Bikes are like shoes

I figured out that bikes are like my shoes:

I need a good pair of hiking boots. .. I need a good mudding bike aka mountain bike

I need a good pair of running shoes... I love my fast, road bike.

I need a pair of Saturday shoes, the kind that I hang around the house in or paint in or head to K-Mart in (to get more paint). .. I need a hybrid.

This is for anyone who asks, which type of bike should I get? I query back, "Where are ya going at the moment?" Get all three!

Right now I am up one and down two. Have been test riding mountain bikes at my local bike shop. There is a sweet Bontrager (I can't even pronounce THAT) that some girl ordered and never came in for that I can get at a really good buy. Then there is an awesome Harro (did I spell that right?) at triple the cost of the Bontrager.

OOOHHHH...then there are those beachy looking bikes. Reminescent of what I rode when I was a kid in the 70's. Ape hanger handle bars. All they need are banana seats and sissy bars and I'm there! My only problem is that no matter which direction I leave the house from I climb a steep hill and these bikes are strictly flat land cruising at slow speed beauties.

Hey! How many of you here remember the sissy bars, banana seats, and ape hanger handle bars? The ones that had tassels on the ends of the handle bars were especially cool.

I've got a picture of me on my bike with the banana seat and high handle bars. I am standing on the seat with one leg straight out behind me, kinda a ballet move on a bike. If I can dig up it or get my mom to email it to, and figure out how to post it, I'll post it here.

These are some ways I think biking parallels life:

- There are good days and bad days and, once in a great while, memorable magical days.
- It's about the journey, not the destination.
- Most bumps and bruises eventually heal and teach me something I need to know.
- Calculated risk helps me grow.
- But I should listen to my instincts and what my body is telling me and take things one day at a time.
- There will always be someone faster, smarter, stronger, etc. I'm best off not comparing myself to others but evaluating my own growth.
- I have more mental and physical resilience to get through the rough spots than I think I do. Sometimes I just have to relax and ride it out.
- Overthinking can lead to indecision and get me into trouble.
- It's easy to lose track of time when you're doing something you love to do.
- Sometimes it's good to be with friends. Sometimes it's good to be with my husband. Sometimes it's good to be alone.

Yup, I had a Schwin with banana seat and high bars. Why did I go so many years after childhood without riding?! Guess I'll have to make up for lost time during the second half of my life.:)

Great wisdom. I am going to print that up and keep it in my "Foundations of Nursing" book, which also I've written out "Adapt, Migrate, or Die". Lately, while on break I've been begging to NOT go back to school and just be able to do nothing but ride. But, that is selfish and not an option. I've got a calling from God to take care of the sick. Cycling is what I do to purge the horrors of what I see in the Alzheimer's ward or on oncology.

You know, for years I rode my bike everywhere, and dreamed my bike was a horse. Then when I got a real horse (a gorgeous inky black Arabian) I just never was happy. I remember one memorable ride when I rode my horse in a state park and Ben followed behind on his mountain bike and I was so jealous! For me, cycling is just plain fun. At our LBS the other day Ben was looking at a trainer and I said, "I don't think so! Do you want to take all the fun out of cycling! I can use our never used eliptical trainer if I want to feel like a rat on a wheel, but cycling is sacred and will never be relegated to 'stationery' movement!"

Oh, and will someone please tell my how to pronounce Bontrager?

bonn -- tray --- grrr

happy to help!

Kim & Dirt Girl -
I feel like both of you are reading my mind!

I love the bikes are like shoes analogy - although I'd have to expand it a bit. I have 3 bikes - 1 road bike, and 2 touring bikes. Well, I guess the shoes analogy still works since I have a lot more than 3 pairs of shoes, and some do duplicate function!

And I agree whole-heartedly with Dirt Girl about biking in general and in overall attitude and feelings when I'm touring on my bike. I really saw that this past summer, as I was working to get back into good riding and touring shape after the unexpected derailment of my touring season. Even when I couldn't ride as far as I wanted to - and certainly nowhere near my normal distance - riding my bike helped to keep me happy and sane. I've never been a fast rider, and while I was even slower than my normal I still love being out on my bike. I took to riding with a camera - to give me the incentive to look around more as I was riding and to enjoy the beautiful things around me.

I remember wall the sissy bar and banana seats. Remember ppl coming up behind you while you were parked and "flipping" the bike? (putting their foot on the back tire and pulling on the sissy bar?)? putting cards in your spokes so your bike sounded like a motorcycle engine? braiding the tassles?? those were Great bikes!!

I was jealous of those schwinns with the sparklie banana seats!!! I was jealous until the day I bought my very own build in England Road bike. It was stolen just a year after I bought it. I had junkers for years afterwards. I used a J.C. Penney 10 speed as a commuter bike throught high school and college then put upright handlebars on it and a wider seat. My dad used it for quite some time before he gave it to a kid just 2 years ago. That bike was lets see.....25 years old!

Now I have a road bike, a comfort bike and I am shopping for a mountain bike. My LBS calls it my "string" as in...are you buying lube for the whole string?

Bikes are like shoes because.......................................................

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH !!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

annie

(I have three - bikes, that is - and I NEED at least one more, maybe two....)

Annie,
I have to agree. You can never have enough. I've got a road bike, a mountain bike, my old road bike I converted to a commuter, and a brand spankin' new commuter bike. I've also got a project/cruiser bike that was on its way to the dump and I couldn't resist. My husband's got a New Belgium Brewing fat tire cruiser, a commuter bike, a road bike, and a mountain bike. Is that too many bikes? We live in a condo and are required to park in our garage. Talk about some creative storage! (we've got two touring kayaks in there too)