My name is Richard and I am from Northern California, just north of Sacramento.
I got into biking last year when a friend invited me on a "somewhat serious" ride on a local trail. I quickly discovered that I was out of shape and that my (cheap) mountain bike wasn't what I needed. My buddy promised me that he rode on a regular basis, so that same night I bought a new bike - a 2013 Fuji Absolute 1.2. I didn't ride with my buddy again that year, but I started to ride myself on a regular basis.
This past spring I noticed I topped 250 lbs, which was unacceptable. I decided to go balls to the wall exercising, including two hours of biking a day (as well as running and shooting hoops). Four months later I had dropped down to 235 lbs. I try to bike every day.
A few weeks ago I bought a used Giant OCR3, which only reignited my passion for riding. My plan is to continue to get my feet wet while I try to figure out exactly what bike I want.
At the same time, my older brother works at a bike shop in Oregon, and my younger brother is in the process of opening up a bike shop in Pennsylvania.
Here is a few pix....