Unkle Rico

Nice. I've been teetering right at the 200lb mark for a while now and it is annoying

TimothyH

Today I hit 50.3 MPH.

60 miles, 3340 ft climbing.


-Tim-

bonsai171

Today I rode 57 mi with 2600 ft of climbing.

Dave

JeremyLC

Today I went on a brewery ride. I came home with a brewery glass. I've still never actually drunk alcohol.

"You don't drink huh? Well, here take my empty glass anyway, I have way too many"

I also made some connections to get more people to my city's CM ride, which I founded and lead.

TimothyH

atl ftw!

seau grateau

Met up with some buds for a road ride. Hit up Griffith Park, made a coffee stop, then went up to the finish of Amgen TOC. Wasn't really great for spectating, as the finish was just a straight shot into Pasadena, no laps or anything, so you got to see the bunch once if you were lucky. Still cool to be around the whole thing though. Did about 40 miles all in all.

johnnytheboy

7 months sober. it's strange how drinking is pretty much the expected lifestyle. especially down here. pretty much every ride starts/ends/stops at a brewery or bar.

JeremyLC

First, congratulations on 7 months of sobriety. Second, I'm terribly sorry to confess that the CM ride I'm leading Friday will start at one brewery and end at another, despite the fact that I personally don't drink. I agree, though, that it is strange how you're just expected to booze and cruise around here. :/

johnnytheboy

bummer. not the main reason but definitely a contributing factor of why i no longer do critical mass. bike advocacy?! sure!! let's start by blocking off green lights with our bikes for 20mins while we roll through. oh yeah- we're also on our way to drink some beer. if you wanna hear all about being an an ambassador of the sport, you can meet us at a bar after!!

scoho

Seriously.

I don't mean to pick on CM specifically. A similar mindset seems to afflict a lot of people who profess to wish bikes were treated with more respect on the road. Sorry, folks, ain't gonna get that respect when you're blowing through lights/pedestrians and tagging/skritching/fooing your way around town.

JeremyLC

Yeah, the Arlington ride is a bit different in, at least, that respect. We stop for lights and signs. If we get split, we wait on the other side. I usually start and finish at the Levitt Pavilion downtown, but I'm making an exception this month.

For what it's worth, I've never been made to feel uncomfortable or wanted because I don't drink. I can certainly understand your position, though.

scoho

Been picking at it for weeks now, but it's time to store the sauerkraut, plus a mini-harvest of lettuce:

TenSpeedV2

I don't drink now either. Gave it up almost 5 years ago after leaving my alcoholic ex wife. We have a group of locals that does a fun sometimes themed ride on Friday nights. When I started going to this, they almost always ended up at a bar. No thanks. I would rather be out riding, so was born the after party. Most would think that meant more booze and bars. Nope. They go to the bar, and we go ride, faster, maybe a little more city street rather than bike path, and we don't go to bars. We usually end up hitting up a really good pizza joint here that sells by the slice and fuel up. Then we head back out for more miles and more fun. No alcohol on our late rides either, not a rule, but we just don't do it. These rides have lasted well past 1 am, once until almost 3 am and we did just under 75 miles total.

No need to feel out of place or guilty for not drinking. Not sure why riding and drinking seem to go hand in hand. Mountain bikers are the worst most of the time, cracking a beer as soon as they get off the trail and are sitting in the bed of their pick up. The last thing I would want to drink after 17 dusty and sweaty miles is beer.

Unkle Rico

Yea, its hit or miss with the boozing and riding. It can be really fun sometimes but probably 90% of the time it is just not something I care to do -- To much at stake i suppose. My wife (new wife that is) probably would be really upset if I cracked my head open on the street because I was all boozed up.

scoho

Thanks for sharing.

I drank pretty heavily in the past but gave it up when I met my now-wife a little over five years ago. She didn't force me to at all; I just decided that I wanted to be a better partner to her than I could be under the influence. These days I never have more than the occasional single beer with dinner.

I do sometimes miss being able to get loose and silly with some old friends, or to let my guard down in order to make new friends more easily, but on the whole I'm confident that I've gained much more than I've given up. I never really had a big problem at all—there was no crisis—but even in the absence of a crisis the little things really add up. Plus, there’s an enormous benefit just from trading drinking buddies and sitting in bars for genuine companionship and activities that are intrinsically fulfilling.

I don't proselytize to my friends about it (and haven't lost any friends over it—although there are certainly people I'm less interested in spending time with now), but I've been pleasantly surprised that most of my friends just naturally follow my lead in drinking less, or not at all, when we're together. Despite what I expected, it just hasn't been a big deal or caused any kind of social strife to speak of, and in fact not only are most people respectful of my decision but they're interested in hearing more about it and maybe doing something similar in their own lives.

TenSpeedV2

It used to be the cool thing to go and drink after. Now it is not drinking, at least that is how I see it.

JeremyLC

I've been really thinking a lot about the booze part of the ride. I already felt a little bad about the breweries, but the responses on the forum are really weighing heavily on my conscience. This month's start and end points are set, but next month we'll go back to downtown proper, starting and ending at the Levitt Pavilion.

I don't want to be a stumbling block to or a destructive influence on my fellow cyclists.

Also, @TenSpeedV2 that "after party" sounds like a great idea. I may do just that on Friday, though my city isn't that exciting to explore.

TenSpeedV2

Not much to explore here either but we usually found something to get into.

SquidPuppet

Congrats guys.

I have a similar problem. I found a group here called Lake City Flyers that does a monthly ride. Their focus is vintage balloon tire bikes, clunkers, beach cruisers, or anything old school single speed. I thought I had found a good nerd bike crew to hang with. Unfortunately it's less about the bikes, the scenery, or the riding, and more about the frequent pit stops. Not how I want to spend a sunny Saturday.

Carcosa

Last night I won one of these during a raffle to raise money for our local cycling advocacy group.



https://www.lattis.io

Pretty neat. I'll probably resell it though. Don't lock my bike up a ton.

Funny thing, the all-day fundraiser was held at a bar. The bar was founded by cyclists, is bike themed and hosts the best weekly social ride in the city. All your posts just made me think about the role of alcohol a little more. Thanks for that, and congrats on the sobriety – especially considering the ubiquity of drinking in society these days.

I don't booze and ride. But I'm also not against a beer after a long ride or before a social ride. I think like a lot of things its all about moderation and being a responsible adult. Not causing harm to yourself or people around you.

This might stick with me though.

Also really like the idea of @TenSpeedV2's after party. Follow up a chill social ride with a faster paced group for some more miles. Might save me from drinking that beer after a ride.

** Edit: Came back to this after thinking for a minute. It really isn't just cycling but most exercise that has the same relation to drinking. Exercise and drinking affect different reward centers in our brains to become really pretty powerful combined. Add in the social bonding aspect and it is easy to see why it happens. Good to stay mindful of though, and maybe not try to exacerbate. Sorry for the ramble post.

TenSpeedV2

Anyone wants to talk about sobriety or related stuff, I am usually available. It isn't always easy, and sometimes you need to talk to someone that has gone through, or is going through giving that up. The after party was a really cool thing after that group ride ended up at a bar/restaurant-bar and the alcohol started. Sometimes we would get a bite to eat, no alcohol, and then roll out on our way.

As far as exploring the city, all we would do is ride. I live in the capital city, so we would usually end up at the capital/downtown area which was usually dead at night. There was one rule that when you got to the capital/library, you had to do a lap. Any time a new rider came out with us, we headed there for the inauguration. We might race a bit on a 5 lane wide one way road. We might hit most of the parking ramps. We might do some late night MUP exploring. Usually there is someone that knows of a cool spot to ride to and check out. One challenge that we tried since we were all riding fixed is riding up a parking ramp as slow as you possibly can go without tipping over. If there were enough people, you could try to organize a treasure hunt splitting up into teams of 2 or 3. Stuff like take your picture in front of a fast food restaurant. Bring back a menu from a Chinese take out. Stuff like that. Most malls have a road that goes all the way around the mall. Time to set up a mini crit. We did that in an abandoned neighborhood. Was a spontaneous thing as we were exploring and came upon it. Was super sketch but really fun.

johnnytheboy

i never had a problem with alcoholism. never struggled with it. woke up on november 1 and decided i needed to take a few days off. that few days has turned into 7 months. feels really good and it's something i'm proud of. another thing i've noticed...when i tell people i don't drink their first response is usually "wow. who's your sponsor? where do you go to meetings? did you get a dui?!" it's crazy how drinking is so popular and almost expected that when people find out you don't drink, they assume something catastrophic must have happened.

the sci guy 

It makes me happy to see people talk like this and keep their lives clean. I'm not really a drinker mostly because to me almost all beers taste pretty awful. I only drink wheat beers or similar - and have never met a stout or an IPA that I've ever liked. Have never been a fan of liquor either.
As far as riding and drinking - I've never seen the attraction because beer has never been something that has quenched my thirst - nor would it sit well in my stomach if I was going to go back out and grind for another 50 miles. Ugh. Barf.

Today I noticed during a downpour that I need to clean the gutters. Ugh. Barf.

JeremyLC

I've honestly never had anyone say anything like that to me. For the most part, folks respect my choice not to drink, and leave me alone about it.

ThermionicScott 

Semi-tangentially, I've been reading a blog by a guy who attempted to make every drink in the classic "Savoy Cocktail Book" (similar premise to "Julie and Julia"), and not long after completing that monumental task, he decided to take a little time off from drinking and it has been a couple of years now. It's interesting, and I kinda wonder what my relationship with alcohol will be, decades from now.