gaucho777 

When I first started riding, my buddies and I would ride a regular out & back route. At the turn-around point, before heading back up a decent climb, we'd stop at 7-11 and fill up on cheap micro-wave lunches and Big Gulp sodas.

I used to take each and every downhill as fast as possible, even on solo training rides.

dmcdam

Rode the heck out of the MUP and thought I was hot s**t.

Babe Ruthless

I knew my story would be a popular one. :-)

Didn't have a dork disk on though - somebody mercifully removed it or I would've probably turned it into a maintenance priority item.

mprelaw

Took the ferry to Martha's Vineyard, and circled the island---without any tools, or any way to repair a flat. Long before there were any such things as cell phones.

I got lucky.

Johnny Rad

She demanded the bike. Oddly, she likes to own it. Still.

Plus it's quite a few years old now and only worth about six bits.

SevenTwentyNine

Dumbest thing I did as a new rider would be ummmmmm ... holding off on clipless pedals for the longest.

slimyfrog

Created a bikeforums account and insisted on using it.

VCSL2015

She needs a better carrot. Find it then you find her.

VCSL2015

Idk, with all the posts about bike crashes with clipless shoes i think im going to hold off a while. Im okay with this setup until then. Provides even distribution of weight just fine. No falls. yet.

WalksOn2Wheels

The elitist roadie jerk in me wants to laugh at that, but I'm too impressed by the innovation.

For what it's worth, do what works for you, but a google search could probably point you to some threads in the commuter forum for "regular" shoes with stiff soles. I can't imagine rulers in your shoes feel that good.

Dan333SP

Oh my god.

Stucky

Clipless is highly over-rated. (Unless you do some SERIOUS racing...).

When my current clipless stuff wears out, I'll probably go back to regular shoes with platform pedals and toe straps.

IMO, having tons of fancy stuff, and having to get all dudded-up in in all kinds of special attire just to take a ride, kinda saps half of the fun out of riding- especially when there is really no need for all the extra stuff. I miss the days of just hopping on my bike and riding when I felt like it, like I did when I was a kid.

"They" would have us believe that the more/fancier/more-expensive crap one has, the better the riding experience- but I think the opposite is true. Jettison all the extraneous crap, and then one will get the best possible experience.

ypsetihw

what. the. hell. is. that.

seriously though, I held out for a while, and I will say it is not overrated. it feels great to be clipped in once you get used to it. it becomes second nature, and when you fatigue you can pedal in different ways (like pulling up or dragging your fee through the tops and bottoms of the pedal stroke) to use different muscles or create more power. it's really nice. now when I ride without clipless pedals, I find myself twisting my foot to get off the pedal even though I'm not connected lol. kinda like how I hammer my left food down in a car with an automatic transmission because I'm always looking for the clutch.

WalksOn2Wheels

I feel like this is the purpose of n+1. I like pretending to be fast, and I have a bike for that. I started work on another bike that will for sure be getting platform pedals. It will be fully intended as an "air up the tires and roll out" bike in whatever clothes I happen to have on.

VCSL2015

lol. Innovation keeps my bills low. you should have felt these shoes before. the after is much nicer.

Dan333SP

I feel like whatever benefit of a stiffer platform you're getting with the rulers would be more than canceled out by having lumps under your feet causing weird pressure points. Have you looked at super stiff insoles for the sneakers?

Failing that, have you looked into carbon fiber rulers?

VCSL2015

the "ruler platform" distributes finely. Yes i just patented them. The bendy nike shoe not.

Stucky

That is a great idea, and I think I will do the same! I have my Klein, for when I feel like pretending I'm training for the TDF. What I need is a bike with wider tires and fenders, that I can just hop on at a moment's notice, and go for a ride, just because I feel like it.

I can't tell you how many times, while taking a break during the day, I've said to myself "Gee, it sure turned out to be a nice day; would be a great day to ride, if only I had planned for it, or could just hop on the bike and go, without all the preparation". Or "I feel like taking a ride, but the roads are still wet from the rain we just had, and I don't want to get all dirty, not having fenders and all."

It's funny- there exist all kinds of specialty bikes now-a-days, and a plethora of accessories and attire....but where's the joy of just hopping on the bike and going? When we were kids, we had one bike, and we managed to do it all with that one bike; and we didn't need a truck-load of accessories or special clothes- whether it was riding 25 miles round-trip with a fishing pole and tackle box, to go fishing at the river, or playing Eval Knievel in a parking lot- we made do with what we had, and seemed to have a lot more fun doing so, because the bike was a part of our life- and we didn't take it "oh so seriously" to the point where we had to read scientific studies which "prove" something is better than something else because it saves 3/10ths of a what under laboratory conditions in a wind tunnel; nor about saving .003ozs. I hate to sound like Grant Petersen, but....we just rode- and it didn't matter if we were 0.5MPH slower. And we didn't need all kinds of electronics, nor to be in competition with people whom we've never even laid eyes on, through some electronic monitoring device...and we didn't need to monitor our heart rate and change out of our cycling duds and don a white coat and pour over data on a computer when we got home. [Not that I've personally ever done those things].

Dan333SP

No one is stopping you from riding in exactly the same manner you did when you were younger. Other people's hand-wringing over numbers and performance shouldn't influence how you decide to enjoy the sport. Then again, it looks like your cat ate your bike so that may present an obstacle.

Stucky

Bendy shoes don't matter as long as you've got a stiff platfoprm underneath them. You need stiff shoes on tiny little clipless pedals, because there essentially is no platform, and the shoe acts as the platform. If you have platform pedals....the shoe flexing is not a negative- in fact, by stiffening the shoe, you're just losing out on comfort...but not really gaining anything.

Hey, I suppose if you really want to take it to an extreme, you could glue these to the bottom of your shoes:

Stucky

It doesn't and never has.... except for a few things I just had to try, as a newcomer.



What?! You mean, what it says above my avatar isn't the Spanish translation of my signature?!

WalksOn2Wheels

As much as I like to play roadie, and as vain as I am, and as much as I despise Grant Petersen's "Every time I speak about any aspect of cycling, it has to be a subtle dig at modern bikes or an outright anti-industry rant" thing, there is a LOT to be said about a bike with platform pedals, fat tires, fenders and dynamo lights. I would still log all my rides on Strava, though.

Stucky

At least I think we can both agree that neither of us will ever be buying a Rivendell!

Corbin

My biggest mistake was under estimating the serious toll cycling takes on ones body. My goal was to not eat during rides. I knew everyone did but thought I could do with out. As our (my dad and brother) miles quickly increased to our 75 mile ride I went out, bidons full and me empty. I had the night before done a 25 mile ride: slept between, but no food. I was bonked before I left the house.

I hit the wall hard turning due east at the 50 mile mark. I must have spend 20 minutes changing a flat around the 65th mile. I imagine on the remainder of the ride I looked somewhat like a drunk does stumbling down the street while everyone stares.
While changing the flat I was in front of houses and thought I might ask them for a granola bar or anything if someone came out side. Literary 5 miles from home.

Now I bring food on anything 50+ and on one 32 miles ride I do that's 3000+ ft.


Funny I down shift while braking like in a car and always take off fast. I leave my riding partners in the dust but not on purpose.

haha (not sponsored and never tried)

joejack951

Right where it's always been. I can at any point hop on any of my bikes with less than a minute's notice and go for a ride, and I'm certain you can, too. Maybe make it two minutes if it's been a while and my tires need some air. I can put my actual cycling shoes on quicker than my sneakers but assuming I already have some sort of footwear on, I've gone on short rides pushing on my clipless pedals. That you feel you need to dress a certain way or do certain preparations before riding is something you've created in your head.