buggg

meh, part of me is an aspiring hobo, and no one want to get old so id just thank them for the implied compliment.

Enthusiast

My coworkers used to. They had a bet going that I would quit riding to work after a couple months. They figured that while any type of biking is crazy, riding in New Orleans was impossible due to the poverty, crime, poor roads, oppressive heat/humidity and lack of bikeable bridges. 1.5 years later I'm still riding in areas they think are certain death to enter (poor blacks! terrifying! ), crossing the river on a ferry boat, and enjoying weather that they feel compelled to complain about constantly.

elTwitcho

My Kung Fu is weak once in sight of my apartment

patrick.decker@

Last night it was snowing out and I rode by some guy walking the other way on the sidewalk, and he yelled "I'm better than you!" - Not really sure what to make of it, but I'm certain he wasn't joking.

Cannon

Riding in a college town people seem to be pretty understanding but when I'm flowing with traffic it seems to confuse some motorists. Especially funny when they lay on the horn and pass and I just tailgate them for blocks. Hurry the **** up! For sure faster to carry my bike down 5 flights and sprint to campus than get in my car and drive, and then have to find parking and pay for it all day.

Probably the strangest bike incident I'm aware of here was a friend walking home from a bar alone late at night. A random guy pulls up on a tandem bike and asks "Want a ride?" He proceeded to drive him all the way home. Weird.

uke

That's serendipity. Awesome.

4zn_balla

i don't get how people think it's crazy to ride when it's cold when some people climb everest and stuff. I'm only outside for <30 min and i'm appropriately dressed. Those who climb everest wear heavier clothes and carry oxygen. Those same people wouldn't walk in the desert with the same clothes on. Whatever.

planyourfate

I agree. I can get to campus from my Apartment across town in about 5 minutes. If I drove it would take just as long, I would have to sit at red lights, get pissed at motorists, swear a lot, waste money on gas, and get fat. I also saved $50 bucks on a parking pass. I have raced and beaten my girlfriend from her house, her driving and me riding. Lesson of the day...quick jaunts are faster by bike than by car when in an urban setting.

By the way that's the coolest bike incident ever. Someone should start a drunk tandem taxi service in this town...me?

varsity

It's not that I get **** when I ride my bike; it's that people can't seem to believe that a grown man in professional school who owns a decent car would make a conscious decision to ride a bicycle to work and school. It's one of those "I stopped riding a bike when I got a car" kinds of things. Ironically, some people who express disbelief are the same guys who do 30 miles every morning on their road bikes, then go home and drive to work.

But all of that is made up when someone asks if they can ride my bike (58cm frame, seat jacked way up), and then they go nuts when they realize there's no brake. The novelty never wears off.

lukewall

It's not the fat guy in a kit that gets me. Its the fat guy in the pro team kit. I always shake my head when i see the guy in the full garmin/chipotle kit on the team edition F1. Seriously, if you're trying to look so "pro" on your training rides, the least you could do is lose the baby fat.

elTwitcho

I laugh a little inside when I see chubby kids doing trackstands. If they spent as much time actually moving on their bike as they did practicing trackstands they'd be in alot better shape.

nashcommguy

Been cycle-commuting since 1987 and have heard it all. People are shocked I've got 4 bikes set up for commuting. Most of the remarks are a mixture of light-hearted derision and envy. It's difficult for most in our 'auto-centric' culture to fathom actually CHOOSING to ride a bike w/a car available. It used to annoy me and still does once in a while, but nowadays I just shrug, mention gas prices and carbon footprints and that takes care of that. MY satisfaction, besides the commute itself comes when I come rolling up to the doorway in a steady downpour in good raingear...THAT kills 'em!

BTW, my rides are a 08 Motobecane Fantom CX w/Jandd saddlebags, 85 C-Dale SR300 1x8(48x28-12) w/bar-end shifting, 78 Fuji Del-Rey 46x16 singlespeed conversion, 92 Specialized Crossroads w/Nuteck airless and old C-Dale front bags mounted on the rear. Tires on the first 3 are Schwalbe Marathon Plus...I HATE flats. Have one set of SKS Raceblades I swap from bike to bike.

Enthusiast

That's a really eclectic menagerie! I love utilitarian bikes. Do you have photos posted somewhere on BF? My current commuter is an '85 Trek 760 with 1x9 and downtube friction shifting. I use Continental Contacts with tuffy liners, I too dislike flats.

nashcommguy

Sorry man, I'm so 'pc challenged' I don't know how to post pics. I tried at one point, but failed miserably. Maybe there's a website somewhere that has step by step directions? We just got a brand new Sony VAIO(?) pc and have had a digital camera for a while, so there's really no excuse. I'll look around and see if I can post pics somewhere. I'll PM you w/t info. Maybe @ bikefiend.com or somewhere like that. Thanks for asking...sorry OP for the 'thread drift'.

mangpress

i love it when i rock up at a mates place around 1 mile from mine, and his girlfriend says to him 'why can't you be like matt, he rode all the way here, hes soooo fit'.

so i snaked his girlfriend. =]

sedition

A good number of my friends are in my softball league. They already give me **** because I am like the one punk guy in the league (yes, I am a punk fg rider who like teams sports). So these people are supposed to be into "athleticism" and ****. Yet, they also give me crap for riding my "****ed-up bike with no gears, and no brakes" everywhere. Somehow I thought they would be more sympathetic. And they also think I have a DUI, can't afford gas, etc....because there is no real reason why someone would ride a bike when they can just drive a SUV.

BoSoxYacht

I get that all the time, but mostly from fat *****ers that will die soon anyway.

I've got 5 nice rides, and a yacht. people that know me, admire me for making the choice not to own a car anymore.

A friend gives me me his BMW 740IL to use every winter, but I might put 500 miles on it in 4 months(sometimes my dates don't want to double-ride home).

droptop

the first time i picked up a girl in my car, she just couldn't believe that i actually had a car. she had known me for 3 months and had never seen it. she thought i rode my bike the 60 miles home when i went to visit. (now that the buses are running, i take the bus 35 miles home then bike the last 25 instead of driving. I don't like traffic.)

With my current girlfriend, i do end up driving about every other week. Im still trying to get her on a decent bike... she has a craptastic 24" full suspension next, and is 5'10". its hard not to tell her that her bike is crap. she has ridden my fixed around and kind of likes it, and im debating whether to build her a ss/fg (with brakes).

NorskeDivision

Yeah I'm really down on people who bike everywhere, it's pretty ghetto. At least you could afford a motorcycle you loser! What are you, a Chinese peasant??

I only got into biking because I wrecked my car, didn't have insurance, did a hit and run and killed two kids who just got off a school bus, so I got my license suspended for years plus I got further suspension because of repeated DUI. Freaking bullsh*t. Also I'm really poor and I can't afford gas. Ontop of that, I hate anyone who is not in top shape, that's another reason I started biking. I'm a total elitist prick and I spend all my money on super ultra-light bikes. Anyone I see biking who has a bike that I know to be cheaper that mine I laugh at, they're pathetic. That's me!

zoltani

Nobody understands me

devilshaircut

I am not sure if I get **** talked or not.

People do say stuff like "OMG you BIKED to DECATUR???", which is like 8 (?) miles away tops, but I don't take that as an insult ... so I don't consider that **** talking.

I think they just have a different frame of reference.

To a marathon runner, running 2 miles is nothing, but running 2 miles for me would be pretty much impossible. Scale it down to your average cyclist vs non cyclist and I think a 20 mile round trip probably sounds to them like a marathon.

cobrabyte

The other day, a girl I work with was absolutely shocked I owned a car. I was leaving work on Monday, & I had driven to work this day (very rare). She was parked next to me so as I was getting into my ride, she goes "when did you get a car?" I was like, "I've had this car for 7 years, what do you mean?" She goes "then why do you ride a bike to work?" I asked her how much she spends on gas every week, to which she replied about $30 or so.....I told her I haven't spent more than $30 in gas in the past 3months. She totally understood ha ha, I may have gotten her thinking about getting a bike, but we'll see.

People at work are also "blown away" that I ride to work "all the way from downtown!"........It's a 12 mile round trip ha ha

Co-workers are always asking me if i "need" a ride home....like I'm riding to work because of a DUI or something, I guess that's the only good excuse for a grownm man to ride a bike these days.

devilshaircut

Haha yeah, people ask me all the time if I need a ride back. And I am like, I have my bike. Then they are like, we can put it in the car. Then I am like but then I would have to take off the front wheel. Then they are like that's not a problem.

But I am like ... honestly ... it's easier just to ride home.

People do think I am weird for traveling with a wrench though. Just crossed my mind that it would make good self defense, also.

Fasto

I'm from your neck of the woods... People tend to be shocked about my lack of brakes and gears and straight bars on a "road bike"... But **** it, it's flat here anyway...

Lately I've just been stroking the glorified role and telling people this is the only way to ride... This is more ballsy than the tour de france and I do it EVERYDAY in traffic and the whole nine!!

it's whatever... nobody understands us... parentz incl.

are you going to critical mass this month? I'm gonna be in SF so i won't be there... do you do bike miami or anything? I have no friends on bikes... I'm trying to peep miamibikescene blog for happenings in south fl.