Originally Posted by CAT7RDR

Just one. All my rides the past few years have started and ended at home.
Thinking of breaking this habit soon but I hate wasting riding time by driving to a starting spot.

Originally Posted by streetsurfer

If this counts, I usually make a rolling mount onto the bike when starting out.

I'll put left foot on the pedal at about 10:00, push off with right foot and the left's downstroke, then throw my right leg over the saddle.

Originally Posted by Rick_D

Same. I say "Hi" to geese, magpies, turkeys, quail, the occasional deer, definitely cows.

In part it's practical--startling geese can lead to them taking off in a panic and I had one actually brush my face with a wing when passing in front of me. Do not want to collide with a multi-pound bird.

Originally Posted by Iride01

Maybe if they got out of their car and could somehow block the three other lanes they'd be doing me a favor. Otherwise, they are just creating a dangerous situation. And pissing off all the other drivers that us cyclist need to be coddled and not follow the right of way laws. If I'm not in the crossing already, there is no obligation for the other vehicles to stop.

Usually it's the last car in a group of cars that does this. I'm already stopped and if they'd just kept going, then I'd get to go in the gap between them and the cars in the next group. Sometimes the vehicle that stops is of a size that I can't safely see the other traffic that might be coming in the other lanes.

Denver area has some special laws for such, but I've not familiarized myself with them as I probably should since I do ride there when I visit my son. But most everywhere else the laws are written in a way that vehicular traffic on the road just needs to slow down and be aware of cyclists that feel entitled to burst through the crossing with total disregard for traffic on the more major road.

Originally Posted by Iride01

Maybe if they got out of their car and could somehow block the three other lanes they'd be doing me a favor. Otherwise, they are just creating a dangerous situation.

Originally Posted by VegasJen

I don't really see a lot of wild life (or domestic for that matter) on my rides. But when traveling, whenever I see cows, I call them "moo-cows". Just something I've done since I was little.

Originally Posted by RCMoeur

I will admit some of our motor vehicles have a high-wattage PA system and horn - I find it useful in certain situations. Especially where we see herds of cows alongside the highway and "mooooooo" our greetings to them. The change in pitch of our sound as it passes the cattle is of course called the "Moopler Effect".

Still haven't figured out how to adapt such a system to the bicycle without excess weight or feedback.

Originally Posted by Kapusta

I won’t ride over cracks.

Originally Posted by choddo

You would not enjoy the wooden pier ride from the ferry on the Isle of Wight. 1km of boards, and between the gaps you can see the water below. I think they may have re-boarded the entire thing recently though, some of those gaps (and they're parallel to the direction of travel) used to look about 25mm wide and it freaked me out. This year it didn't seem so bad.

Originally Posted by rsbob

I have always preferred even numbers. When on a ride 20 miles or greater, I will ride an extra mile or two to bring the total to 30, 40, 50 etc. And when riding the trainer, I shoot for an hour or another even number of miles (whichever is closer to my goal for the day).

Originally Posted by rsbob

I have always preferred even numbers. When on a ride 20 miles or greater, I will ride an extra mile or two to bring the total to 30, 40, 50 etc. And when riding the trainer, I shoot for an hour or another even number of miles (whichever is closer to my goal for the day).

Originally Posted by rsbob

I have always preferred even numbers.

Originally Posted by CAT7RDR

Just one. All my rides the past few years have started and ended at home.
Thinking of breaking this habit soon but I hate wasting riding time by driving to a starting spot.

Originally Posted by Repack Rider

I start my mountain bike ride by picking up a small rock. I leave it at the highest point of the ride, to help build up the mountain I am wearing down.

Originally Posted by VegasJen

Not sure about where you are but here in rural Nevada, there are huge swaths of land that are truly "open range". Earlier this year, my mom and I did a graduation tour through the southern part of Nevada. Just outside of Rachel, Nevada ("The Extraterrestrial Highway"), there were miles upon miles of road with cattle almost within arm's distance of the shoulder. Fortunately, we didn't see any cattle actually on the roadway, but with a ton of skittish pot roast just moseying around, it kept us on our toes.

Originally Posted by RCMoeur

Here in the state down and to the right, there is also a lot of rangeland with all sorts of hoofed four-footers deciding to hang out by, and sometimes on, the highway. And in far northwest Nevada, in June we encountered some moving moos on the road between Gerlach and Cedarville.

On our Big 2004 Road Trip, we spent an evening in the "motel" (a couple mobile homes on blocks) at the Little Ale'Inn in Rachel. After a very windy evening where the room rocked most of the night, at sunrise it was dead still, and it was the quietest place I've ever been in my life. Nothing stirring for miles as the rising sun bathed the mountains in pinkish-red light.



Not a vehicle in sight for 20+ miles - but I didn't bring the bike on that trip. Would've been a great ride to start a busy day.

Originally Posted by RCMoeur

Nothing weird about that at all. In fact, it's a tradition at the annual Turkey Day Ride (** TurkeyDayRide **) that the riders pick up a rock at the bottom of South Mountain and bring it to the top. We've been doing that for 40 years and that mountain is (probably) just as tall as it was when we started that ride.

Although I've been doing the ride for decades, I hold no speed or climbing records, but I think my unofficial record of carrying 75 lbs of rocks to the top in the late 1980s will stand for a while.

Originally Posted by VegasJen

It is bizarre how many miles of arrow-straight road we have here in Nevada. That picture could be any number of places in the state. Just miles and miles.

Originally Posted by Bluejohn

As far back as I can remember, I've always had downtube shifters - recently decided to put a set of thumbies on a flat bar touring bike by way of a change.
Do you think I can stop reaching down for a non-existent lever every time I want to change gear? Must look pretty odd to the casual observer.

Originally Posted by Bluejohn

As far back as I can remember, I've always had downtube shifters - recently decided to put a set of thumbies on a flat bar touring bike by way of a change.
Do you think I can stop reaching down for a non-existent lever every time I want to change gear? Must look pretty odd to the casual observer.

Originally Posted by Bill in VA

I do the same. With my first set of clipless pedals a guy ran a stop sign and and I braked hard and could not release and tipped over. VERY embarrassing, yes, but my wife said I was reaching to loosen the toeclip strap until I was down on the ground still clipped in.

Originally Posted by rsbob

I ride a modern bike Spring/Summer/Fall and a vintage over the winter (with fenders) with downtube shifters. Am amazed when I switch after the seasons is done that I consistently reach for the wrong place for the first week. Am sure it looks pretty weird.

then there is my Campy brifters vs Shimano brifters which work exactly opposite. When I want to downshift I upshift and vice versa. Must be a Campy plot 😄