Introductions and "hello" to all!

Brian Walker said:

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking for quite some time and thought I'd drop in and finally
say "hello" to everyone here.

I'm in the Mesquite Texas area and have been riding a road bike for about a
year (seriously riding, not the riding I did when I was a kid) and rode
mountain bikes before that. I've been mostly contained to the trails/tracks
for the first several months of my riding this road bike, but once I got
tired of looking at the same scenery every few minutes I got out on the
roads. I'm still building my confidence with riding in traffic, so I look
for routes which are light in traffic and have multi lanes to allow the cars
to go around without having to pass in my lane. Right now I'm riding between
25 to 50 miles every day at an average of about 18-20mph (depending on
winds) after I get off work, and the distance depends on several
factors...my motivation on a particular night being top of the factors. I do
this mileage on a 5 city ride making Dallas, Mesquite, Garland, Rowlett and
Rockwall. I'm starting to plan my first cross country ride which will take
me from Mesquite to Denison Texas just south of the Oklahoma border. It
would be almost 100 miles one way and I'd stay the night and come back the
same way. I'm thinking I'd be ready for this type of ride about middle of
October when the weather cools a bit.

My questions for everyone is this, would a ride like this be out of reach
for someone who's been doing the distances I've listed? On the ride, I'll
have to get on rural highways that has traffic in one lane and then the
on-coming traffic in another. In some places on these highways, there's no
place to ride on a shoulder. How much confidence would someone need to get
into the lane of a highway and pedal a bicycle at 20 something miles per
hour? What's the best way to ride on a shoulder of a highway where it would
be not only safe, but also comfortable?

Thanks to everyone for any help!

Brian

As an alternative to your plan, or to augment it, you might consider one
of the many organized rides that are going on in the area. Here is one
website and there are probably many others.

http://www.bicycletexas.com/cycling.htm

If you are not already acquainted with them, there are also several
cycling clubs around the DFW area that regularly schedule long weekly rides.

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

My questions for everyone is this, would a ride like this be out of
reach for someone who's been doing the distances I've listed? On the
ride, I'll have to get on rural highways that has traffic in one lane
and then the on-coming traffic in another. In some places on these
highways, there's no place to ride on a shoulder. How much confidence
would someone need to get into the lane of a highway and pedal a
bicycle at 20 something miles per hour? What's the best way to ride on
a shoulder of a highway where it would be not only safe, but also
comfortable?

A rural highway typically has 12 foot lanes, plus a few inches for the
lane markers and the fog lines. A bike is two feet wide, a car is six
feet wide, a truck or bus is 10 feet wide. As they said in the movie
"Exodus" "You've got plenty of room." Have your blinkers and reflectors
and day-glo stripes on your gear, and after that, eff 'em if they can't
see you, pass you, wait for you, or sneak around you.

Conversely, if you want to count on doing the ride on unimproved
shoulders (and I hate that -- who decided to "save" money by not
maintaining the shoulders when the trucks and workers and asphalt and
stuff is all there maintaining the main road? I'm not talking about
shoulders that are grass or gravel by design, I mean paved shoulders
that get unpaved and stay that way) then why not try doing the trip on
your mountain bike instead of the road bike?

As for the distance jump, I went from 50 to 100 right away, but it
wasn't planned that way and I had regularly done it when I was (much)
younger.

Good Luck!

--ag

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Brian Walker said:

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking for quite some time and thought I'd drop in and finally
say "hello" to everyone here.

I'm in the Mesquite Texas area and have been riding a road bike for about
a year (seriously riding, not the riding I did when I was a kid) and rode
mountain bikes before that. I've been mostly contained to the
trails/tracks for the first several months of my riding this road bike,
but once I got tired of looking at the same scenery every few minutes I
got out on the roads. I'm still building my confidence with riding in
traffic, so I look for routes which are light in traffic and have multi
lanes to allow the cars to go around without having to pass in my lane.
Right now I'm riding between 25 to 50 miles every day at an average of
about 18-20mph (depending on winds) after I get off work, and the
distance depends on several factors...my motivation on a particular night
being top of the factors. I do this mileage on a 5 city ride making
Dallas, Mesquite, Garland, Rowlett and Rockwall. I'm starting to plan my
first cross country ride which will take me from Mesquite to Denison
Texas just south of the Oklahoma border. It would be almost 100 miles one
way and I'd stay the night and come back the same way. I'm thinking I'd
be ready for this type of ride about middle of October when the weather
cools a bit.

My questions for everyone is this, would a ride like this be out of reach
for someone who's been doing the distances I've listed? On the ride, I'll
have to get on rural highways that has traffic in one lane and then the
on-coming traffic in another. In some places on these highways, there's
no place to ride on a shoulder. How much confidence would someone need to
get into the lane of a highway and pedal a bicycle at 20 something miles
per hour? What's the best way to ride on a shoulder of a highway where it
would be not only safe, but also comfortable?

Thanks to everyone for any help!

Brian

As an alternative to your plan, or to augment it, you might consider one
of the many organized rides that are going on in the area. Here is one
website and there are probably many others.

http://www.bicycletexas.com/cycling.htm

If you are not already acquainted with them, there are also several
cycling clubs around the DFW area that regularly schedule long weekly
rides.

Hey, great! Thanks for the information. I'll check them out and see what
they have available.

Brian

"andy gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

My questions for everyone is this, would a ride like this be out of
reach for someone who's been doing the distances I've listed? On the
ride, I'll have to get on rural highways that has traffic in one lane
and then the on-coming traffic in another. In some places on these
highways, there's no place to ride on a shoulder. How much confidence
would someone need to get into the lane of a highway and pedal a
bicycle at 20 something miles per hour? What's the best way to ride on
a shoulder of a highway where it would be not only safe, but also
comfortable?

A rural highway typically has 12 foot lanes, plus a few inches for the
lane markers and the fog lines. A bike is two feet wide, a car is six
feet wide, a truck or bus is 10 feet wide. As they said in the movie
"Exodus" "You've got plenty of room." Have your blinkers and reflectors
and day-glo stripes on your gear, and after that, eff 'em if they can't
see you, pass you, wait for you, or sneak around you.

Blinkers? Reflectors? You mean all the stuff I pulled *off* the bike to make
it lighter? :-)

Okay, I guess I'll be digging through the junk box to find that stuff again!
:-)

Speaking of that, I had a CatEye headlight that clamped on my handlebars
(HL500 model). It worked great and I swore by it. It was powerful, used AA
batteries and lasted well over a night's ride before needing a recharge on
the batteries. When I fell head over heels in love with the new FSA K-Wing
(after making the mistake of grabbing the bars on an upper end model bike),
I decided I just had to have one. I did some research and found a FSA Wing
Pro (because I can't afford the $200 for the K-Wing right now) that I got a
good deal on. What I didn't count on was the size difference from my stock
bars to the new ones. I had to replace the stem, but that wasn't a big deal
and makes the bike look better anyway. When I went to install the headlight,
the clamp wouldn't fit. I figured I could've taken the shims out and it
would fit...but NO! I checked with the LBSs and they never had anything like
this. I found a reflector mount and tried using that, but it just didn't
look right....albeit, it worked. I went on CatEye's website and they had an
oversized one for $2. I said "WOW, that's what I need!". Shipping on that
thing was $4 and took the price to over $6 for this little part. I haven't
got the mount in to see if it worked or not, but I'm hoping it will be just
the thing I needed. Other than that, I'm simply in love with these bars!

Quoted message said:

Conversely, if you want to count on doing the ride on unimproved
shoulders (and I hate that -- who decided to "save" money by not
maintaining the shoulders when the trucks and workers and asphalt and
stuff is all there maintaining the main road? I'm not talking about
shoulders that are grass or gravel by design, I mean paved shoulders
that get unpaved and stay that way) then why not try doing the trip on
your mountain bike instead of the road bike?

I never thought about that. I was doing good to get 40 miles a day out of
the mountain bike....and that's with many stops in the route. It might be
worth looking into, because I know there's several places that the highway
goes either over a bridge or under another road and there's no shoulder.

Quoted message said:

As for the distance jump, I went from 50 to 100 right away, but it
wasn't planned that way and I had regularly done it when I was (much)
younger.

Yeah, we *know* the "when I was younger" feeling! :-)

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

"andy gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Conversely, if you want to count on doing the ride on unimproved
shoulders (and I hate that -- who decided to "save" money by not
maintaining the shoulders when the trucks and workers and asphalt and
stuff is all there maintaining the main road? I'm not talking about
shoulders that are grass or gravel by design, I mean paved shoulders
that get unpaved and stay that way) then why not try doing the trip
on your mountain bike instead of the road bike?

I never thought about that. I was doing good to get 40 miles a day out
of the mountain bike....and that's with many stops in the route. It
might be worth looking into, because I know there's several places
that the highway goes either over a bridge or under another road and
there's no shoulder.

Let me know how it turns out if you decide to do it. It worked well for
me in and around Saratoga, NY, but then someone seems to have borrowed
my mountain bike. When the bike was in Saratoga, it never got locked
up, because no one locks anything in that area. When I brought it to
Long Island, I guess I forgot that it had to be locked up. My Bad.

--ag

Here's another couple of groups, Brian.

http://www.greaterdallasbicyclists.com/

http://miragecycling.org/

I'm not a member of either one yet, but I know a few folks in each of
them. I don't know if groups are your thing, but there are a whole lot
of cycling activities in this immediate area.

Brian Walker wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

My questions for everyone is this, would a ride like this be out of reach
for someone who's been doing the distances I've listed? On the ride, I'll
have to get on rural highways that has traffic in one lane and then the
on-coming traffic in another. In some places on these highways, there's no
place to ride on a shoulder. How much confidence would someone need to get
into the lane of a highway and pedal a bicycle at 20 something miles per
hour? What's the best way to ride on a shoulder of a highway where it would
be not only safe, but also comfortable?

Thanks to everyone for any help!

Brian

It's not out of reach for you at all IMHO. I just started seriously
riding this year too and my first ride (foolish as it was!) was 100/day
for 2 days just like what you're talking about. It was a charity ride
with stops though so I will say make sure you take plenty of food with
you and think about liquids too. You'll want to map out locations you
can fill your bottles up at in advance I'd think. As far as the
distance though, it won't be nearly as difficult as you might expect.
Just make sure you keep your system properly hydrated and keep those
carbs comin' and you'll be fine. Good luck.

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Here's another couple of groups, Brian.

http://www.greaterdallasbicyclists.com/

http://miragecycling.org/

I'm not a member of either one yet, but I know a few folks in each of
them. I don't know if groups are your thing, but there are a whole lot of
cycling activities in this immediate area.

Thanks for the links! I'll check them out.

I tried riding with DORBA on one of their "night rides" once. I just ended
up with them since they were on the same path as I was at the time. I talked
to one of the guys in the group as we rode along. Well, going back a bit
more on this story, I had just bought my road bike that I'm currently on and
hadn't got up the confidence to hit the streets...so I was on the trail. The
guy I was talking to started telling me all about how they didn't like
riding with road bikes and how they didn't like people getting into their
groups on a ride after the ride started and how they didn't allow people to
ride without helmets and so on and so on. He just generally put me on notice
that he just didn't care for the idea of me riding with them at all. He
started claiming their insurance company didn't allow all this. I've been
around quite some time, but I wasn't aware of any insurance companies
writing policies for private group bicycle rides at a local lake. Well, I
was nice to him and didn't let him know just how offensive it was to have
all those restrictions put on me where I wouldn't be welcome to ride on the
same path as they were on. We kept talking and I told him I had a mountain
bike and might enjoy riding with them some day and asked about more with
this ride. He told me they met up and rode and told me the times and
distance. I looked at my computer and saw we were only riding about 8-10mph
and had only gone around 3 miles or so. Everyone began hollering in the
group and riders began leaving the trail. I asked what was going on and he
said everyone was going to the hamburger joint and eat hamburgers and get
some cold beer after the riding. He asked if I was going to join in and I
passed on his invitation.

So, are you in the D/FW area? I keep trying to find a group to ride road
rides with (that actually rides....not eats burgers and drinks beer <g>😉,
but I haven't yet. There's some riders who go by my house every weekend that
I keep wanting to hook up with.

I did have a good day riding today though. I ordered a new carbon fork for
my bike and had it installed today. I'd been hearing about what a difference
it would make to the bike's feel and ride. I could still feel the large
cracks in the road, but all the small changes to the pavement like rocks and
grooves were not noticeable like before. I had an aluminum fork on it
before, and I believe the change was well worth it. I rode about 20 miles
this afternoon after getting the fork on, and I'm about to take off and go
do my usual ride through Dallas and out to Rockwall and back. I guess the
next update I make to this bike will be a new crank with a 55t ring....or
maybe just change the ring itself. I was told that I should start by
changing the cassette, but I counted the teeth and I already have a 11-28
cassette...but my large chainring is only 52t and I'm pegging my bike out in
places I know I could go faster if I had a bit more gear.

"andy gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

"andy gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Conversely, if you want to count on doing the ride on unimproved
shoulders (and I hate that -- who decided to "save" money by not
maintaining the shoulders when the trucks and workers and asphalt and
stuff is all there maintaining the main road? I'm not talking about
shoulders that are grass or gravel by design, I mean paved shoulders
that get unpaved and stay that way) then why not try doing the trip
on your mountain bike instead of the road bike?

I never thought about that. I was doing good to get 40 miles a day out
of the mountain bike....and that's with many stops in the route. It
might be worth looking into, because I know there's several places
that the highway goes either over a bridge or under another road and
there's no shoulder.

Let me know how it turns out if you decide to do it. It worked well for
me in and around Saratoga, NY, but then someone seems to have borrowed
my mountain bike. When the bike was in Saratoga, it never got locked
up, because no one locks anything in that area. When I brought it to
Long Island, I guess I forgot that it had to be locked up. My Bad.

--ag

Dude, that hurts hearing about someone borrowing your bike like that!

I got ready to buy a lock and felt the weight of them....that changed my
mind really quick. Now I just choose my stops as to where I can walk my bike
into. I've never had a problem with anyone, and most places I've had people
actually help me out and hold the door for me.

The only time I've ever had a problem with going into a place on the bicycle
was when I tried to be considerate of a tile floor and I took off my shoes.
The attendant at the place told me I had to put the shoes back on if I was
going to be in there. I just said "okay" and I sat down and slipped those
shoes on. After about 3 steps, that attendant quickly changed his mind about
allowing me to walk around without the shoes on my feet <g>.

Brian Walker said:

So, are you in the D/FW area? I keep trying to find a group to ride road
rides with (that actually rides....not eats burgers and drinks beer <g>😉,
but I haven't yet. There's some riders who go by my house every weekend that
I keep wanting to hook up with.

Yes, I mostly ride solo, since my usual time to ride is before work
during the week. My typical ride is to some predetermined point and
back, whatever I can squeeze in.

Most of the groups have a helmet rule, so that might not work out for
you if you don't want to wear one. However, if you want to try more
groups, there are plenty around. They usually have long rides on the
weekends. Finding a friendly one ought not to be too hard if you keep
at it. Sorry you didn't have good luck with DORBA. I don't know anyone
who rides with them, only the other two. Good luck.

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Dude, that hurts hearing about someone borrowing your bike like that!

Not to worry. It was a Trek hybrid from when Trek started making some
cheap-o bikes; neither fish nor foul. It was great on unimproved
shoulders and fine for riding around the lake and in town, but I
wouldn't have taken it on actual mountain trails and it was a bit to
heavy to go up the big mountain roads comfortably. I hope it found a
good home.

Quoted message said:

I got ready to buy a lock and felt the weight of them....that changed
my mind really quick. Now I just choose my stops as to where I can
walk my bike into. I've never had a problem with anyone, and most
places I've had people actually help me out and hold the door for me.

The beginning of wisdom... paint the bulls eyes after you shoot the
arrows, Hopefully, thinking like this will lead to improved bike
facilities everywhere. South Strre Seaport has swing-arm bike racks so
you can lock the frame with just a kryptonite disc brake motorcycle
lock. Someday bike racks will have 6' of cable built into them. Comes
the revolution...

Quoted message said:

The only time I've ever had a problem with going into a place on the
bicycle was when I tried to be considerate of a tile floor and I took
off my shoes. The attendant at the place told me I had to put the
shoes back on if I was going to be in there. I just said "okay" and I
sat down and slipped those shoes on. After about 3 steps, that
attendant quickly changed his mind about allowing me to walk around
without the shoes on my feet <g>.

heh heh heh

--ag

Quoted message said:

andy gee said:

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Dude, that hurts hearing about someone borrowing your bike like that!

Not to worry. It was a Trek hybrid from when Trek started making some
cheap-o bikes; neither fish nor foul. It was great on unimproved
shoulders and fine for riding around the lake and in town, but I
wouldn't have taken it on actual mountain trails and it was a bit to
heavy to go up the big mountain roads comfortably. I hope it found a
good home.

Quoted message said:

I got ready to buy a lock and felt the weight of them....that changed
my mind really quick. Now I just choose my stops as to where I can
walk my bike into. I've never had a problem with anyone, and most
places I've had people actually help me out and hold the door for me.

The beginning of wisdom... paint the bulls eyes after you shoot the
arrows, Hopefully, thinking like this will lead to improved bike
facilities everywhere. South Strre Seaport has swing-arm bike racks so
you can lock the frame with just a kryptonite disc brake motorcycle
lock. Someday bike racks will have 6' of cable built into them. Comes
the revolution...

There are probably 100 ways to design a bike locking and clamping
mechanism, that is attached to the parking space, and considering that
bikes are fairly narrow, and light weight, here is an idea:

You go up, open the door, put bike inside, lock clamp close door and it
gives you a ticket. Bike is lifted and stored somewhere inside the
mechanism, when you return, put in the ticket, pay the parking fee, and
it pulls out your bike from storage, and puts it back at ground level,
open the clamp, and remove bike. This would work well in parking
garages, no lock is needed, because the bike is locked away within the
garage itself. A bike takes up .5(w) x 1.5(l) x 1(h) so a building 20m
x 20m x 20m would hold (back of napkin rough guess) 10,000 bicycles
(actually 10,666, but give some space for the mechanisms).

W

The Wogster <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

There are probably 100 ways to design a bike locking and clamping
mechanism, that is attached to the parking space, and considering that
bikes are fairly narrow, and light weight, here is an idea:

You go up, open the door, put bike inside, lock clamp close door and
it gives you a ticket. Bike is lifted and stored somewhere inside the
mechanism, when you return, put in the ticket, pay the parking fee,
and it pulls out your bike from storage, and puts it back at ground
level, open the clamp, and remove bike. This would work well in
parking garages, no lock is needed, because the bike is locked away
within the garage itself. A bike takes up .5(w) x 1.5(l) x 1(h) so a
building 20m x 20m x 20m would hold (back of napkin rough guess)
10,000 bicycles (actually 10,666, but give some space for the
mechanisms).

W

George Bliss of Hubstation and pedicabs in NY is working on secure,
convenient public bike storage and parking.

The reason he has to work on it is:

Two mayors ago, it was decreed that all city municipal parking
facilities had to accept bicycles for free; so there were secure racks
inside secure parking garages. The last mayor sold all (almost all) of
the municipal garages to private companies, who no longer (generally)
take bikes,

My concept is to put "bike stop shelters" on the sidewalks like the "bus
stop shelters" which pay the city a profit from the advertising. Of
course, any of you who follow NY politics will fondly recall the bus
stop scandals in the same era, three mayors ago, as Wedtech, the suicide
of Donald Manes, and a host of other fun and games.

--ag

Quoted message said:

"andy gee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Brian Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I got ready to buy a lock and felt the weight of them....that changed
my mind really quick. Now I just choose my stops as to where I can
walk my bike into. I've never had a problem with anyone, and most
places I've had people actually help me out and hold the door for me.

The beginning of wisdom... paint the bulls eyes after you shoot the
arrows, Hopefully, thinking like this will lead to improved bike
facilities everywhere. South Strre Seaport has swing-arm bike racks so
you can lock the frame with just a kryptonite disc brake motorcycle
lock. Someday bike racks will have 6' of cable built into them. Comes
the revolution...

I'm hoping with the gas prices being up like they are, more people will
become more tolerant (maybe that's not the word I'm looking for?) of
bicyclists. I've noticed in the past couple months more people coming up to
me at shopping places and such and asking about my bike. A couple places I
frequent sell bicycles in their stores and the employees always talk to me
about bicycling and how to get into riding. Every once in a while, I'll run
across someone who's just a "[censored]" and all, but that's everywhere.

I was talking with some people the other day about our bus company in the
D/FW area (DART). And they were talking about maybe talking with the bus
company and to see if they'd install bike racks on the front of the buses.
That would be a nice idea since it's hard for someone to ride from one side
of Dallas to the other on a bicycle. The distance isn't a problem, but
finding a route would be tough. I know that if there's some place on my side
of Dallas that I need to go, I just take the bicycle. But if I need to get
to downtown or the other side of downtown, I would have to leave the bicycle
at home and take the car. What do "you's" guys up there (in my best NY
accent I can muster<g>😉 do about using a bus with a bicycle, or do you? I
know there's a bunch of friends of mine who've either lived up there or
moved up there. All of them say a personal car isn't really practical in the
city due to parking and all. I guess if I lived up there, I'd just bicycle
everywhere I wanted to go, huh?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The only time I've ever had a problem with going into a place on the
bicycle was when I tried to be considerate of a tile floor and I took
off my shoes. The attendant at the place told me I had to put the
shoes back on if I was going to be in there. I just said "okay" and I
sat down and slipped those shoes on. After about 3 steps, that
attendant quickly changed his mind about allowing me to walk around
without the shoes on my feet <g>.

heh heh heh

--ag

Anyone who's ever worn cleats can relate.... :-)

I was wearing a smile on my face, and didn't let him know I was being a bit
heavy on the cleats. I even said "ooh, sorry dude"...not that I actually
meant it. <G>

"catzz66" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Brian Walker said:

So, are you in the D/FW area? I keep trying to find a group to ride road
rides with (that actually rides....not eats burgers and drinks beer <g>😉,
but I haven't yet. There's some riders who go by my house every weekend
that I keep wanting to hook up with.

Yes, I mostly ride solo, since my usual time to ride is before work during
the week. My typical ride is to some predetermined point and back,
whatever I can squeeze in.

Cool! Maybe some day we can hook up and ride together? I'm generally
contained to riding anywhere on the east side of Dallas. I've done the White
Rock lake and trail riding, but ended up out-growing that ride. I guess I
noticed me getting past it when I started losing interest in even showing up
out there. I got on the roads and between the hills, winds, traffic and the
stop/go of the signals, I've found my speed/time increasing.

I was reading in a Men's <?> magazine today about bicycle training. Most of
what it was talking about was for the stationary trainers. It kept
mentioning "rpm" for setting the cadence. Maybe I'm ignorant about this, but
are they talking about the crank rpm or the wheel? Some of the rpms they
list are to maintain 120rpm with resistance. Maybe I've got the wrong idea,
but if that's the crank speed, that seems awfully fast! I figure I would do
good to do a crank rpm of like 50rpm. What do you think?

Also, how would someone measure the rpm?

Quoted message said:

Most of the groups have a helmet rule, so that might not work out for you
if you don't want to wear one. However, if you want to try more groups,
there are plenty around. They usually have long rides on the weekends.
Finding a friendly one ought not to be too hard if you keep at it. Sorry
you didn't have good luck with DORBA. I don't know anyone who rides with
them, only the other two. Good luck.

I'll keep looking. Let me know if you ever want to go ride! I'll ride with
just about anyone, as long as they aren't just wanting to set a blistering
pace and leave me in the dust... <G>

"Brian Kerr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Brian Walker wrote:
<snip>

Quoted message said:

My questions for everyone is this, would a ride like this be out of reach
for someone who's been doing the distances I've listed? On the ride, I'll
have to get on rural highways that has traffic in one lane and then the
on-coming traffic in another. In some places on these highways, there's
no place to ride on a shoulder. How much confidence would someone need to
get into the lane of a highway and pedal a bicycle at 20 something miles
per hour? What's the best way to ride on a shoulder of a highway where it
would be not only safe, but also comfortable?

Thanks to everyone for any help!

Brian

It's not out of reach for you at all IMHO. I just started seriously
riding this year too and my first ride (foolish as it was!) was 100/day
for 2 days just like what you're talking about. It was a charity ride
with stops though so I will say make sure you take plenty of food with you
and think about liquids too. You'll want to map out locations you can
fill your bottles up at in advance I'd think. As far as the distance
though, it won't be nearly as difficult as you might expect. Just make
sure you keep your system properly hydrated and keep those carbs comin'
and you'll be fine. Good luck.

Cool! How long were you riding this year before going on that ride?

Thanks for the heads-up and wisdom! I'm looking at trying it probably later
this month or early next.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Brian Walker said:

I'm hoping with the gas prices being up like they are, more people will
become more tolerant (maybe that's not the word I'm looking for?) of
bicyclists.

I actually had a chance to say this (a little bit more bluntly) last
night.
Was eating a slice of pizza at the pizza place next to one of the local
universities, and another customer asked me if I drove, and what I
thought of gas prices.
Quoth I: "I hope prices keep going up, if they hit $2-3/liter people
might stop thinking I'm a freak because I don't have a drivers license."
She seemed to lose interest in discussing it after that; I suspect she
was just looking for a chance to complain about prices, and that's not
much fun if you're talking to somebody who likes the way they're going.

Quoted message said:

I was talking with some people the other day about our bus company in the
D/FW area (DART). And they were talking about maybe talking with the bus
company and to see if they'd install bike racks on the front of the buses.
That would be a nice idea since it's hard for someone to ride from one side
of Dallas to the other on a bicycle. The distance isn't a problem, but
finding a route would be tough. I know that if there's some place on my side
of Dallas that I need to go, I just take the bicycle. But if I need to get
to downtown or the other side of downtown, I would have to leave the bicycle
at home and take the car. What do "you's" guys up there (in my best NY
accent I can muster<g>😉 do about using a bus with a bicycle, or do you?

Where I live we've had bike racks on some buses for a year or two now,
and as of a few months ago they had them on every bus. Very convenient,
and highly recommended. Definitely contact the bus company and tell
them you'd like to see it.

Until they have racks, I'd recommend just taking the bike on the bus with
you, same as you would with, say, a stroller. (This was what the bus
company here recommended for buses without bike racks, and still is if
the rack is full; the only exception is if the bus is too full to bring
the bike on without problems, which seems reasonable enough.) If the
driver doesn't let you, call the bus company to complain. If enough
cyclists start doing that they'll start installing racks soon enough.

dave

--
Dave Vandervies [email hidden]
Not only has Richard done something *useful* for the C community,
his worth is measured in pence and pounds, not dimes and dollars.
--Chris Dollin in comp.lang.c

In article <[email hidden]>,

Brian Walker said:

I was reading in a Men's <?> magazine today about bicycle training. Most of
what it was talking about was for the stationary trainers. It kept
mentioning "rpm" for setting the cadence. Maybe I'm ignorant about this, but
are they talking about the crank rpm or the wheel? Some of the rpms they
list are to maintain 120rpm with resistance. Maybe I've got the wrong idea,
but if that's the crank speed, that seems awfully fast! I figure I would do
good to do a crank rpm of like 50rpm. What do you think?

Cadence is crank speed. 120rpm is rather on the fast side unless you're
seriously into riding as fast as possible (but still not unreasonable
for things like running out of gears on a long downhill), but generally
faster is better - 50rpm is a bit on the slow side. The faster you're
moving the pedals, the less force you need to apply to get the same
power output[1], and once your leg muscles are used to moving faster
(which probably won't happen immediately - if the faster cadence tires
them out too soon, start your rides pedaling faster, then upshift and
slow down the cadence when they start to complain, and before too long
you'll be able to stay at the faster cadence for the entire ride) the
lower force needed will mean they won't get tired as quickly.

Quoted message said:

Also, how would someone measure the rpm?

You can get bike computers with sensors on the crank that will tell you.
Or, simpler and cheaper, count how many times you turn the pedals in
six seconds and multiply by ten. That only requires a clock that counts
seconds and six seconds that you can keep your eyes mostly on the clock
to count time.

dave

[1] Power is force*distance/time, and distance for one crank rotation
is constant, so more rotations per unit time means less force needed
on each one for a given power requirement.

--
Dave Vandervies [email hidden]
Not only has Richard done something *useful* for the C community,
his worth is measured in pence and pounds, not dimes and dollars.
--Chris Dollin in comp.lang.c

Brian Walker said:

...It kept
mentioning "rpm" for setting the cadence. Maybe I'm ignorant about this, but
are they talking about the crank rpm or the wheel? Some of the rpms they
list are to maintain 120rpm with resistance. Maybe I've got the wrong idea,
but if that's the crank speed, that seems awfully fast! I figure I would do
good to do a crank rpm of like 50rpm. What do you think?

Also, how would someone measure the rpm?

cadence = rpm

This is the number of times a pedal makes a complete cycle. Some bike
computers can measure this or you can just eyeball it with your watch to
get close.