bicycle culture

[pooks]

Recently added a VERY lightweight German-made mirror that really works well.
.

Tell me more? We bought mirrors that we thought would work but they were awful.

As for choices -- yes, we've been told we're "lucky" but we also have made financial sacrifices to be so lucky, and stayed in our house long after most of our friends upgraded, etc., etc., etc. It definitely is about choices, and hopefully we're all making the right ones. Probably the people who think I'm "lucky" wouldn't give up any of their lifestyle to share in my "luck," and I wouldn't take on their bills to have their lifestyle, so there ya are.

I did the post office ride today, went to Starbux, and suddenly decided to do the long, new ride I mentioned upthread. It was great. This is my favorite time of year, and it will only get better!

[Tuckervill]

I get a lot of "you guys are so lucky!" from coworkers and relatives, but that irritates me a little. We bought our house when prices were really cheap in this area, but the neighborhood was also a little crappy. We were just very committed to living here. Many of my coworkers used to live in this area, but as they made more money and started families, they moved to the nicer suburbs, and now they spend two hours every day in their cars. Choices.

:applause:

We, too, get that "you're so lucky" speech. Lucky my BUTT. We WORKED for what we have. What's so hard for them to realize is they think they're working hard for what THEY have, but they have their priorities all mixed up.

DH went in to a bank to talk about refinancing our house. The guy's face actually fell when he said we only needed to finance $100k. What? You can't buy a new house here for less than $250,000 (it's way worse in other parts of the country, I know). The bank guy was fully expecting us to be maxed out on our credit and the debt-to-value ratio on the house. No. We don't live that way. We gave up a lot of "amenities" so we could have an acre of land in a city (near a bike trail), and that's all we paid for it. We LOVE our neighborhood and we love that each house is different and unique, and we love our 110 yo Victorian with original windows that we picked up for less than HALF what people working two jobs get all starry-eyed over in the new subdivision up the street.

I guess my rant is over now, but I could go on and on. lol.

Karen

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Tell me more? We bought mirrors that we thought would work but they were awful.

I have to say here that when I first bought my little Third Eye helmet mirror, I found it hard to get used to. Seemed to block my field of vision, be annoying to constantly adjust, etc. My brother had told me of how he had bought a helmet mirror and discarded it after a day because it "blocked his vision". But because I wisely have a policy of NOT doing what my brother does (!), I gave my mirror more time because I figured it might simply take getting used to.
Other types of mirrors would not fit on my drop bars with bar-end shifters.

I'm really glad I stuck with it, because after about 2-3 weeks it became second nature to me, I didn't even notice it in my field of vision anymore, and adjusting it became quick and easy. I absolutely LOVE being able to glance at it and see the ENTIRE panorama in back of me- including all the road shoulders. Amazing how a little 1 inch round mirror can show you the entire world in back of you. I tend to glance at it automatically, just the way I do with my car rearview mirror, and at any given moment I do feel safer knowing what's going on traffic-wise all around me, and what's coming up the road 2 blocks behind me.

[Geonz]

I'm afraid I sometimes glance in the mirror... when I'm walking down the street, not wearing a helmet I'm so accustomed to it. I make a point of maintaining the habit of looking behind me so I don't cream myself if I'm wearing a differnet helmet.

[SandyLS]

I took the dog for a walk yesterday and caught myself trying to glance into my non-exsistant take-a-look eye glass mirror!

[BeeLady]

The mirror I bought was made in Germany and expensive, about $24, but weighs only a few ounces (or few grams). I just looked it up at Performance bikes on-line and it is the "Ultra-lite weight bike mirror'" and they have if for $19.

Very little distortion, quite adjustable and really a nice big view at about any speed. Fairly easy to move from bike to bike too, if you need to.

ps I am using this mirror with flat handle bars, no bar ends, and have no problem with it, contrary to one of the reviews at PB.

[Geonz]

Now *this* is bicycle culture:
(dancing with a tire pump)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27263006761549