Susan's Place Transgender Resources

How many of you are into bikes (bicycles, not the terrorist support things that run on foreign oil)?

Without getting into why - no matter if its because you can't afford to drive, or want to make a quit statement against oil wars, or because where else can you wear lycra and not get laughed at - what kind of bike do you have, what kind of mods do you have on it, or do you want to have.  What kind of riding do you do.  What has/does riding do for you?  Where does your current bike rate in the history of your bikes?

O' my dearest Tekla, I love you for this topic!  :laugh:

I have a 12-speed mountain bike I've had since I was younger.  It's older than dirt but I use it almost every day, to ride to work or to run errands.  I take good care of it, which is why it's lasted so long.  It's all stock, except I had to replace the rear tire recently because I ran over a nail and punctured the old tire.  I also have a small wire-frame basket on the front for carrying groceries, etc.

I sold my pickup truck and went vehicle free in May, and I haven't looked back thus far.  How I've managed is beyond my understanding, but I love it!  Not having to pay rising gas costs, insurance, or maintenance is wonderful.  I've been able to save the money for surgery, and being car-free and relying entirely on my bicycle has helped me notice the small things in life again.  Flowers growing beside the road, the wind in my hair, the changes in the weather, etc.

Mostly, I went car-free and rely on my bike now because I believe in Peak Oil, and didn't want to rely on foreign energy and contribute to the apparent "need" to have oil wars to fuel an ever-increasingly unsustainable way of life.  Problem is, once I get some money after surgery, I'm going to have to get a small car for the winter.  Navigating the Northeast on a bike in the winter is going to be next to impossible, and possibly dangerous, so I won't even try to attempt it.

Jenn

I ride for a number of reasons, mostly because it's fun. But I commute and run errands in addition to fun rides.

Right now, I have a 7-speed Dahon Boardwalk. But, I'm planning to get an Electra Townie 21 pretty soon here. I've got tendonitis and the normal bike position aggravates it. The more laid-back riding position of the Townie should eliminate this. I used have cruisers and recumbents before and they didn't aggravate the tendonitis.

I walk, wheels make you pass life too quickly.

Quote from: lisagurl on August 07, 2008, 01:34:55 PM
I walk, wheels make you pass life too quickly.

Not the way I ride. Let's just say I'll never win any races.

Yeah I ride pretty slow too.  I have a Specialized Stump Jumper that is the sixth bike in my line starting with a Schwinn back when I was 7.  Its got 21 gears, but unless I'm on the trails, I hardly use but 3 or 4.  I ride it everywhere, take it on the bus and use it in the City, and have been car free since 9-11.  It's great for my legs and general health, and I do like the pace, and the expansion of the personal.  When you start five miles seems a lot, after a few years, 20 miles is not all that much.

Well, I've a $5000 custom racing bike, though I don't race :-).
I routinely top 40 mph on the flat making cars go crazy racing me
from light to lights HEHEHE. They don't quite understand how
I can go that fast. My top gear ratio is HUGE, most people could
not even move it :-).

Been thinking of removing some gears, to further reduce my bike's weight,
though it could be a bitch going uphill on mont-royal

When I wear my mid thigh skirt and dainty girly shoes
and crush the poseur guys
in lycra and racing shoes on the flat, or
going uphill, or downhill,  I laugh and laugh.

My legs are huge hunks of muscles, while I'm slight in the upper body.
I wish I'd gone into track cycling, instead of high jumping.
maybe I would have been able to go to the olympics instead of just coming close...
I have the body type of a 4000 meter track cyclists.

When I was living in SFO, when I came back from work
and went home on telegraph hilll. I went straight up the
montgomerry hill on telegraph hill without stopping at a very high pace.
The view down that hill into downtown at night is very beautiful.

I can't ride a bike without racing it, I generally race the clock, got
a bike computer, but I race cars mostly, since its rare I find
another biker who can keep up with me. I'm sure there are
some, I just don't see them.

I think I could top 40 MPH if me and my bike were falling out of an airplane.

I've gotten close, though. I was coming down Edgewood Road in Redwood City on a 50 pound recumbent and I was doing 39.7 MPH. If the bike had better gearing, I might have broken 40. I'm one of those folks for whom the bike makes a big difference.

I'm like the Engergizer Bunny when it comes to biking. With enough water and carbs, I can keep going and going. Speed requires a tailwind and/or a downhill slope for me.

Current bikes:
(If you want specifics PM me, I don't want to post exact details because it could out me to this exact industry.)
1. A very rare, hand built road bike from the 80's by one of the top frame builders. 16 speeds, all Dura Ace components, I try to put 30 miles 3 times a week on it, but the weather has not been co-operating (It is worth more than many used cars).
2. Street bmx bike (yes, X-Games type stuff)
3. Flatland bmx bike.

What has it gotten me?
Jobs, sponsors, parts, messed up body:laugh:, but I enjoyed it all.
Again, I can't say much more or I risk outing myself.

I try to ride the road bike 30 miles, 3 times a week, but weather has been a problem. I only average 15mph on it through rolling hills, but who wants to go fast when you are riding through prairies, corn fields and just an amazing countryside.

Yeah, my gearing will not cruise much past 10-11, so its rough when I ride with my brother who has a road bike and trains a lot more than me and can cruise at 17-20 for 20-30 miles without even getting winded.

A poem dedicated to my recently stolen bike:

O Bike o Bike, where art thou bike?
Torn from me by the primal instincts of (wo)man.
We layed together, we threw up together, we climbed mountains together.
Abused thou were by my amateur techniques yet thou help up strong.
And now thou are gone, gone, gone. May you trek many more journeys in the hands
of thou new primal owner.


Sorry, somewhat ridiculous :). Does a good job of describing my experience, I had a mountain bike for a while: gt full suspension mountain bike. I had many good treks on this bike. Though, I think Im going for a road bike next time. I  am not so great at mountain biking and prefer the long rides in rainy afternoons :)

One thing I really like, and I didn't think it would make much of a difference, but I was wrong, was the front shocks.  Easier on the hands I guess I knew than, but the control is much better to, not only on the trail, but on the street.

I used to bike-commute in downtown SF on an unsuspended mountain bike. I got the feeling that many of the roads in downtown in reality weren't paved and that I should have been using a fully suspended bike.

That and the amount of glass on the streets is amazing.  You could not get more broken glass out there if you did it as a public works project.

The roads in SFO are great compared to the streets in montreal which are
destroyed every year bike countless thaw-freeze cycles. Potholes are so big
you could put a horse in them... I've never seen as bad city streets anywhere.
If you don't watch the street while riding (and the cars of course), you'll wind
up dead or with a flat, whichever happens first is totally random...

In SFO, its mostly the tram line tracks, especially those on market,
that freak me out, but its only because I've
a competition road bike with the thinnest of tires. With a mountain bike, I wouldn't
worry at all.

Except for days when I'm feeling so particularly suicidal or when there is Critical Mass, I try to stay off of Market.  In the daytime its a killer, and my brother, who runs a road bike had trouble with the huge grates for the Bart/Muni vent systems too.

But ya, that freeze cycle ate the roads in the midwest something horrible.

Last year, somebody gave me a used bike, and I used it for commute and exercise. It was worn-out, and a few months ago I could not find it at my workplace. Probably a sweeper cleaned it, or sombody took it.

Here it is rather unsafe to ride bike in roads, and I need a helmet which usually costs as much as a new bike > $100. Sports bikes are far more expensive here > $600 and I think an ordinary bike is enough for me.

There are numerous bike clubs, and they usually ride bike in group. Every night I see groups of bike riders in local roads. Riding in group is far more safer than riding alone. It is like school of fish or flock of birds. I also joined a bike club at my workplace. We planned to go to a nearby city by bike which would take about 12 hours, but we have been too busy to do that. When we go to the city, I will purchase a new bike.

Barbie~~

You could ask around, or see if there is a Craig's List type deal for your city.  I got mine because I was bitching about the last one being jacked, and one of the people I work with told me she would sell it to me because her last roommate left it and split to Europe.  She charged me $150 for it, which for a Specialized is a deal.  But put up a note on the board at work, you never know.

Coaster bike with a nice wicker basket. Love it. Makes for great riding on the canal and real exercise.

Although I must admit that at the Cape it might have been nice to have had some gears. But, stand up and pull away and made most of the dunes.

About like this: (https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fzcbikes.com%2Fimages%2Flibrary%2Flarge%2Ftorker_bw_26step_blu_rear_07_m.jpg&hash=b2e8e29a909c8424e433fbc409e93ddf902903bd)

Nice, the "crusier" style bikes are real big in Santa Rosa, where you can ride the city which is pretty flat, but you get to SF you need some gears (and steel toes boots) for even the more basic rides.  Damn hills. 

The trouble with standing is that it builds up the thighs, for burning fat, the deal is to keep a consistent pace, circles inside of circles.

I'd love a road bike, my bro has a specialized road racer - 27 gears and tires as thin as a dime I swear, but he can get it moving, even on long uphills like from Novato out to the Coast.

Yeah, I understand about the standing. I only do that when i must, like riding up a 100 foot dune (on asphalt, of course.) Otheriwse my bot-tum stays on the nice comfy, cushiony seat and I try to keep an even pace. The canal I do about 20 miles on has no hills worthy of the name. Standing isn't necessary, on Cape Cod it was.

And forget my neat lil ole bike in SF. I'd go with the trolleys or a taxi. :)

Nichole

Well, all our buses have bike racks on them, so you can just bus it up the hill, and the route from the baseball park to the Golden Gate Bridge is as flat as a canal, very pretty too when the fogs not in.

Noted. Thank you.

N~

Hey if you ever get out here I'll borrow a bike for you, its a sweet ride with lots of stops for coffee or more adult beverages.

Sounds fun. And actually, we are discussing some therapy convention or another that's there within the next six months sometime.

I'd love to bike down Lombard some time. It looks both like fun and hell at the same time.

Bicycles! Bicycles!

Refuse to live without teh bike.

'Bout six months ago, sold my full suspension Cannondale and went for another Cannondale, just this time a hardtail. Have to admit I was worried at first that the ride wouldn't be as fun, but been loving it!

I think the hardtail gives me more of a "feel" for the terrain, an can go all crazy without killing myself.  >:D

I'd love to bike down Lombard some time

Not too crazy eh?  You got disc brakes?  And its a brick/cobblestone pavement. And its real, real steep.  Tell you what, when you go to do it call me so I can film it for some U-Tube deal.

Once a year they have adults (OK, so we don't have the most mature and/or sane people here) race big-wheels down it.  That's nuts.

I've never tried a full suspension bike, I would like to, I like a hardtail, but I do love my front shocks too. 

Biking down Lombard Street?!! Good grief, can't you just bike down the slope of Mt. Everest instead? >:D That seems like it might be easier!! :laugh:

Nichole

Quote from: Nichole on August 13, 2008, 11:19:48 AM
Biking down Lombard Street?!! Good grief, can't you just bike down the slope of Mt. Everest instead? >:D That seems like it might be easier!! :laugh:

Nichole

If I were to do Everest, I'd have to disassemble my bike and fly it out there. Lombard is closer home.  ;)

The ride from the top of Mount Tam out to the Coast comes close.

I started out on a Susuki RF900:-p  Jumps up to 40 in a second, actually you could hit 80 on this bike and forget that you're still in 1st gear.

Then I downsized to a Yamaha Virago 250.  Really comfy.






MWahahahhaa.



No I have a hybrid Schwwin/Cannondale.  Basicly The frame is Cannondale racing.  I got it used for $400.  The handle bars and wheels and everything else is Schwinn.  I can pick it up with my pinky.
Before I got it bicycling was my only form of transportation and it was on an old rusy wal-mart bike.  A week after owning this thing and I was breezing through town at 25mph without trying, with a backpack pack full of textbooks and school supplies.
The one time I measured my distance vs. time(I don't have money for fancy gadgets) I hit a 42 mile ride in under 110 minutes.

Then I got into Olympic Weight Lifting and biking kinda went out.  I might start biking again... Idk.

But as far as all this oil business goes, I'm sick as hell of everyone getting pissed because Bush, "has a war for oil."  Who cares?  The fact is the majority of the American population is way too lazy to go around on bikes or scooters, so gas is what they use.  And people are hating Bush because he's trying to get more gas for the nation?  Liberalistic pacafist ideals are nice and stuff, but this world would never have gotten anywhere without a little bit of campaigning, "I'll take over your land" spirit.

Gee and here I thought that people were mad at the shrub because your average plant has a higher IQ, he could not even hold up the flag right in Beijing, and had to be helped out of his seat (on the sauce again?).

The problem is not the war for oil, had he sold it that way it at least would have been open for debate.  He lied, violated the Constitution, and when he got his way he couldn't even do that right, hell the Dems beat Hitler and Japan in less time then its taken him to not win in either place, neither of which had anything close to what could be called an army (much less navy or air force).

In the meantime he could not run the government to do even its most basic jobs, the economy has gone to hell, the currency is at its weakest point ever and manufacturing jobs have been offshored.

Its a record unblemished by success, for sure on that.

Oh yeah, the biggest terrorist attack in our history happened on his watch and he can't even find the guy in the cave who planned it. Way to go.

Quote from: tekla on August 12, 2008, 03:56:31 PM
Except for days when I'm feeling so particularly suicidal or when there is Critical Mass

Tekla, you seem to be the only person in the SF area I've met/spoken to that made a comment about Critical Mass that is not overtly negative.  Can you PLEASE explain to me that why, as a pedestrian, I am unable to cross side streets on Market during CM?  I get the whole 2 wheels good/4 wheels bad thing, but I'm on two FEET.  I live on Market and end up trying to schedule my last Friday of the month to not need to access my home during CM.

Well at least its predictable.  And you can cross Market at any number of places by going through Metro.  I suppose if there was a way to let the peds pass and not the cars no one would object.  The cars own the streets 30 days a month, one evening is ours, its not that big a deal.  And it does not always go down Market, the fact that its unorganized means it never knows where its going.

Quote from: tekla on August 13, 2008, 04:34:50 PM
Well at least its predictable.  And you can cross Market at any number of places by going through Metro.  I suppose if there was a way to let the peds pass and not the cars no one would object.  The cars own the streets 30 days a month, one evening is ours, its not that big a deal.  And it does not always go down Market, the fact that its unorganized means it never knows where its going.

It is a big deal when you're trying to get to/from work, do not bike (or own a car!) and are stuck walking between metro stops. And crossing Market in Hayes Valley?  That's quite the walk to either Van Ness or Church to cross...  not like the Church station is even accessible without being able to cross Church in the first place.

True, but it only heads that way every now and then, hell, the trans march meet critical mass and had a mexican stand off for a few minutes, till we all sort of threaded the needle and got on with it.

But even in SFO, you can avoid a lot of hills if you know what your doing.
Streets like broadway, or the stockton tunnel can avoid a lot of up and down.
OF course, if you live ON a hill, you get a good ride down, and a "nice" ride up....
But, even there, there are good and bad streets to get to the top.
I actually liked geting into a sort of low gear, but not too low, and
powering up. Don't really need special shoes or even closed pedals.
Its just takes really knowing your gears and choosing the perfect ones
for the grade of the street and changing them smoothly as the grade changes.
It takes practice and a perfectly adjusted gear system.

Ooooh a bike thread.... after makeup my favorite subject :)

I have a couple but the main one is a mid 80's Italian racing bike with all original campy components, really
old school by today's standards. I paid way too much for it back then, but it has worked great all these
years and I have no plans to ever buy a new one. I have changed wheels, tires, gears and seats
over the years. I bet it has 50,000 miles on it, I wish I had tracked my mileage all these years.

I ride a lot depending on the time of year. Not so much in the extreme temps like now and I'd rather be
in 30 degree weather than 90. I average 22 on the flats for as long as I care to ride, higher if
I really want a workout. There is nothing better in the world to me than a long scenic ride on a cool day. It's been really
awesome to see the growth in the sport too. When I rode in the 80's around here there were only a few bikers and people sorta
looked at my bike shorts and tights funny. Now there are packs of riders and everyone has the latest gear... really cool to
see. The Armstrong effect I guess.

Amanda

The Armstrong effect I guess.

The price of gas and I think with the general economic stuff its just got a lot harder to own and run a car in general. 

Other reasons, too many cars.  I can make any minor trip - say five miles or less, on my bike far faster than anyone in a car can drive and park it.  So that part of it.

But Northern California has always been a big bike place.  So even in the 80s there were lots of bike routes.

Quote from: tekla on August 14, 2008, 05:23:18 PM
The price of gas and I think with the general economic stuff its just got a lot harder to own and run a car in general. 

Definitely, you said it Tekla.  :icon_yes:  Once I graduate I'll need to get a car again, and I hope I'll be able to afford it, but I'm not so sure.  :-\

Jenn

I figure that most people work one to two months a year just to pay for that car and running it when you figure in the cost, payments, maintenance, taxes, plates, insurance, parking fees, and all the other costs.  Once I figured that out I was very content with getting rid of the car and taking that extra time off to ski or bake in the sun, or ride my bike.  Less stress too.

Yeah, those extraneous car expenses add a lot to the overall bill. Although I have to admit that the 12-year old Chrysler I own hasn't been as expensive as others I have had. At least not until I take it for its yearly required "inspection" by the mechanic shop. Then very suddenly it shouldn't be driven any longer without a few hundred dollars of repairs.

The Pennsylvania full-employment for auto-mechanics regulations!!

N~

Cali has the smog checks, that's our way to keep mechanics employed.