I have a confession to make

[badger]

Unlike everyone here, I am not an avid cyclist. Nor do I even enjoy it very much.

So why am I here? well, I'm a bike commuter and a little over a year ago I was in search of a saddle and I stumbled across this site during my research.

I found what I needed and moved on (got me a Brooks B17S).

Every now and again I popped in to see if there were any interesting threads. Then my dog died, and came here asking for bereavement support information and found an inordinate amount of support from you people on this site. Total strangers who reached out to someone in pain.

So while I may not have much to say about bikes and cycling, I still think you guys are awesome! so, thanks :)

[Tuckervill]

Hey, Badger! We all have the same thing in common. We have a bike, whether we ride it much or not. So who cares how much you ride? I hardly ever post in threads about cycling! lol. I'm glad you're here.

Karen

[RoadRaven]

Glad you are here too, Badger. The variety of interest, passions, bike usage... this variety and diversity is what makes TE such an interesting place - whether you are here daily, or whether you pop in intermittently (like me) or you visit only occasionally.

Anyone on a bike is a good thing to see or to know about. Whether they are are a racing machine, a recreational plodder (my mum's name for herself), a commuter or whatever the description might be.

Glad you are here. Glad this forum offers you what you need, when you need it.

[Brandi]

I do love my bike and wish i rode more. I seem to have cut back, not on purpose I just get so cuaght up with stuff.
I have to agree not all of us know all the lingo and stuff but we all have a bike and that is what brought us all here. But what we have found is a safe place to be ourselve's. Except when it come's to politics and religion. But even then some of us manage to sneak it in here and there.;)

[shootingstar]

You ride a bike..doesn't matter the distance.
Just ride when you need/want to and not think much about it. You might be surprised what you learn later... Some people haven't been on a bike for years...and it's a major adjustment for their body for even a 5 km. ride.

Some of us get knocked out from biking for a spell (well, hopefully not literally too often), because of sickness or other reasons.

[badger]

My use of a bike stems more from necessity (no parking at work, and I only live a couple of miles away anyways) and exercise.

I kind of take pride in coming into work like a drowned rat because they think I'm crazy to ride in the rain. And because I hate walking, I'll ride my bike to run errands when the weather's not gross.

So I guess I do use my bike a lot, but more for transportation than out of passion. I guess I felt like I was a bit of an imposter here because I imagined most everyone here biked out of enjoyment. And due to hideous weather I haven't been on my bike for almost a month and I feel like I've abandoned it.

But I will say that I LOVE my bike :) It's a cyclocross frame by Cramerotti. I peeled off the loud stickers and modified the drop bars to straight bars. It looks like a plain old modified road bike and I love it. Unlike other things in my life, I have no desire to change it to a "better" bike.

And since commuting full time on my bike, my butt's been lifted to where they were when I was in my mid-twenties :D

[shootingstar]

It's a positive sign that you like your bike alot.

For simple walking around in any city, I get bored of walking after 4-5 kms. I'd rather get to my destination on bike. So I dislike sprawly cities that I visit which have a much smaller population. It makes no sense to me to design cities in this unfriendly way.

I think the best thing to describe how I feel about cycling after all these years, is it's just part of daily life (well during cyclable weather). It doesn't feel like a burning passion all the time or many times. It's just if I don't do it for a few days/weeks/months, I feel something is missing and my body definitely feels not quite right. YOu may feel this if you haven't bike commuted for a long time.

To me it's a positive sign, that I've integrated cycling into daily life. Like brushing your hair daily..or whatever better metaphor.

I do love cycling only during the times when the weather is glorious, see fantastic scenery, at the end of a long/difficult ride or for therapeutic reasons, I need to regain my strength. Then I'm happy at that point in time on bike. Most times it's a neutral feeling inside me where my thoughts and feeling wander somewhere else during the ride.

There are also times, because we don't have a car, I do occasionally get tired of the multiple times I must lock my bike to do different errands in 1 day, ec. There is a repetition for that routine..that's just boring, etc. But the feeling doesn't hang around me for long by the end of the day.

[pardes]

See there you do appreciate your bike and biking after all....just in your own personal way. Bravo for that!

There is room for every aspect of interest (or disinterest) about bikes here. That's what makes this forum a unique bike forum. I don't know of any other discussion group where you can have such varied interests and yet somehow we all interact together in a synergistic way.

[Red Rock]

I first found this forum when I became more internet savy and started looking for biking things and stuff. Presto, there was this board and I started reading. All of a sudden I was "hooked" on TE. It took me two years to finally register, but now I am here sort of infrequentley. I drop in and drop out but I make regular visits.

I have had weird job and school combonations so I have ridden my bike from up to 100 miles a week, to living on the trainer in the winter/summer months. Now I have a Hardtail that gives me a bit more diversity, so I hope my riding will go up more in the winter and all year round as a result.

All the while this crazyness was going on, TE has been here and at least kept me "in the loop". That is my story.

I think it is great that you enjoy/like your bike. Keep riding and everyone here supports you in your efforts.

Red Rock

[mudmucker]

Unlike everyone here, I am not an avid cyclist. Nor do I even enjoy it very much. So why am I here? well, I'm a bike commuter and a little over a year ago I was in search of a saddle and I stumbled across this site during my research.

You are on a bike. You commute on a bike. Case closed.

[ClockworkOrange]

........................

But I will say that I LOVE my bike :) It's a cyclocross frame by Cramerotti. I peeled off the loud stickers and modified the drop bars to straight bars. It looks like a plain old modified road bike and I love it. Unlike other things in my life, I have no desire to change it to a "better" bike.

And since commuting full time on my bike, my butt's been lifted to where they were when I was in my mid-twenties :D

Snap, there is no way I will EVER change my bike and like you, I don't go that far or that fast but since I have been riding my bike it sure has improved my rear end.

There's room for everybody on this site, regardless how much or how little they know.

Have to agree, the people here are a great crowd.

Clock http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/3145716824_a8962e52f8_o.gif

[malkin]

I ended up here after a wrong-for-me saddle had me riding in tears, and thinking that I was probably a sub-human mutant requiring at least surgery, more likely euthanasia, certainly not capable of ever enjoying a bike ride.

[Zen]

Recreational plodder. I like that.

[sgtiger]

(((((badger))))))

No matter what your reason is, you're on a bike at least occasionally. That in my book works for me. Heck, I've barely touched my bike since moving into our new house.:rolleyes::o There are others here that have mentioned that cycling is not really their thing, but have taken it up because they want to do tris. That's cool too. I think many of us have stumbled on this site due to a bike related issue of one kind or another but have stayed on because of all the really cool people.:D:D:D

[badger]

I ended up here after a wrong-for-me saddle had me riding in tears, and thinking that I was probably a sub-human mutant requiring at least surgery, more likely euthanasia, certainly not capable of ever enjoying a bike ride.


And how did the saga end??

I'm actually still having saddle issues after 8 or 9 months.

My left sit bone feels like it's sitting right on the rivet (Brooks). My right one's fine. I've fiddled with it endlessly, adjusting it in minute degrees and finally decided that I must have gotten a seconds. I even got a callous on my left cheek from it!

I was looking at my saddle the other day and saw the depressions made by my sit bones, and lo and behold, my left one is right by the rivet and my right one is a good half inch forward from its equivalent.

I shouldn't be too surprised; I do have a minor case of scoliosis, so my pelvis is probably off-kilter. Maybe I'll look into a Brooks B68 with springs!!

[malkin]

B67S for the back of the tandem
B18 for my Giant

And they all lived happily ever after.

[malkin]

Oh--B is for Brooks.

[badger]

Glad Brooks helped you. My said struggle is with a B17S, perhaps it's too short for me.

[malkin]

Me on a B=17 would be like a scary old Brothers Grimm story B17...the poor scrawny helplless saddle would be lost forever between my sit bones. (What was said about me in the ER would be a different literary genre!)

The S for short is only an issue for me on the stoker seat of the tandem, as a longer nosed saddle likes to grab the back of my pants and pull 'em down as I climb aboard. The only proper response for a lady is to turn around and slap the saddle and exclaim "How dare you get fresh with me!" as it giggles with a schoolboyish grin.