has all it's original parts, except for tires (new Maxxis Overdrive 700x38C tires) and rear rack (replaced my Walmart "wobble rack" with a higher, lighter, sturdier, but still cheaply made, Delta "Ultra Megarack".)

I have ridden till a few years ago (when my back had a spell of randomly going out on me, and leaving me mostly immobile for 2 or 3 days). I didn't want to be out in the middle of nowhere when this happened, so I just stopped riding, even after my back got better. I got enough of a push to get back on finally, with the double whammy of having marginally high cholesterol, and having moths in my wallet while gasoline prices spiked.

Now I ride mostly for errands to local stores, as well as for fun morning exercise, using side roads to view the flower-strewn lawns of nice suburban neighborhoods, while listening to the wind blowing through the trees, and hearing the birds. I have plans to eventually venture into the Madison County Transit system to spend a day at one of the many MCT trails in the area. If I can ever figure out the bus routes tie in with the bicycle trails... ;) My payload capacity is provided by a bag I "fixed up" to secure to my rear rack, using velcro microphone cable ties, or by M-Wave Double Daytripper panniers for my larger grocery hauls.

I guess this puts me in the 50+, utility, and possibly light road/touring categories. I'm looking forward to getting back into bicycling for fun and savings!