Do you talk to your bike?

I talk to my legs, arms, shoulders, brain and all the other body parts when I'm riding. Someone's gotta keep them all motivated but only the brain falls for the dark chocolate, wine, cheese and bread scam.

The bike I talk to before and after the ride, or if it does something I'm not expecting, like the sidewall blowout the other day.

I save most of the conversation to my 23 month old son, who rides in the trailer without complaint for as much as 5 hours at a time. How did I get so darned lucky??? :)

Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I go out to the garage to reassure my bikes that I WILL be taking them out for a ride soon. And if I've been out on the roadie, I give the mountain bike a little pat on the seat and tell it not too worry, she'll get out on the weekend. And vice versa. My bikes have been faithful for these several years I've been riding, and I know it's partly because I take good care of their physical and emotional needs!

This is great!! I feel so.....normal here! :o

yup, talk to the bike, and the dogs, and the flowers, and the critters and birds, and deer, and and and

and I often thank the trail goddess when she taps me on the shoulder and reminds me to be a good girl. :eek: she's been good to me, and I try to be good to her too...I've seen her be vengeful, and sometimes really quickly, too!

so, okay, what's wrong with me that I talk to my bikes, dream about my bikes, spend loads of time on my bikes, buy new toys for my bikes, but I haven't picked names for them??? what's up with that? :eek: they just seem to transcend names....maybe I need to look up goddess names or something....help!

namaste,
~T~

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Originally Posted by singletrackmind

I talk to my legs, arms, shoulders, brain and all the other body parts when I'm riding. Someone's gotta keep them all motivated but only the brain falls for the dark chocolate, wine, cheese and bread scam.

The bike I talk to before and after the ride, or if it does something I'm not expecting, like the sidewall blowout the other day.

I save most of the conversation to my 23 month old son, who rides in the trailer without complaint for as much as 5 hours at a time. How did I get so darned lucky??? :)

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That is so sweet about your son...you are darned lucky, he probably thinks the same way about spending time with you! He will have biking in the blood and when he wins his first 'Tour de France he will be sure to tell how it started with the 5 hour rides with his mom as a toddler.
He is now prone to this biking obsession we all seem to endure whether you like it or you like it :P

As for AB and talking to my bike : Yes, I talk to my bike....'come on...lets go, lets go, lets go' as we are speeding up the hill with as much power and speed we can. Without the bike I would not be pedaling at all and the bike would not do it alone without me. We are a team!! We are very thankful when we come home without any incident. The bike even holds my drink for me when I am not drinking it, what a nice bike I have! :D
Also, as Jan T mentioned, you must provide them with lots of physical and emotional love and support!

No, I just talk to myself like the crazed woman that I am. It's really embarassing when I've been talking to myself and then I hear, "On your left." Hopefully they can't hear me. :rolleyes:

Yep, count me in - whenever I go into the garage to get something out, I purr "hellooo bike" and give it a loving pat, maybe pick a bit of grass off the tyre in an affectionate, playful way.
It's all a bit worrying really, isn't it?
We really DO need to start that bikers anonymous group.
Slinkedog - your comment made me laugh - I've been know to shout out "I LOVE my bike" when having a particularly happy-place moment on the road, only to have someone come from behind and overtake me! :o

Do you think maybe scientists could integrate something like this in our bikes?

Robot therapy

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Originally Posted by JanT

Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I go out to the garage to reassure my bikes that I WILL be taking them out for a ride soon.

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Not only do I talk to my bikes .... but they talk to me as well.

Yup

In fact just the other day I walked out into the garage and heard Iris (the mtn bike) complaining that we are four months into 2005 and she has not been out for one ride. She was a bit put out cuz 'rumor had it' that Red (the FX) had been out on the local nature trail and what was the newbie doing going out on the trail before the vet's??

Won't she be surprised when later on this morning I sneak outside with the pump and surprise her with a ride on the trail ....

Did I mention that my dogs 'woof-chat'????? :)

Yeah...guilty.

Does anyone talk to the wind when you have a wicked headwind and 20 miles to go? I was doing that today :) I was like "oh is that all you got?" Then I almost got blown over.

Ha, ha, betagirl! It's been fierce around here this week with the wind - I like that "is that all you got"!!

I swear like a Marine in my head... never at my bike. It's not her fault I'm such a slug.

Epesi has more power than I've learned how to use yet, but she's patient with me.

spazz

I've got to be v-e-r-y careful what I say to my bikes. "We've never been up (why is it always up?) that road" will without fail get me on that road and wondering if this hill will ever end. I swear I don't turn, the bike does.

At the end of each ride I thank my bikes for the nice ride, too. It just seems polite.

I am not crazy,then. Or maybe, I am crazy, but at least I'm not alone. :D

Frequently, I talk to my bikes very frequently!! I usually get better response from my bike sthan my spouse or kids........ :rolleyes:
I often pat them when I walk by. (they reside in my computer room.) I promise all my bikes I'll ride them - they'll get their turn to get out. My bikes have given so much joy to me, it's hard to NOT think of them as almost alive........... :D

annie

I do talk to my bike, usually to thank it or encourage it. Sometimes, I'm afraid, I curse at my bike and I may or may not have kicked it once or twice. I usually apologize immediately because my it has been known to get it's revenge.

Not only did I beg, plead, whine to my bike today - but I then apologized to him coz it was My fault after all. I was geared waaaaayyyyy to high to tackle the steep hill from a stop and was trying to get the gears shifted And keep pedalling And keep climbing and Allez balked and hung his chain up. Man was he mad!......now I'm on the bike trail begging with him, Pleading with him to Pleeeeeeeeease shift and Not embarrass me by making me get off the bike and shift him by hand!.......I even told him I KNEW it was my fault but plz just shift the gears and I Promised I would Never do that again. (which worked by the way, the chain dropped into the lower gears and I was able to keep climbing that hill!) so yeah - I talk to my bike. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by CorsairMac

Not only did I beg, plead, whine to my bike today - but I then apologized to him coz it was My fault after all.

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Well, I'm glad you know who's boss! Say are those road brake lever gears alot more persnickity than what you use on your hybrid or mountain bikes? I'm a little afraid of them.

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Originally Posted by nuthatch

Well, I'm glad you know who's boss! Say are those road brake lever gears alot more persnickity than what you use on your hybrid or mountain bikes? I'm a little afraid of them.

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oh yeah - definitely let them know whos boss in This house!..right up there with being boss of the cats, the dogs, and whatever else wanders in! (not!)

Road Brake Lever Gears??....not sure what you're asking me? The shifters are almost 10 yrs old and I tend to shift by sound so there are times when I "miss" the gear I'm aiming for or if I'm climbing sometimes I don't quite get it lined up and there is chatter until I feather the shifter some. But I wouldn't have him any other way! Still the original derailleur and shifters, just new cables!
If your talking about the brakes themselve - Allez has drop levers And center pulls. I can't reach the levers in the drops - my hands are too small. We had to update the brake pads because there wasn't any stopping power on the center pulls. We tried to change out the brakes completely but because he's French-made and older, he doesn't accept anything American or modern!! (picky lil guy ain't he?) The new brake pads work just fine and I've been playing with trying to reach the drop levers while riding the "hoods". (they're not real hoods but its where they would be if he could fit them! :) )
Is that what you were looking for??...

I'm sorry, Corsair! I was forgetting that Allez is vintage and, of course, you would keep his original brakes (grind 'em till you find 'em). I was thinking of those new type brakes housed under the brake levers. Nevermind - tell Allez I like him just the way he is!

STI levers... that's the "combo" you seem to be describing.

I have them on my bike. Took a couple of rides to get used to them (i kept reaching down to the where my old bikes levers were), but after that it was no biggie.

On a descent it's actually easier 'cause you don't have to take your hands off the bar to shift, thus better control at speed IMHO.

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Originally Posted by nuthatch

Well, I'm glad you know who's boss! Say are those road brake lever gears alot more persnickity than what you use on your hybrid or mountain bikes? I'm a little afraid of them.

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I know what you mean ... I was certainly intimidated by the STI shifters on my first road bike but then everything about that fast little bike intimidated me until we became friends and then biking partners.

Like anything new it only takes a couple of times before you figure it out and a short time after that before it becomes second nature.

Unlike the move to clipless pedals - my 'mistakes' with the shifters did not come with the consequence of falling down :D

Thanks for the reassurance about the STI shifters. I pick up my new bike today and that's what it's got! (SO EXCITED!!!!)

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Originally Posted by nuthatch

Thanks for the reassurance about the STI shifters. I pick up my new bike today and that's what it's got! (SO EXCITED!!!!)

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Any chance you'll post a photo????? :)

Blast it! My husband took the camera on a canoe trip this week! Here's a picture from the Marin website, which does NOT show off her blueberry blue paint very well. I got to ride her all of five minutes last night before returning to my appointed rounds. And it's going to rain today!!! Waaaaaa!

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Originally Posted by nuthatch

Blast it! My husband took the camera on a canoe trip this week! Here's a picture from the Marin website, which does NOT show off her blueberry blue paint very well. I got to ride her all of five minutes last night before returning to my appointed rounds. And it's going to rain today!!! Waaaaaa!

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OOOOOO Nuthatch! She is gorgeous!! Hopefully the rain will clear out and you WON'T get the gusty winds we are suppose to have Friday and Saturday (not that I mind riding in the wind but 20 to 30 mph does make me pause). Anyway - she is a beauty!

Thanks, BC! 20 to 30 mph, eh? Let's hope they're lying - I gotta ride and I don't want to do it horizontally!! ;)