welcome to NorCal forums
Nice blog great SF Tri report
Have a ride with us sometime!
Pete aka Taxi777

Welcome Evan...Maybe time to check out some NorCal rides...They're a lot of fun...

Thanks, now I know it works!

And yes, I will hit up some rides sometime. I even promise to bring my roadie, not my tri bike!

I doesn't matter we except everyone here, no barriers...just look at me! Ha Ha, I ride my Singlespeed a lot and I'd love to get a Tri/TT bike. It's all good:thumb:

Hey all. I've posted to the BF forums in the past, but mostly a long time ago (joined in '03!)... Back then I was back in PA, but now I'm in Truckee, CA.

I'm loving it around here so far, but I've been mostly on the trainer as I don't have any cold weather gear. Also, it's typically dark by the time I'm done with work.

I've got a Lemond Zurich that is my main steed, and a Specialized Rockhopper as my mountain ride (although I am _terrible_ at mountain biking).

I did my first triathlon in Idaho this past September (got 2nd age group!)... that's the only racing on wheels I have ever done. I have done a lot of running races in the past though. I just swam a mile in a workout for the first time in my life last week.

I'll be looking forward to meeting other Tahoe area riders. I think I will be starting a thread about it here soon. There are certainly some epic rides to be had here. I should probably just suck it up and get some tights and gloves and whatnot, but knowing me, I'll probably just wait for spring :-). After all, the snow's coming any day now... ... ... right?

Jason

You even have aero bars on your single-speed so it's almost a tri-bike.

Welcome Jason. I was just in Truckee last week. How do you like the snow now? I hope you've got your tights, etc.

Hi guys! Just got into the Road Bike scene due to being at UC Davis. I live in Alamo when I'm not at school, and I'm looking into getting into road biking, as I find it extremely fun... Dunno too much, but am learning a lot about road biking through these forums. <3.

-Michael.

Hiya - I guess I'm a southern NorCal rep being down in the Central Valley, but have a daughter in SF and generally identify more with NorCal vs So ...... I can't even get myself to type it ;)

I'm a longtime runner (~20 years, maybe 150 races, 16 marathons) who had some seemingly simple knee surgery last March. I used cycling to aid in my rehab but delved a bit deeper when my knee didn't cooperate with a quick comeback to running. I am running a little bit now, but would like to continue to cycle as part of my fitness regimen.

I sort of feel intimidated by the message boards and cycling world as a whole, given that a great deal of my equipment is hand-me-down/Craigslist/ebay stuff. Even though my gear doesn't really measure up, I try to glean what I can where I can, and I have learned a lot of great stuff here. Lurking has its benefits :) Let me add that no one here makes me feel this way, it's just my inferiority complex manifesting itself. I can't believe I'm actually posting this.

I appreciate and enjoy reading this forum.

hup/Henry

Hi Henry - I know what you mean, I was quite hesitant to get into the BF world last year, but am very glad I did.

You can probably tell this already, but you shouldn't feel intimidated by the NorCal forum - everyone here is very friendly, relaxed and extremely helpful. The Road Cycling forum is a bit of a different beast, and I enjoy hanging out there from time to time, you just have a thicker skin when interacting with that group. It's a good general resource for technical background, but the signal to noise is not as good as it is round here.

Hope the knee continues to heal

Richard/Beaker

Welcome Henry, glad you posted up. :)

So nice of you both to respond. I thank you very much.

I sort of live vicariously though the ride reports here .... great stuff, especially the pictures. My rides pale in comparison.

We have a daughter in SF (USF Class of 2008!) and are in the Bay Area fairly often. I have the secret desire to muster the courage to ride along with some forumites at some time :)

Thanks again -
Happy Holidays
Henry

Been lurking for a little while, and I think it's time I said hello. I just started bicycling semi-seriously about a year ago. I've been riding what to me is a lot (pretty much every day, five to fifteen miles a day, which include some good San Fran hills). I started so that I could shed some weight, and have done really well, although I still have a ways to go.

I've been itching to do some longer rides and with other people, both for the camaraderie and to share knowledge and experiences, but I have an odd schedule and find it hard to do weekend rides.

I've accumulated a few bikes over the yeas, but my two main bikes are a Felt F1X (aluminum, Ultegra) and a Giant TCR Composite 1 (carbon fiber, Rival). Both are nice.

On a side note, I just ran into another BF member a couple of days ago, by chance. We got to talking about bikes and BF, and I decided to finally post here. Oh, yes--I first went to the road cycling forum when I got here. I was a little bummed by the tone, but I've been around forums for a while and am kind of used to that. It did keep me from posting for a while, to be honest. But I read a few other forums, and realized that each has at least a slightly different personality.

Anyway, any weekday group rides? And nice to meet you all! :)

Hey hup - you should definitely show up for a ride some time. What kind of rides do you currently do? There are so many rides going on round here that I've got to think that this would be easy for you to string something together some time your in the bay area. I remember lurking/reading other rides thinking the same thing.

Hi there Bacana. Sounds like you have a pretty nice stable of bikes there. Definitely come along for one of the rides - they're probably more doable than you think. Sounds like 1jacktrippers ride to Tam this Friday could be a good one.

Hi all.

I've mostly been a lurker here - I am friends with several of you through other "venues" ;) and figured I might as well do an intro.

I'm Sarah. I'm 42 and live in Mill Valley, which is cycling wonderland. I've been riding road bikes for 9 years and MTB for a bit longer. I am mostly a roadie, and have done a lot of ultra distance "stuff" in the past (3 time Triple Crown, long brevets, etc.). For the last 3 years my focus has been on a TNT Death Ride group I coach along with my husband. This year we are expanding our training program and I am really excited about it. If anyone has any interest in doing the Death Ride or you'd like more info feel free to PM me. (Our friend Jobob is already signed up! :) ).

I also ride motorcycles, though I definitely am a beginner at that - been riding about a year and a half. I have Ducati 696 which is presently in the shop for some "work". :o Planning a track day or two for this summer.

so that's my story...

Oh and these threads are always better with pictures...

Here's my bike decked out for a 600k I did a couple of years ago:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...adyfor600k.jpg

Here's my family on a moto trip up the coast last year (I had a Bonneville at the time):

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...otpois/066.jpg

Oh yeah, and here I am looking like a complete GOON next to David Zabriskie at a charity ride:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/IMG_1709.jpg

Hey Sarah, nice to see you on yet another forum! :p

Hope to meet you, Henry, and Bacana on a group ride someday soon. :thumb:

What a fantastic trio of new "faces"! I hope to see you on a ride soon.

Hi All
 

Well, I decided to come out of the closet, so to speak. My name is Ray, I am 50 (50 already? Yikes!) and live in Fairfield.

I got back on a bike about 3 years ago when I decided that I could no longer drive to Alameda every day without going insane. I had been driving to the bay area daily since 1991...

I now ride my commuter mule to Amtrak in Suisun then on to Oakland every day with a 5 mile ride to Alameda from Oakland, and have logged 5500 miles commuting on the bike in the last 3 years instead of almost 90,000 on my car.

I rode my first 100k last year (the Quincy Summer Solstice ride) and also my first century (the McCarthur Fall River ride).

I have too many bikes, but my weekend road ride has been a Kestrel Talon until I noticed some stress cracking near the head tube. I recently stripped the Talon and built up a '05 S-Works Tarmac. The Talon was fast, but the Tarmac is very stiff but significantly smoother to ride.

I am about 200# and I suck at climbing, but I keep working on it. You will know me if you see my because I have a compact 50/34 on the front, and a XT rear der with a 11-34 cog on the rear. IMO, Much better than a triple when you need a real low gear to spin up a hill, which for me is all too often.

My normal weekend ride is Pleasant Valley road out to Winters and back (with a stop at Steady Eddy's coffee shop in between), sometimes over Cantelow, sometimes up and down Cantelow, sometimes up and down Cantelow and then back over from the east side on the way home. I have tackled Mix Canyon 2x. I have not made it to the top yet, but that is my goal.

Hope to see some of you on the road.

Ray

Hello all,

My name is Justin and I live in Antioch, Ca. I am a 21 year old college student and I am transferring to UC Davis next fall. When I'm not at school, I'm usually working at Sports Authority as a bike and ski/snowboard technician. I enjoy snowboarding and after learning and working on bikes for the last three years I decided to pursue my interest in biking. I picked up a Windsor The Hour just yesterday and I am anxious to ride it. I plan on keeping this bike mainly stock with only a few upgrades. Once I become a more experienced rider, I'll look in to something of more quality.

Hopefully I'll have enough courage to ride with some of you in the near future.

Welcome to the forum! And best of luck at UCD. Our daughter is an alumna (class of '04). It's an extremely bike-friendly town.

Meanwhile, don't be afraid to ride with us! Really, you just have to want to ride so badly that you don't care what we think of you and your ability. Who knows -- you might have fun! ;)

You ride many of the roads that we ride -- you may have seen a blue & silver Co-Motion tandem -- next time, wave! :)

Hope to see you on the 50+ forum, as well as on the road, soon!

Hello all,

I've already met several of you on last weekend's Mt. Tam ride. My name is Jonathan, I'm 25 years old, and I am still new to road cycling. I picked up a 2007 Jamis Quest back in September, and have been riding it more and more frequently ever since. I'm hoping to get in a minimum of 100 mi/week on the road bike this year. My rides consists of commuting to work on a beater MTB every day for the past 2 years, and more recently, of 20-30 mile weekday rides and the occasional longer weekend ride.

Lately I ride mostly at night around the city on weekdays, because I'm too lazy get up early, and I get home from work about 3 hours earlier than my fiancée (an over-worked grad student). Until last weekend, all my road riding had been solo. Riding in a group was quite fun, so I hope to be joining the BF crew more often! If anyone else rides weeknights between 7:30-10ish in SF, I'd love to join up sometime.

I used to be really into nature and landscape photography, but since moving into the city I haven't found much inspiring subject matter. I am hoping that through biking I'll get out to the prettier parts of the bay area and get back into shooting.

-Jonathan

Hey,
My name is Cory Turner. I'm 23 and a full time student and currently searching for a job in Stockton. I recently moved back to Stockton from Redwood City to concentrate on school. I just picked up a 1986 Peugeot US Express touring bike and am using it to commute about 10 miles a day right now to/from school. I'm kind of diggin the whole bike thing, i'm currently selling my 2007 Subaru :( so for a year or two i'm just using a bike.

I enjoy snowboarding, golfing, fishing, camping, traveling. I'm working to a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I've been tempted to test out some creative writing i've always been to lazy to start until now though so i'm thinking about checking out a degree in English.

I'm completely new to the cycling, before sunday it had been about 4 years since i had ridden a bike lol I'm hoping to learn everything there is to know, and I feel I might get a little addicted to this. Perhaps this weekend I may go for a 30 mile flat land ride. For now the bike is mainly stock, i've done some basic maintenance on it, but it still needs a lot of work and I plan on replacing basically every component in the months to come. here are some pics of said bike:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...irstWeek05.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...irstWeek01.jpg