Gangrel

Those things that no one ever mentioned when you were first getting into the sport...

1) Bugs in your hair. Jesus, I have a buzzcut, I can't imagine what it's like for you normal haired guys.
2) Nearly slipping, falling, and dying, while trying to shave the back of your knee in the shower.
3) The most heinous tan lines you, or your significant other, will ever see. (But hey, if they still want you after seeing them, what a keeper)
4) "His bulge is bigger than my bulge!" (uh.. not that I was looking.. I mean, I swear I was just admiring his Assos... err..)

feel free to add your own.

(as a side note, I nearly bought it for the first time today... passing some people on a curve in a small park, I didn't brake hard enough and slipped off into the dirt, which promptly dropped off into a 3 or 4 foot depression in the ground... luckily I managed to stay on the 2-3 inches of sidewalk level dirt, and yanked myself back on the path)

AngryRooster

road rash. HAH!

fixedfiend

empty pockets because of carbon/ti fetish.

Sprocket Man

All of the cr*p thrown at you or obscenities yelled at you from passing automobiles.

mollusk

Saddle sores

Private Lady

Skid marks on your Chamois Pad

Eyeseeu

You gotta wipe deeper...

mollusk

Or twice.

Sprocket Man

She's a lady. Her skid marks may have another origin.

Treespeed

Trying to explain to your wife why you need 4, (insert your own number) completely different bicycles. Could you imagine if we all put this into practice with our cars? Here's my race car, my camper, my truck, my daily driver, what would a fixie be?

And once you have all of your bikes keeping them all maintained. Has anyone ever had a time when all of your bikes were in perfect working order at the same time?

timmhaan

cold mornings. the shock of getting out of a warm bed and into the cold darkness is brutal. after warming up it's okay though.

ADlBOO

Ewwww.....

Sand, glass, gravel bein tossed up by your tires....

NZLcyclist

food bills....

EventServices

I can usually find the negative side of things, but with cycling, I just figure that it all comes with the territory.

But if I had to find a dark side: it's the loss of a social life. It's riding past a hundred barbeques and family reunions when I'm out trying to train enough to not get shelled in my next Cat 2 race.

It's the smell of a grilling steak wafting across the road I'm on.

It's getting home from work at 5:10pm, and riding from 5:15 to 9:30pm.

The dark side of this is also watching every little thing I eat because I want to be fit and faster.

Dinstee

scheduling conflicts.

GreyGoat

bugs in the hair are bad enough.. but it's the bugs that get sucked into the intake ports that can make the engine sputter temporarily..

2Rodies

How obsesive this BF board has become.

Reading anythng from Sincity or EURO

Riding by a donut shop early in the moring....oh god it's sooo tempting!

62vette

Bugs in the mouth are no fun, I rode through a swarm of those small bugs in last evening's club race and spat out about 10 of the little grots. I had quite a lot stuck to the sweat on my arms too.

My biggest two peeves are dodging broken glass and idiot drivers (like the nob who overtook me then swooped into an empty parking space this week.)

mollusk

That depends on your definition of perfect. All three of my bikes are perfectly capable of a long and uneventful ride. My road bike has a new chain and a new, cheap Nashbar freewheel (yes, it is that old) and there is a little bit of noise when using one of the cogs. I suspect less than perfect tolerances on the made in Taiwan cog, so it ain't perfect. My rain-day commuter bike (11 year old Univega Alpina MTB and my youngest bike) is servicable, but many major components are shot. The rims are worn out and I'm surprised that they don't fail because of all the metal that is now missing from the braking surface. The headset is just about gone and the front and rear hubs are kaput. I cannot get them both smooth and with no play. The pivots on the brake levers are now oval instead of round. The freewheel and chain are worn, etc. etc. etc. Still, it is in good enough shape to ride and I'd be comfortable taking it out on a 50 mile road ride without a cell phone. My "new" commuter bike is a 1984 C'dale touring bike and it is in really good shape. It's my latest project. The gearing is very retro and inappropriate for my riding (close to true half-step but with an Alpine Shimano 600 freewheel that is frozen solid onto the rear hub). My plan is to replace the 45 tooth chainring with a 48 tooth to have a 50/48 front and ditch the 14-34 6-speed freewheel and get a 7-speed 13,15,17,19,21,24,28 and have a rocking half-step setup (no serious hills to climb around here!). I've also got to ditch the Vetta saddle and put a Brooks on it. Perhaps I'll move the Brooks from my rainy-day commuter along with the Blackburn rack.

So my bikes are both good to go and still not "perfect". Let's not start talking about the paint ...

GreyGoat

and bees!... one time on a long climb I took a bee in the helmet vent.. he nailed me right in the receding hairline.. i pissed and moaned and spit out a few choice words as i swerved around trying to get him out without failling.. he nailed me two more times before I stopped and unclipped and ripped the helmet off...

Gangrel

Hahah I had a bee get in my atmos, I think the giant vents were enough for him to find his way out before stinging me though.

The bugs really got to me on tuesday, I swear I went through a quarter mile where I was bombarded by gnats. I just put my head down and occasionally looked up so I didn't fly off the road.

GreyGoat

days like that you wish you had a snorkel going into your jersey to act as a filter 8-)

Patriot

Headlight burns out on a fast decent at night. Oh crud!!!

Gives new meaning to the phrase, "The dark side of cycling.".

bluecd

now that its fall, getting smacked in the face by a 8" wide falling leaf (think it was an oak leaf, it was friggin huge, never saw it coming) going 22 mph. not only startles the crap out of you but it hurts.

Mariner Fan

Being chased by really fast dogs.