Sodbuster
05-19-18, 10:13 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Sodbuster
Hello Virtual Friends,
I have been lurking here for sometime, gathering information, and I guess it's about time I actually joined the "club." I'm 45, I am 6'6" and close to 300#. In spite of what you might think from the latter number, I'm a pretty active person. When I've lived in areas with a competition pool available, I've been an active swimmer - sometimes logging more than 1,000,000 yards of pretty intense work per year. I farm now, out in a very rural area, and we don't have a year-round pool. I love swimming, and I used to be a competitive swimmer at the college level. I've only been an occasional cyclist. I used to have a '99 Specialized Allez that I bought new. I had to switch out wheels because I kept busting the plastic spokes. This was all fine after I had a wheel with 32 metal spokes. Anyhow, I rode that bike quite a bit - did metric centuries a couple of times, and then moved to a place where riding on roads was quite a bit less safe. All of the little plastic parts inside the brifters went bad, and I wanted to ride again a couple of years ago. I contacted the LBS and was told that replacing the brifters would run $650 or something. I didn't think it was worth spending that on a several year old entry-level bike, so I sold it and found a Bianchi Sport SS, which I really like. I ride it around almost solely for exercise. Where I live now, it is reasonably safe to take it on the road. I ride three or four times a week, usually 15-20 miles, rolling about 17 or 18 pace. My longest recent ride was 42 miles, and I average about 60 miles per week. So that's the kind of riding I do. I'm trying to exercise and drop a few pounds and stay in some kind of shape. The Sport SS is absolutely fine for that and I really like it. It's simple enough that I'm not going to have to dump $650 in it to keep it rolling, and in a pinch, I can do some work on it myself. There really is no LBS - the "local" shop is 45 minutes away by car, so it is a pretty big time investment to have a bike shop work on it. I do minor stuff by necessity - and work on my kids' bikes, because I don't have hours and days to drive over to Merced and have someone else do it!
My kids go with me on my local routes, sometimes. I am thinking about maybe doing a 40ish mile t-shirt type ride with some of them one of these weekends. Maybe a metric century, but I don't think they're quite ready for that yet. It's a big deal to get to one of those for us, though. They're all 2+ hours away, and I'd likely have to get a motel, etc. So as it is, I mostly run around on my local mapped out routes here, making a competition of my rides with myself using the data from the trusty ol' CatEye Velo7. That may be more information than you wanted to know... but hey, it's an introduction thread, right?
I have been lurking here for sometime, gathering information, and I guess it's about time I actually joined the "club." I'm 45, I am 6'6" and close to 300#. In spite of what you might think from the latter number, I'm a pretty active person. When I've lived in areas with a competition pool available, I've been an active swimmer - sometimes logging more than 1,000,000 yards of pretty intense work per year. I farm now, out in a very rural area, and we don't have a year-round pool. I love swimming, and I used to be a competitive swimmer at the college level. I've only been an occasional cyclist. I used to have a '99 Specialized Allez that I bought new. I had to switch out wheels because I kept busting the plastic spokes. This was all fine after I had a wheel with 32 metal spokes. Anyhow, I rode that bike quite a bit - did metric centuries a couple of times, and then moved to a place where riding on roads was quite a bit less safe. All of the little plastic parts inside the brifters went bad, and I wanted to ride again a couple of years ago. I contacted the LBS and was told that replacing the brifters would run $650 or something. I didn't think it was worth spending that on a several year old entry-level bike, so I sold it and found a Bianchi Sport SS, which I really like. I ride it around almost solely for exercise. Where I live now, it is reasonably safe to take it on the road. I ride three or four times a week, usually 15-20 miles, rolling about 17 or 18 pace. My longest recent ride was 42 miles, and I average about 60 miles per week. So that's the kind of riding I do. I'm trying to exercise and drop a few pounds and stay in some kind of shape. The Sport SS is absolutely fine for that and I really like it. It's simple enough that I'm not going to have to dump $650 in it to keep it rolling, and in a pinch, I can do some work on it myself. There really is no LBS - the "local" shop is 45 minutes away by car, so it is a pretty big time investment to have a bike shop work on it. I do minor stuff by necessity - and work on my kids' bikes, because I don't have hours and days to drive over to Merced and have someone else do it!
My kids go with me on my local routes, sometimes. I am thinking about maybe doing a 40ish mile t-shirt type ride with some of them one of these weekends. Maybe a metric century, but I don't think they're quite ready for that yet. It's a big deal to get to one of those for us, though. They're all 2+ hours away, and I'd likely have to get a motel, etc. So as it is, I mostly run around on my local mapped out routes here, making a competition of my rides with myself using the data from the trusty ol' CatEye Velo7. That may be more information than you wanted to know... but hey, it's an introduction thread, right?
05-19-18, 10:18 AM
#2
Life is good
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not far from the Withlacoochee Trail. 🚴🏻
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Welcome to Bike Forums. Glad you joined us. Whereabouts do you live? Maybe you can find folks to ride with in the Regional subforums.
__________________
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. - Psalm 103:8
I am a cyclist. I am not the fastest or the fittest. But I will get to where I'm going with a smile on my face.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. - Psalm 103:8
I am a cyclist. I am not the fastest or the fittest. But I will get to where I'm going with a smile on my face.
05-19-18, 01:24 PM
#3
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Kalamazoo MI
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Welcome to Bike Forums SB72!
05-19-18, 10:53 PM
#4
Member
Thread Starter
I'm in Dos Palos, CA. There are quite a few rides up around Sacramento, but that's about 2 1/2 hrs.
05-20-18, 12:24 PM
#5
Life is good
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not far from the Withlacoochee Trail. 🚴🏻
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You can also find folks to ride with in the Northern California regional subforum. Have fun.
__________________
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. - Psalm 103:8
I am a cyclist. I am not the fastest or the fittest. But I will get to where I'm going with a smile on my face.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. - Psalm 103:8
I am a cyclist. I am not the fastest or the fittest. But I will get to where I'm going with a smile on my face.
05-21-18, 03:04 PM
#7
Super Modest
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Central Illinois
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Welcome! Enjoy the ride!
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Keep the chain tight!
05-22-18, 02:55 PM
#8
So it is
Join Date: Sep 2008
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Welcome to Bike Forums, sodbuster72!
