First Ride

On 31 Mar 2007 13:38:23 -0700, "Jorg Lueke" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I finally got my Trek Pilot 1.2 from the store yesterday

I like the looks of this bike, any comments on the bike...
thx

---
Bob Anderson*Bitwisebob
Eugene Oregon

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jorg Lueke said:

I finally got my Trek Pilot 1.2 from the store yesterday and was ready
to test out my first potential commuting route of about five miles.
Of course it's 40 degrees and raining, oh well. Sweat pants over the
bike shorts work fairly well, the only problem will be my feet. I
mount the fenders, reattach the front wheel, adjust the seat height
and get ready to go. One thing I learned is that this route has some
bad roads! I knew driving them they weren't the best but you can
really feel some of the cracks on a bike. The second thing I discover
is that hills are quite draining when they last longer than what I'm
used to in the gym :-0. I had to roll into a side street after one
hill to recover. The cars weren't too bad for the most part, but both
my potential routes do cross interstates. This one does it uphill
from my house so I may choose the route for the return trip (it is
longer as well). Tomorrow I'll test out the other direction. All in
all a very invigorating and motivating ride. I hope it will get a
little easier to manage as time goes by, this was only 5 miles.

You did very well, and I congratulate you.
I encourage you to persist, even though you
don't really need outside encouragement.
It doesn't hurt to get some, though.

A lot of folks would be put-off the thought
of riding, by 40 degrees + rain.

Quoted message said:

I'd better get to doing my maintenance now, I did dry everything off
once I got back but I don;t think I'll ask about chain lubrication on
this group...

I'll just leave you with two and a half observations:

When people see a bike up ahead of them, they've
just gotta get ahead of that bike; they've just
pathologically gotta. Doesn't matter how fast
you're going. Doesn't matter if they're driving
a car, or riding a bike themselves. Sometimes
they'll do stupid things, like trying to storm
past you if there's oncoming traffic, or you're
a mere 20 feet from a stop line. Expect it, let
those people go, and maintain your cool. Let them
be the ones who bust a blood vessel. Let the
impatient ones get ahead of you, and keep the
uncertain, stunned ones who don't know where they're
going, behind you.

Riding will infiltrate your whole lifestyle,
affecting the food you eat, the clothes you buy,
your sleep, your daily routine. If you ride at
night, you may even find yourself paying attention
to the phases of the moon. You're an engine now.

It gets easier. Sort of.

cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
"Jorg Lueke" <[email hidden]> writes:

Riding will infiltrate your whole lifestyle,
affecting the food you eat, the clothes you buy,
your sleep, your daily routine. If you ride at
night, you may even find yourself paying attention
to the phases of the moon. You're an engine now.

As another new rider, I second this comment. I'm amazed at the changes
that I've undergone since I purchased my bike three months ago.

Neil
http://historian2wheels.blogspot.com/

Jorg Lueke said:

I finally got my Trek Pilot 1.2 from the store yesterday and was ready
to test out my first potential commuting route of about five miles.
Of course it's 40 degrees and raining, oh well. Sweat pants over the
bike shorts work fairly well, the only problem will be my feet. I
mount the fenders, reattach the front wheel, adjust the seat height
and get ready to go. One thing I learned is that this route has some
bad roads! I knew driving them they weren't the best but you can
really feel some of the cracks on a bike. The second thing I discover
is that hills are quite draining when they last longer than what I'm
used to in the gym :-0. I had to roll into a side street after one
hill to recover. The cars weren't too bad for the most part, but both
my potential routes do cross interstates. This one does it uphill
from my house so I may choose the route for the return trip (it is
longer as well). Tomorrow I'll test out the other direction. All in
all a very invigorating and motivating ride. I hope it will get a
little easier to manage as time goes by, this was only 5 miles.

I'd better get to doing my maintenance now, I did dry everything off
once I got back but I don;t think I'll ask about chain lubrication on
this group...

Congratulations on your first road ride. I agree with you about hills.
Nothing I did in the gym or on the bike paths prepared me for them.

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

When people see a bike up ahead of them, they've
just gotta get ahead of that bike; they've just
pathologically gotta. Doesn't matter how fast
you're going.

Yeah: there are drivers that will do everything to get around you. These
fall into 4 categories:

- Young guys in obnoxious, loud, jacked-up pickup trucks. The hip-hop,
white-trash demographic. These guys are genuinely dangerous, in that if
they don't peg you with their empty beer cans, they'll take your head off
with the rearview mirror. Particularly dangerous in rural areas, while they
are driving between their marijuana crops, or are basically bored and see a
chance run over a stray pet or to hassle a cyclist. However, between the
thumping of their 300-watt sound system, and their lack of legal mufflers,
you can hear these guys blocks in advance. As a cyclist, the best is to
just to dive for cover....,

- Young guys in beat-up nondescript white panel trucks, racing the [censored] out
of the company vehicle between service calls. These guys made the mistake
of graduating with useless BA degrees, and now are [censored]-off with their
jobs, their lives and everything. Dangerous, in that they just want to get
their workday finished as fast as possible, and in general have nothing to
lose.

- Teenage girls blowing through stop signs in little sports-utility
vehicles. Between applying makeup in the rearview mirror and having a cell
phone essentially grafted to their heads, lack of attention is the problem
here.

- Egomanic/monomanics On A Mission, invariably driving 300-series BMWs.
Pointless ambition and associated impatience (gotta sell that condo and
score that commission!!!) and driver multasking the problem here.

But don't take this personally. Riding a bike safely is a Zen thing - you
must not carry with you any sense of justice, or any ego or have any other
preoccupations. In a driver/bike confrontation, the bike will lose. Ride
defensively, yield the right of way when there is any doubt, and constantly
assess and anticipate the motivations of the moving targets around you.

Nevertheless, a rare sweet moment will occur, such as when bad drivers try
to race you past speed bumps. I like the shower of sparks effect,
particularly coming from the undercarriage of a Volvo station wagon. Or the
flying-load effect, when tools shower out of the back deck of a pickup.

(Tom Keats) said:

I'll just leave you with two and a half observations:

When people see a bike up ahead of them, they've
just gotta get ahead of that bike; they've just
pathologically gotta. Doesn't matter how fast
you're going. Doesn't matter if they're driving
a car, or riding a bike themselves. Sometimes
they'll do stupid things, like trying to storm
past you if there's oncoming traffic, or you're
a mere 20 feet from a stop line. Expect it, let
those people go, and maintain your cool. Let them
be the ones who bust a blood vessel. Let the
impatient ones get ahead of you, and keep the
uncertain, stunned ones who don't know where they're
going, behind you.

Riding will infiltrate your whole lifestyle,
affecting the food you eat, the clothes you buy,
your sleep, your daily routine. If you ride at
night, you may even find yourself paying attention
to the phases of the moon. You're an engine now.

It gets easier. Sort of.

cheers,
Tom

Thanks Tom. I think most motorists are fine. A few are overly
cautious when passing a bike and a few are not cautious enough.
You're right about paying attention. I did the 9 mile roundtrip to
work and back (short way/long way) today. There's a couple stretches
that are more risky. Oddly it's not the busiest places but rather the
narrow and/or bad pavement spots where it's going to be hard to move
out of anyone's way.

I do hope to ride at night, half the year the commute is in the dark.
Plus there's a nice stretch of 11 miles that I drive 3 times per week
which I'd like to convert into a bike ride as well.

As to the clothes, those shorts really do help!

Dave Mayer said:

Nevertheless, a rare sweet moment will occur, such as when bad drivers try
to race you past speed bumps. I like the shower of sparks effect,
particularly coming from the undercarriage of a Volvo station wagon. Or the
flying-load effect, when tools shower out of the back deck of a pickup.

Hehe, I'll post it when I have one of these 🙂

On Apr 1, 2:56 pm, "The Historian" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Congratulations on your first road ride. I agree with you about hills.
Nothing I did in the gym or on the bike paths prepared me for them.

There was one today that was too much, the rest I've been able to do
as long as I maintain some breath control and rhythm. I hope as I
ride that I'll hardly notice the hills in a few months.

bitwisebob said:

On 31 Mar 2007 13:38:23 -0700, "Jorg Lueke" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I finally got my Trek Pilot 1.2 from the store yesterday

I like the looks of this bike, any comments on the bike...
thx

I'll let you know over the next few months. I did test a few and
picked this one. One reason was the fit seemed really good. The
slightly larger frame 63cm was a bonus for me. I also liked the
slightly larger wheel diameter 28 versus 23/25. I'd definitely
recommend you to try this model but also look at something like a
Seqouia and other similar models.

Jorg Lueke said:

Dave Mayer said:

Nevertheless, a rare sweet moment will occur, such as when bad drivers try
to race you past speed bumps. I like the shower of sparks effect,
particularly coming from the undercarriage of a Volvo station wagon. Or the
flying-load effect, when tools shower out of the back deck of a pickup.

Hehe, I'll post it when I have one of these 🙂

They are fun to watch. I had one about a month ago where the kid just
kind of ground metal at slow speed over 2 speed bumps. When he saw me he
forgot about the third speed bump and, yes, there were sparks.
I also heard him coming about 1/4 mile due to his 500 watt, 'boom'
music. He is one of the locals who likes to play those 20 Hz, 500 watt
sounds and rattle every bodies windows. I laughed when he almost left
the bottom of his car on the bump. Cops are high enough they can speed
over those so the speeding low riders are easy pickings right there.
Enjoy,
Bill Baka

"Dave Mayer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:rJQPh.14268$aG1.10922@pd7urf3no...

Quoted message said:

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

When people see a bike up ahead of them, they've
just gotta get ahead of that bike; they've just
pathologically gotta. Doesn't matter how fast
you're going.

Yeah: there are drivers that will do everything to get around you. These
fall into 4 categories:

- Young guys in obnoxious, loud, jacked-up pickup trucks. The hip-hop,
white-trash demographic. These guys are genuinely dangerous, in that if
they don't peg you with their empty beer cans, they'll take your head off
with the rearview mirror. Particularly dangerous in rural areas, while
they are driving between their marijuana crops, or are basically bored and
see a chance run over a stray pet or to hassle a cyclist. However,
between the thumping of their 300-watt sound system, and their lack of
legal mufflers, you can hear these guys blocks in advance. As a cyclist,
the best is to just to dive for cover....,

- Young guys in beat-up nondescript white panel trucks, racing the [censored]
out of the company vehicle between service calls. These guys made the
mistake of graduating with useless BA degrees, and now are [censored]-off with
their jobs, their lives and everything. Dangerous, in that they just want
to get their workday finished as fast as possible, and in general have
nothing to lose.

- Teenage girls blowing through stop signs in little sports-utility
vehicles. Between applying makeup in the rearview mirror and having a
cell phone essentially grafted to their heads, lack of attention is the
problem here.

- Egomanic/monomanics On A Mission, invariably driving 300-series BMWs.
Pointless ambition and associated impatience (gotta sell that condo and
score that commission!!!) and driver multasking the problem here.

But don't take this personally. Riding a bike safely is a Zen thing -
you must not carry with you any sense of justice, or any ego or have any
other preoccupations. In a driver/bike confrontation, the bike will lose.
Ride defensively, yield the right of way when there is any doubt, and
constantly assess and anticipate the motivations of the moving targets
around you.

Nevertheless, a rare sweet moment will occur, such as when bad drivers try
to race you past speed bumps. I like the shower of sparks effect,
particularly coming from the undercarriage of a Volvo station wagon. Or
the flying-load effect, when tools shower out of the back deck of a
pickup.

You have learned well Grasshopper. keep it up