First step to a bike only life

Ride-A-Lot said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can do
everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I
borrowed a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked it
up, and went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but
enough for the week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the
bob and secured with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and
efficient. Of course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought I
was crazy, had my license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At the
light to cross Route 73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I said
it was my family food shopping and that by not taking the car, I got a
box of Dove Ice Cream bars for free. He asked if the supermarket was
giving them away. I said no. I told him for what it cost him to drive
from his house to the store and back in gas money, I spent on something
pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

Very cool, but was the milk still cold and ice cream frozen by the time
you got home?
--
Slack

Slack said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can
do everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I
borrowed a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked
it up, and went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but
enough for the week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the
bob and secured with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and
efficient. Of course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought
I was crazy, had my license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At
the light to cross Route 73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I
said it was my family food shopping and that by not taking the car, I
got a box of Dove Ice Cream bars for free. He asked if the
supermarket was giving them away. I said no. I told him for what it
cost him to drive from his house to the store and back in gas money, I
spent on something pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it
off in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

Very cool, but was the milk still cold and ice cream frozen by the time
you got home?
--
Slack

Yeh, no problem. It's just four miles there and back. The tarp did a
good job of keeping things fresh. Of course, it's only 78 today. It
would be interesting to see what happenes when it's 95.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

I like that!

How does it feel while riding? Besides the weight, can you even tell it's
there at all, as far as riding styles are concerned?

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can do
everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I borrowed
a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked it up, and
went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but enough for the
week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the bob and secured
with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and efficient. Of
course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought I was crazy, had my
license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At the light to cross Route
73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I said it was my family food
shopping and that by not taking the car, I got a box of Dove Ice Cream
bars for free. He asked if the supermarket was giving them away. I said
no. I told him for what it cost him to drive from his house to the store
and back in gas money, I spent on something pleasurable. He laughed and
sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well almost.

I said no. I told him for what it cost him to drive

Quoted message said:

from his house to the store and back in gas money, I spent on something
pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Way to go! And don't ever worry about looking or seeming goofy. I do crazy
things all the time and occasionally I wonder, "am I the only one doing
this?" but know that I am probably not alone...

CDB

Top post moved to bottom for easier reading

Quoted message said:

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can do
everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I borrowed
a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked it up, and
went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but enough for the
week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the bob and secured
with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and efficient. Of
course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought I was crazy, had my
license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At the light to cross Route
73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I said it was my family food
shopping and that by not taking the car, I got a box of Dove Ice Cream
bars for free. He asked if the supermarket was giving them away. I said
no. I told him for what it cost him to drive from his house to the store
and back in gas money, I spent on something pleasurable. He laughed and
sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Charles B. Summers said:

I like that!

How does it feel while riding? Besides the weight, can you even tell

it's

Quoted message said:

there at all, as far as riding styles are concerned?

I had it hooked to my singlespeed. I live in a flat area so I don't
really need gears for it. You know it's there, but it's not that bad.
You just have to remember when taking turns to go a little wider. This
unit actually has a shock on it, which helped reduce the feel of pulling
when you go over bumps. Other than that, it feels just like riding on a
paved road should. If I had hills, I probably would have used my old
Trek 820 for it.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Per Ride-A-Lot:

Quoted message said:

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

I've been dabbling in riding to work (about 24 miles) - and it works as long as
I don't do it every day. Every day seems to have negative consequences for my
personal plumbing system - and also seems to make me a little more crazed than
usual.

But "Every day" also brings to mind a story my son-in-law tells about when he
was a civil engineer in Shanghai.

They were holding a series of conferences around planning the city's
infrastructure for the future.

For the roads/highways part, they had some consultants from Australia there.

The guys from Oz were going on (in English, via a translator) about how great it
was that China had so many bicycles and so few cars and how they should embrace
that and extrapolate it into the future.

While they were speaking in this vein, one of the road planners - an engineer in
his mid fifties - muttered something in Mandarin. Oz guys leaned on the
translator to tell them what he said. Translator gave them some polite BS.

What he actually said was "You guys are sooooo full of [censored]! Have you ever
*had* to use a bicycle every day to go everywhere?"

I've been thinking in terms of http://www.segway.com/segway/model_gt.html and
wondering why these things aren't making some sort of splash in the media
lately.

Hopefully, I'll get over it soon and come back to my senses.

--
PeteCresswell

Ride-A-Lot said:

Slack said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can
do everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I
borrowed a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked
it up, and went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but
enough for the week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the
bob and secured with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and
efficient. Of course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought
I was crazy, had my license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At
the light to cross Route 73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I
said it was my family food shopping and that by not taking the car, I
got a box of Dove Ice Cream bars for free. He asked if the
supermarket was giving them away. I said no. I told him for what it
cost him to drive from his house to the store and back in gas money, I
spent on something pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it
off in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

Very cool, but was the milk still cold and ice cream frozen by the time
you got home?
--
Slack

Yeh, no problem. It's just four miles there and back. The tarp did a
good job of keeping things fresh. Of course, it's only 78 today. It
would be interesting to see what happenes when it's 95.

You'll use a styrofoam cooler and some blue ice, if need be :-)

Quoted message said:

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

The wife and I rode our bikes up to the grocery today as well. We just
needed a few items; so I used a large backpack. She was concerned that eggs
might not survive the trip. "Nonsense", I said; "how long has it been since
either of us has even biffed off-road, and we're just riding roads!"

On the way back of course I have the backpack with the groceries.

Coming back, while riding down a level pavement road, I turned around which
caused me to veer slightly off road, at which time my front tire caught the
edge of the pavement and down I went.

Fortunately the only casualties were a little skin and 1 egg.

Ride-A-Lot said:

Slack said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin
dollars, I decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to
work, but I can do everything else locally (except ride the trails)
on a bike. So I borrowed a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to
pick it up), hooked it up, and went food shopping at Shoprite. Not
a small shopping, but enough for the week, for the entire family. Eight
bags loaded on the bob and secured with a tarp and bungees. It was
surprisingly easy and efficient. Of course, my wife and
every motorist on the road thought I was crazy, had my license
taken away, or too poor to own a car. At the light to cross Route
73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I said it was my family
food shopping and that by not taking the car, I got a box of Dove
Ice Cream bars for free. He asked if the supermarket was giving
them away. I said no. I told him for what it cost him to drive
from his house to the store and back in gas money, I spent on
something pleasurable. He laughed and sped away. Now I have to go and
find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it
off in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

Very cool, but was the milk still cold and ice cream frozen by the
time you got home?
--
Slack

Yeh, no problem. It's just four miles there and back. The tarp did a
good job of keeping things fresh. Of course, it's only 78 today. It
would be interesting to see what happenes when it's 95.

It was only 90 today. It would be interesting to see if my hair catches
fire as I'm riding down here in Florida.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Paladin said:

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well almost.

I said no. I told him for what it cost him to drive

Quoted message said:

from his house to the store and back in gas money, I spent on
something pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it
off in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Way to go! And don't ever worry about looking or seeming goofy. I
do crazy things all the time and occasionally I wonder, "am I the
only one doing this?" but know that I am probably not alone...

People look at me goofy when I have a 6' closed umbrella strapped
point-backwards on my rack over the rear wheel of my commuter.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Quoted message said:

I've been thinking in terms of
http://www.segway.com/segway/model_gt.html and wondering why these
things aren't making some sort of splash in the media lately.

Because they're just impractical toys.

If constant pedaling is too much, at least use an electric hybrid bicycle
which you could still get home on when the batteries die.

Quoted message said:

Hopefully, I'll get over it soon and come back to my senses.

word.

Thats my boy Sir Ride Lot. I did that for years. Even
pcked up a grandkid from the doctors When his mother couldn't. BOB it
wasn't. It had a 100lbs cap. When I worked at the Coke plant I would tow
home 3 cases of 20 oz bottles every Friday. The hardest was in deep snow
up a hill, in good weather I would reach 27 mph. I miss the trailer,it
axle eyelet snapped coming off a curb it was loaded to to the max. Had
it 4 years and it came in handy all the time. Every year I include one
in my XMAS wish list but no one comes thu.

Ride-A-Lot said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can do
everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I
borrowed a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked it
up, and went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but
enough for the week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the
bob and secured with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and
efficient. Of course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought I
was crazy, had my license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At the
light to cross Route 73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I said
it was my family food shopping and that by not taking the car, I got a
box of Dove Ice Cream bars for free. He asked if the supermarket was
giving them away. I said no. I told him for what it cost him to drive
from his house to the store and back in gas money, I spent on something
pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

Good work!
I've been doing that for years. We now have a Trek Doodlebug trailer. It
can carry my son and a decent load of groceries. If I don't bring the
boy I can really carry a lot (maybe 2 weeks worth and a 12 pack of beer
and some wine).
We've now dedicated my old Cannondale MTB from the early 90's to being
the "mule" bike. Some rider bars, fenders, platforms, and slicks make it
a good match and it's nice not to have to switch bikes like we were
doing before.
We take the boy to and form daycare (via side roads) in it too.

Matt

Step one: Get a bike.

Step two: Get rid of the kar.

Step three: Ride the bike.

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well almost.

After filling up my guzzle mobile yesterday for $48 freakin dollars, I
decided enough was enough. I still can't commute to work, but I can do
everything else locally (except ride the trails) on a bike. So I
borrowed a friends BOB trailer (rode the bike to pick it up), hooked it
up, and went food shopping at Shoprite. Not a small shopping, but
enough for the week, for the entire family. Eight bags loaded on the
bob and secured with a tarp and bungees. It was surprisingly easy and
efficient. Of course, my wife and every motorist on the road thought I
was crazy, had my license taken away, or too poor to own a car. At the
light to cross Route 73, an SUVidiot asked what I was carrying. I said
it was my family food shopping and that by not taking the car, I got a
box of Dove Ice Cream bars for free. He asked if the supermarket was
giving them away. I said no. I told him for what it cost him to drive
from his house to the store and back in gas money, I spent on something
pleasurable. He laughed and sped away.

Now I have to go and find a used BOB trailer. I figure I can pay it off
in about 20 trips to the market.

Ha! Suck that oil companies!

Good to hear. I'm quite interested to see what rising petrol prices will
make people do.
I've gone the other way in the past, I've never owned a car but compromised
by getting a motorbike.
My only real need for a car is getting to races but my friends are always
happy to drive me and in a pinch I stick the MTB on the back of the
motorbike.
As for shopping, I just use a large backpack and shop more often for less
stuff. It's much cheaper for me to rent a car / truck when I need one than
it is to own one.

Duncan said:

Good to hear. I'm quite interested to see what rising petrol prices will
make people do.
I've gone the other way in the past, I've never owned a car but compromised
by getting a motorbike.
My only real need for a car is getting to races but my friends are always
happy to drive me and in a pinch I stick the MTB on the back of the
motorbike.
As for shopping, I just use a large backpack and shop more often for less
stuff. It's much cheaper for me to rent a car / truck when I need one than
it is to own one.

I suppose this is true if you live in a city and close to work. I am
contemplating a motorcycle as an alternative for the work commute.
Unfortunately with the wife, two kids, and four dogs I am pretty much
relegated to an SUV or miniVan (god forbid) as the mode of family
transportation. That doesn't mean I need two of the beasts, although
one is a small-style SUV. I would be quite content to leave the big one
in the garage until I need to get to the trails on the weekend.

I have been looking at some used cruiser type motorcycles like Victory,
HD, and even some Honda models (yeh, I like the chrome). Having never
ridden one is posing a slight problem - fear.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Quoted message said:

I have been looking at some used cruiser type motorcycles like
Victory, HD, and even some Honda models (yeh, I like the chrome). Having
never ridden one is posing a slight problem - fear.

Fear is a good thing to have on a bike on the road; whether motor or pedal
powered.

Although I ride both, I'd prefer to have something like a Messerschmitt
bubble car or a Mercedes Smart car for those short around town jaunts that
are impractical for the bikes.

Per Ride-A-Lot:

Quoted message said:

I have been looking at some used cruiser type motorcycles like Victory,

I quit riding motorcycles when I realized that a bud's practice of keeping a
loaded .44 magnum in his gas tank pouch was starting to sound logical.
--
PeteCresswell

Ride-A-Lot said:

Duncan said:

Good to hear. I'm quite interested to see what rising petrol prices will
make people do.
I've gone the other way in the past, I've never owned a car but compromised
by getting a motorbike.
My only real need for a car is getting to races but my friends are always
happy to drive me and in a pinch I stick the MTB on the back of the
motorbike.
As for shopping, I just use a large backpack and shop more often for less
stuff. It's much cheaper for me to rent a car / truck when I need one than
it is to own one.

I suppose this is true if you live in a city and close to work. I am
contemplating a motorcycle as an alternative for the work commute.
Unfortunately with the wife, two kids, and four dogs I am pretty much
relegated to an SUV or miniVan (god forbid) as the mode of family
transportation. That doesn't mean I need two of the beasts, although
one is a small-style SUV. I would be quite content to leave the big one
in the garage until I need to get to the trails on the weekend.

I have been looking at some used cruiser type motorcycles like Victory,
HD, and even some Honda models (yeh, I like the chrome). Having never
ridden one is posing a slight problem - fear.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

I just got my permit and I'm gearing up for the road test later this
month. I've already purchased an old Yamaha 750. My GF is nervous. I
keep emulating the sound of my demise with this
"rrrrRRRRRR...rrrrRRRR...RRRRRR(BOOOOM!)" sound. When she tries to make
me see the dangers, I whine, "But how else am I finally going to lose
this stupid leg? Besides, you'll take care of me, right?"
Two questions:
1. Any company make some sort of attachment rack for bicycles?
2. Is it okay that I'm looking forward to alternating the fringy swede
outfit with the fucia leather outfit?

/s