Bike Forums - Hello from South Korea

Hi, everyone!

I'm from the east coast of the United States, but I'm currently living on the west coast of South Korea.

I learned to ride a bike late compared to my cousins/peers and never really felt comfortable riding around in my neighborhood in America. When I was ten my family moved to Europe for a few years, and I started really having fun riding around with my friends there. We moved back to the States afterwards and I went back to not riding anymore. In 2010 I got a Wii Fit (not the best exercise, but better than no exercise, right?) and really liked their Island Cycling game. It really got me in the mood to ride a real bicycle again. So I took my old one (that I hadn't ridden since the 7th grade!) to a bike shop and got it fixed and started riding it around my neighborhood before work. It was a lot of fun.

A few months later I got a job in Korea and moved over here. I don't have a car here (and frankly, I don't want one - I was way too lazy in America because the car was always there for me) so I bought a bicycle in 2011. It was just a little bike, but I really went far on it.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=362067

I really liked exploring and just riding around to see what was out there. I cycled along the seawall out here, and it took me about six hours one way. When I got back the guy at the bike shop was like, "You cycled the seawall on THAT? That's just for riding around town!" So, since I had started thinking it'd be fun to try cycling the 90-mile bike path next to the river for my summer vacation, in 2013 I bought a "better" bike:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=362068

Turns out this still isn't the great distance bike I should have gotten - the river path took me four days and I was so exhausted that I had to take the train back home instead of riding. But it's served me well so far.

I love exploring on my bike and I love just riding around, but I don't have a lot of head knowledge about bikes. I've tried reading things about bike maintenance on-line, but I just don't have a head for stuff like that and never seem to understand it. I don't even know how to say the specs of my two bicycles. I have a good relationship with the folks who run the bike shop that I go to, but my Korean's not so hot so our communication's limited.

Anyway, I've stumbled across these forums more than once and found myself just reading threads for hours because it's all so interesting. I'm pretty busy with work and often like to spend my free time cycling or watching movies, though, so I don't know how often I'll stop by or if I'll post too much. But this seemed like a really cool forum, and after spending so much time just reading, I thought it was about time that I joined.

Thanks to all of you for making this the exciting, respectful, and informative place it is! I look forward to dropping by from time to time.