PhotoJoe 

Nice little article. But what if I'm fat, old AND have no time?

3 Bad Excuses for Avoiding a Bike Ride | Bicycling

TrojanHorse

What about rain. It's raining right now, inexplicably.

PhotoJoe 

Come on. You live in SoCal. It has already rained both days that it's going to this year. Get on the bike!!!!

I have actually thought about buying a trasher rain bike with fenders. I love riding in the rain. Yes, I'm weird, but I enjoy it.

TrojanHorse

I actually have a REALLY nice rain jacket that's never been worn in the rain on a bike. Ha!

I just don't want to have to clean everything after riding in the rain and my son's soccer practice will probably get canceled anyway, that's when I ride on Mondays.

Beachgrad05

Been riding my motorcycle to work to beat traffic. Does that count at all? I hate riding alone in dark. By time I get home and hubby and I get dinner handled it is dark. I have a trainer...guess I will need to get my torture chamber set up.

indyfabz

None of those excuses work for me. What has been holding me back more and more is "I'm bored." Through both supported and unsupported tours I have seen a lot of beautiful country. Living where I do, I don't have access to anything exciting from my door. And having lived here virtually all my life it's become harder and harder to feel motivated to do the same old stuff. Even the rides that I do that require me to drive to somewhere like central New Jersey are starting to feel a bit stale.

Hoping to take a three-day trip this weekend from the point where NY, NJ and PA meet to my house. Just trying to time it around Friday's predicted rain. The one-way SUV rental alone will cost me $180. Camping will be another $75. But I am willing to go that far to see some country I haven't seen lately.

SloButWide 

When does it rain? Right after you wash the car or water the lawn.

When drought kicks in, what's the first thing Cali cities do?

Ban washing cars and watering lawns.

Uh, guys, I think I see the problem here.

TrojanHorse

kc0bbq

Are there acceptable excuses? Tuberculosis? Two broken legs? Is there a situation where you've HTFUed all you're going to HTFU?

IBOHUNT

Rule 9 son, rule 9.

LGHT

hahah it's always the answer!

NYSteve

Indyfabz, come to the finger lakes, it's a few hours west of where you are going. The rides here are challenging because of the hills, and beautiful because of our lakes. Be warned, you will have little Amish kids blow by you on their 1 speed bikes.

Fangowolf

Flu and being slipped the nightime medicine as daytime. Took me till Saturday Dinner to figure out it was the medicine making me sleep, instead of the flu.

TrojanHorse

I'm not a badass, I'm a delicate flower.

Where do the Amish hang out in the finger lakes? I never noticed any but I spent most of my time over by Cayuga. Not that I want some kid on a single speed to show me what's what, mind you.

NYSteve

Those little Amish boys, they will ride up to you, strike up a small conversation, then say "See you later" and take off, never to be seen again.

NYSteve

Generally you can find them all over the Seneca Lake Area. A very large population in Penn Yan, and Dundee. As well as outside of Geneva.

IBOHUNT

I'm fairly confident we'll see that posted yet again. Much like ...

"Walked my first hill" - Vesteroid
"Weight doesn't really mean much" - Axiom

SpikedLemon

I feel guilty riding instead of spending time with the Fam.

I've taken to riding, the few days I can, to work to get some exercise time but it's more than twice the amount of time that it'd be w/ the car/motorcycle.


I'm jealous of CA's lane splitting motorcycles.

TrojanHorse

It seems like a good idea but it's incredibly dangerous for the motorcyclist. I used to do it, but mostly at lights to get to the front, or when the freeway was dead stopped. I was driving home from work last night in the left lane (carpool lane to the left of me) and as I changed lanes to the right, some lunatic on a dual sport bike went screaming by on the left. It's hard enough seeing everything around you at night but when a motorcycle is weaving in and out of rush hour traffic going 50 miles an hour, something bad is going to happen. I even make a point of looking for motorcyclists before changing lanes but they really are hard to see.

One preferred trick out here that seems to work pretty well - motorcyclists are entitled to use the carpool lane and they tend to pass cars on the right, but you're reasonably certain that nobody is going to lurch across the double yellow to get into slower traffic so it's a safer bet. Most cars even seem to be reasonably accommodating and will move left a little to let them by.

Obviously the more you ride the better you get at predicting the behavior of box jockeys but there are so many really bad drivers out there...

So it's technically not illegal to lane-share but the police can still ticket you for doing it while going more than 5 or 10 mph faster than traffic. Not that I've ever seen it happen.

indyfabz

Just did the Bon Ton for the second time last year. When I travel far it's usually to tour out west. I was in the Black Hills in June. I will probably be going back to the mountains of SW Montana again next June. Was there in 2011 and 2014. Looking at this loop for 2016. It's got a few hills:

MONTANA 2016 - Missoula, MT

And if I want to get dropped by Amish kids I can drive an hour to Lancaster County, PA. I once drafted an a teenaged Amish girl on an old Raleigh fitted with a Campy disc wheel. Yes. I have no shame.

ColaJacket

How long did it take before she droped the hamer at 400w and dropped you?

Also, after a week of not riding because of the rain, the ride was a little harder because I lost some fitness. Does that count as an excuse?

GH

indyfabz

I was doing a charity ride. She turned off on another road before she got the chance. The whole thing was quite an experience. I saw her riding on a road above that dropped down and merged with the road I was on. She pulled in front and I dialed it up to catch up with her. In addition to the disc wheel, she had mirrors attached to both sides of the bars and an orange milk crate atop a rear rack. She was riding in a dress with a bonnet.

There are some strong locals out there. Many years ago I did a club ride in Floyd Landis country. A teenage Mennonite kid was doing the ride is thick, black jeans and a checkered shirt. He was very strong.

Beachgrad05

I do indeed split the lane between carpool and #1 lane if carpool
Lane is also jacked up. I am careful to keep my speed at a reasonable rate compared to cars around me. I've seen cars cross the double yellow to get in or out so if you are going too fast you run risk of that happening and being unable to stop. I am even more watchful in the area where getting in and out of carpool lane is allowed. I have to watch for motorcycles coming behind me who do want to go faster than I feel comfortable going. I move into carpool lane when able and let them pass. Most car drivers seem nice enough to move over to give me room. It's appreciated.

I would love to ride my bicycle but it's over 20 miles by surface streets and a lot of the streets are not bike friendly. It would take me about 1.5 hours each way and I have nowhere to shower or really clean up at work. I'd have to leave home by 6am to get to work sort of on time. Ugh. Not gonna happen.