[Geoff]

With only 350 or so riders, this was a “small” ride, and I saw many of the same people all day. The lunch stop and two rest stops were simple but well done. The route, going through farms and small towns, had little traffic. The steepest hills were maybe 3-4%, and they were short (though some 1-2% grades went on for a ways).

The weather was mostly good. High of 80 degrees, low humidity compared to DC. But the wind! They said the winds are “generally out of the west”, but on this particular day they were out of the east. 140+ miles of headwind gets tiresome after a while. A good number of people didn’t make it all the way.

It was a good ride and I’m glad to have done it, but next year I’ll stay closer to home.

[Geoff]

@hozn 91333 wrote:

In general, I think the idea of test riding a bunch of bikes for long rides sounds smart — and fun. That said, I would say that a lot of what people are experiencing when they test ride a bike are the things that you tend to (or are trivial to) change out anyway based on personal taste. E.g. saddle, stem, seatpost (setback/nosetback), handelbar configuration (how flat is transition from bar to shifters). So definitely test ride bikes, but pay more attention to things like how quick the steering is or whether you like the size of Shimano vs. Sram shifters rather than minute differences in your position on the bike / how low the bars are, how comfortable the saddle is, how much road vibration you feel (easily fixed by changing tires which wear out anyway), etc. (This is obviously much easier said than done.) I test rode a few bikes when I was buying my first mountain bike and I borrowed my first road bike for a couple weeks before deciding to buy it, but since then I’ve always bought bikes without doing any extensive test riding (and most of them bought as frames without ever having ridden them at all) and I’ve never been disappointed (or surprised) by any of my purchases. Once you know what works, bike fit just boils down to some lengths and angles.

I’m glad to see someone discuss what to look for when trying bikes. The advice to try lots of them sounds like common sense, so it is hard to criticize. On the other hand, there is no one right bike for a given person, or so many of us would not have multiple bikes. As hozn says, you can tweak a lot of things and change the bike’s feel. Also, your body will get used to a given bike.

I used to play classical guitar (and hope to again some day; different story, maybe different forum!) and, when buying a guitar, people were advised to try lots of them. Thing is, novice players were also advised to let their instructor choose their guitar for them, because the novice did not yet have the skill to bring out the best in a guitar and maybe didn’t even have the ear to recognize differences. I think something like that applies to bikes also. A novice rider isn’t alive to the differences that will matter in six months. Many years ago I rode coast to coast on a Peugeot PX-10, loaded with all my gear. The PX-10 was a nice bike in its time, but not a good choice for touring. But I had it fixed in my mind that it was what I wanted and I probably would have chosen it even if I had tried lots of other bikes. Someone should have slapped me.

[Geoff]

@dplasters 91711 wrote:

If I know the pace of the traffic due to lights will be 30 or less, I’ll filter all day. I know that I can generally keep up with the flow and not be constantly going back and forth with cars passing me and then me passing them. Which is just asking for trouble. Every situation is different.. despite having zero knowledge about the intersection/right hand turn in question I will go out and say…

I think the mindset of “I’ll bike because it is faster” isn’t necessarily a good one to have. In city traffic it can cause you to assume you deserve to be moving past idling cars through filtering or on sidewalks and putting yourself in needlessly risky situations (and looking like an ass). Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it a good idea. When you ride on crowded sidewalks, they hate you for a reason. You’re on a sidewalk and you yield to them. If its not safe to filter and the sidewalk is crowded you have two safe options: Walk your bike on the sidewalk, wait in traffic. Its not absurd. Its the reality of the situation. Frustrating? Sure. But I always read on these forums how ever time you’re on a bike you’re a spokesperson for the cycling community and there is doing what is right and doing what you think you should be able to do. Life sucks, we frequently don’t get what we think we should.

Again, I don’t know the exact setup of the intersection or the traffic pattern around it. What I’m hearing is “filtering isn’t safe” and “the sidewalk is filled with people” but “I can’t be bothered to wait in traffic” so i’ll filter through people on a busy sidewalk.

I think the better mindset is “I will enjoy getting from A to B way more and when I get there I’ll also know I got some good exercise in. If I can do it in the same time or faster than a car check me out!“

I don’t think you and I have a quarrel. If we rode together you might well think me too faint of heart. I see people filter thru traffic when I would bail and going lickety-split on sidewalks where I’m flintstoning it. On the other hand I’ve been taken to task in situations where I really couldn’t see what the concern was. We all have to make judgement calls, do what we have to do, and try not to be a jerk in the process.

[Geoff]

@Powerful Pete 91678 wrote:

On my commute home I often ride the 15th street bike lane southbound. The lane ends at the intersection of 15th and Penn (or rather, there is an arrow there and what would be the bike lane is taken up by food trucks all the way to Constitution/Pennsylvania).

At rush hour, the light at 15th and Constitution/Pennsylvania ensures that the cars are bumper to bumper. I “filter” through to the light, and then proceed to get on the sidewalk paralleling 15th next to the Washington Monument and the Holocaust Memorial.

I do this because the one time I tried to ride that portion of sidewalk took forever and was, frankly dangerous for myself and all of the pedestrians.

I know this stretch well, and probably many people here do also. Usually I bypass the problem entirely by going through the Ellipse, but sometimes access is blocked. In which case I filter as far as I can (when the cars start preparing to turn right I get uncomfortable) and then hop onto the sidewalk and thread my way past the peds. I would rather not filter or go on the sidewalk here, but taking a place in line with the cars seems absurd.

[Geoff]

@hozn 91654 wrote:

Why do cyclists do this to cars at stoplights?

I like Sethpo’s fluid dynamics explanation.
But I don’t shoal the cars if I actually think I’m going to get in their way or if I think they’ll have an awkward time passing me, because then I’d put myself at risk.

[Geoff]

Generally the people who shoal me look like they aren’t familiar with, or don’t care about, the social norms assumed on this forum. I mean, they aren’t wearing “the uniform”, probably not even a helmet, and are riding a CaBi or a beater. The people who are likely to pass me generally wait their turn. Possibly because I’m a guy in bike shorts they’re showing deference?

I don’t worry too much about the few who shoal me, but I do stare in amazement at the guys (always guys) who don’t even stop for the red even though traffic is moving on the cross street.

[Geoff]

@creadinger 91355 wrote:

Is he doing intense strength training or kettle bell workouts?

Last summer I did a 125 mile ride with a friend who had never ridden more than 50 miles 2 weeks before the event, and 80 miles 1 week before the event. Despite the fact that I had done a 188 miler 2 months prior, he kicked my ass. Especially on the headwind bits, and on the last 20 miles where I struggled to keep up. The only thing I can attribute it to was he did lots of intense weight lifting/kettle-bell style workouts and I was WEAK.

My brother, Chris, does do a lot of weight training. In fact, he is thinking of entering some power-lifting competitions after we get ODRAM behind us. Also, he’ll be riding a recumbent, which should help.

I have been worried about his training especially because he is quite a bit overweight. When I asked a while back how training was going, he just joked and dodged the question. But I was encouraged last week; he sounded much more serious and had just done a 98 mile ride.

[Geoff]

@tdebruyn 91062 wrote:

Did your brother mention anything about staying in Bay City? We’re staying in Norton Shores Friday night w/ my sister-in-law. My wife & kids are driving across state and meeting me in Bay City Saturday, but we’re unsure where to stay. We’re driving up north the next day to take in the mighty mac and go over to Mackinaw Island. I’ve looked up a few places in Bay City, but not sure how decent they are.

No, after the ride we’ll head down to Port Huron, near where we grew up and where he still lives.

[Geoff]

I use a cable plus U-lock on my commuter.

While I prefer a combination lock so I don’t have to worry about losing or forgetting the key, apparently combinations locks are easy to “hack”. I have found “how to” videos for cracking combination locks on cable locks and on Master locks; haven’t found one for combination U-locks but I won’t bet my bike that such techniques don’t exist.

[Geoff]

@Harry Meatmotor 90782 wrote:

I dunno – Whispering Ln is pretty fierce, too.

I’ll grant you that. But Jay Miller is the one I go up to see what kind of shape I’m in.

[Geoff]

I do use a HRM but not the way a serious racer would. Since my interest is in all day rides – centuries and such – I’m mainly interested in a pace I can maintain but not be the last one on the course. So I use the HRM to make sure I don’t overexert myself early on. I have one that ties into a relatively inexpensive cycle computer (don’t know the brand right off, but I think it cost about $150).

During the winter when using an indoor trainer, I do intervals. Go hard, recover, go hard, etc. I use a HRM to get an idea of how hard I’m exerting myself. I just use a stand-alone HRM for this. Cost about $100.

[Geoff]

@PeteD 90765 wrote:

Me: The dumb guy riding around quiet shaded neighborhoods
You: Jay Miller

Who the hell are you? What did you do in life that made someone name such a nasty road after you?

I’m afraid you misunderstand, PeteD. I don’t know Jay Miller (the person) either, but if you see hills as the gift of a loving God who wants to help us observe Rule 5, Jay Miller is one of the best roads in the area!

[Geoff]

@cyclingfool 90728 wrote:

Those are some awesome diapers!

There’s a phrase I never thought I’d see in this forum…

[Geoff]

@Brendan von Buckingham 90590 wrote:

I get that some want to reject being labeled as a culture in order to look mainstream and normal, but the mainstream for decades has identified us as a separate class, usually an underclass. It’s our label whether we think so or not. No use running away from that. Use the fact that we’re a class that is discriminated against as a group and fight for our group rights. There’s a culture in there somewhere.

Gotta disagree. You might as well talk about football loving culture, barbecue culture, drive-5-miles-to-work vs. drive-25-miles-to-work culture. You could, but it would be silly. The biggest difference between “my culture” now that I commute by bike and when I drove is I spend more time on bike maintenance.

Yes, I’ve been honked at and yelled at on a bike in a way that doesn’t happen when I drive but it doesn’t define my “culture” any more than dealing with rude people in a store defines anything about me.

I’m fine with advocating our interests, like bike lanes, the same as anyone else advocates their interests. We’ll win some and lose some. You can’t have equality if you cling to a sense of victimhood.

[Geoff]

Ashley, I think you’ll find that “bike culture” is exactly the same as mainstream culture, we just ride bikes more.

The suggestions above, like checking out Phoenix Bikes and dropping in on some of the coffee clubs, are probably your best places to start.

[Author]

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