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You know you need Bikers Anonymous...

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Road Cycling
Published
13 April 2005
Last activity
10 May 2005
Original author
Veloise
Posts
18
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  1. Have at it, folks!

    ....when you clean out your pockets and find five bike shop receipts,
    three of which have consecutive dates!

    ~~~~~~~~~
    Someone started this thread on our club's yahoo group, and it quickly
    devolved to spouse-bashing (not unlike the "How to hide an expensive
    bike purchase from your spouse" thread).

    --Karen M.

  2. Veloise said:

    Have at it, folks!

    ...when you clean out your pockets and find five bike shop receipts,
    three of which have consecutive dates!


    ....when you find yourself posting incessently to rec.bicycles.misc when
    you should be working. Plus wondering if you will make it home early or
    stop and chat with every man, woman or child you see riding a bike so
    you can discuss riding a bike. And lastly when you think about when you
    will ride your bike next and if you will make it further than the last
    time.

  3. Quoted message said:

    Someone started this thread on our club's yahoo group, and it quickly
    devolved to spouse-bashing (not unlike the "How to hide an expensive
    bike purchase from your spouse" thread).

    Well, that preempted my post about hurrying home to get the package
    from Performance off the front porch before LOML comes home.

    [censored] Durbin

  4. You time your ride to finish just as coverage of Paris-Roubaix starts
    and you watch it on TV while patching a tube and leafing through the
    Excel Sports Boulder catalogue during the commercials, while sipping
    iced Cytomax... and munching a PowerBar... while still in your sweaty
    bike clothes.
    --
    My bike blog:
    http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

  5. .... when you drive the car [or truck, or RV] to work, and the smokers
    standing about the rear entrance ask, "Where's yer bike?!"

    --
    "Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much
    to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,
    it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)

  6. 13 Apr 2005 12:47:08 -0700,
    <[email hidden]>,

    Veloise said:

    Have at it, folks!

    ...when you clean out your pockets and find five bike shop receipts,
    three of which have consecutive dates!

    When you ask if their twelve-step program is indexed or friction.

    You no longer own any footwear without cleats.

    You don't spread peanut butter with anything but a wrench.
    --
    zk

  7. Zoot Katz said:

    13 Apr 2005 12:47:08 -0700,
    <[email hidden]>,

    Veloise said:

    Have at it, folks!

    ...when you clean out your pockets and find five bike shop receipts,
    three of which have consecutive dates!

    When you ask if their twelve-step program is indexed or friction.

    You no longer own any footwear without cleats.

    You don't spread peanut butter with anything but a wrench.

    With all this off-the-bike time, I think your loss is gonna be our
    gain ;-)

  8. You actually tell your spouse you don't have time to mow the lawn
    because of the the century ride.

    Quoted message said:

    (Not intended as "spouse-bashing"😉

    - -

    "May you have the winds at your back,
    And a really low gear for the hills!"

    Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

    Chris'Z Corner
    http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

  9. Thare always reasons to join the club ride on Saturday
    morning:
    Fall/Winter Saturdays begin: "This might be the last good
    weekend of bicycling this year."
    Winter/Spring Saturdays begin: "This is the best bicycling
    day so far this year."

    You rescue rummage sale bikes at the end of the day, because
    you hate to see them turned into scrap metal.
    (By the way, anybody in the Chicago area know a kid who could
    use a boys' 16 inch *mart bike, in fair condition?)

    --
    Mike Kruger
    Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is
    no path and leave a trail.
    -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writing before the mountain bike was
    invented.

  10. "LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0 m" wrote ...

    Quoted message said:

    ... when you drive the car [or truck, or RV] to work, and the smokers
    standing about the rear entrance ask, "Where's yer bike?!"


    Or when people you've worked with for three years ask, "When did you buy a
    car?".

    And you answer, "I've owned this car for 9 years".
    --
    mark

  11. You are NOT a candidate for Bikers Anonymous, if:

    You hear "spoke," and you think, "Past tense of "speak."
    You think of horses when anyone mentions a leather saddle.
    And "Brooks" makes you think of men's suits.
    "Stay" makes you think of dog training.
    "Going downhill" is a form of deterioration
    "Chain" has to do with jewelry,
    and "pump" is a shoe.

  12. ....when you see a member of the opposite sex riding along, and you CHECK OUT
    THE BIKE.

    BS (but not totally)

  13. when you try to find ways to make the commute home longer.

    --Cheers!
    Duke

  14. Quoted message said:

    From an unnamed or anonymous source posted by


    http://www.bikejournal.com user profile koadkill32:

    Are you a candidate for C.A. (Cyclists Anonymous) ?
    CYCLISTS ANONYMOUS
    It never really hit me that I had a problem until the day I rode my
    bike into Winn Dixie and was halfway down the produce aisle, scanning
    heads of lettuce and idly wondering if the worms in organic apples are
    organic worms, when a clerk politely enquired as to whether the bike
    racks outside were all full. I braked, dismounted, purchased my
    groceries in as dignified a manner as possible, went home, called
    Cyclists Anonymous. "Help," was all I said.

    Hi. My name is Geoff,(coincidental psuedonym) and I'm a cyclist. (Hi,
    Geoff.) It started so long ago I hardly remember anymore.... My father
    taught me. My mum knew about it; she said nothing. My brothers and
    sisters encouraged my habit, at first. All the kids on the block were
    doing it in those days. It wasn't a question of peer pressure. It was
    simply a way of life.

    I still remember my maiden voyage. It seemed so terribly dangerous at
    the time. Then I got used to it. I was hooked. The speed. The wind in
    my hair. The freedom. As I got older, my mates kicked the habit. A bike
    wasn't fast enough for them. They bought cars. Not me. I couldn't stop
    myself. Everyone gave me a hard time, said "Why are you still doing
    it?" but it was in my blood and I refused all offers of a transfusion.
    There was constant pressure to quit, to move on to four wheels. You
    can't go a day without being assaulted by the advertising, the
    wheedling. My resolve never wavered. I learned to live on the fringes
    of society. Literally.

    I met a woman. She was like me. It was us against the world. Sometimes
    we'd go tandem. The gear changes were incredible. I thought it would
    last forever. But she grew jealous of the time I spent away from her
    and on my bike. I was cycling alone more and more often. Sometimes
    before breakfast. Really blatant warning signals. And I'd come home
    late, claim to have been working overtime at the office. Really I was
    going far, far out of my way on my commute. I'd double the necessary
    mileage; triple it. Anything for more saddle time. I saw others like
    me. Cyclists who had no earthly reason to be where they were at that
    hour. One guy took to circling roundabouts, just for that extra little
    kick. I saw his eyes. I could almost understand.

    I'd come home exhilarated and out of breath, rush to the shower to wash
    away the incriminating sweat. She always knew. It couldn't last.

    It broke my heart when she left me for another man. He only rode on
    weekends. Someone told me he had a titanium bike. She said that sort of
    thing didn't matter to her, and to be fair, it probably didn't. It's
    just my over-active imagination.

    It all got a little foggy after that. There were entire days I didn't
    go home. My bike was my home. My work suffered, naturally. Everyone was
    very supportive. It's a progressive company. They even have showers and
    other facilities for people like me. Eventually something had to give.
    They let me go. Gave me disability, which is a bit of a laugh. It was
    very kind of them.

    Through it all it never dawned on me to ask myself if I could control
    my cycling. Why would I want to control it? I wasn't a problem cyclist.
    I knew my limits. But I guess you never really know them until you go
    over them.

    I see the way you're all looking at me. You're feeding off my
    innapropriate endorphin rush. You're like vampires. It's sick. Relive
    your own memories! Don't siphon me dry of mine! No. I'm sorry. I'm...
    could somebody please give me a water bottle? (Sucks greedily.) Thank
    you. It's just... these mood swings. They told me I'd learn control. My
    body would adjust. I'd channel my energy into something else. I want
    very much to believe them.

    After I was let go I laid low for awhile. Regrouped. Cut my cycling to
    almost nothing, only five days a week. I kept 'commuting' anyway, two
    round-trips a day.

    The only kind of companionship I could get was the sort you find
    advertised in phone boxes. 'Full service'. 'I'll true your wheels'.
    'French mechanic'. I know what you're thinking. But it wasn't like
    that. I just paid them to talk. Routine maintenance, race results, tour
    reports. It ran the gamut. One girl specialised in urban transport
    issues. God, she was good. I'm not ashamed. It filled a void.

    One night I was coming home. I saw a guy with a flat tyre. Stopped to
    lend a hand. He said he had it covered. I insisted. It got ugly. We
    scuffled. I was still drained from my 'date'. He pinned me easily.
    Asked me what my problem was. I started blubbering. Couldn't help
    myself. And I don't even like to mend punctures. He said I needed help.
    I told him I knew. Then he told me about Cyclists Anonymous. He fixed
    the tyre while he talked. He admitted his own addiction. I said it
    wasn't like that with me. He stared me square in the eye, on the verge
    of shoving my face into my own lie of a life. Suddenly this incredibly
    compassionate look came over him. He said "We all have to find our own
    grid reference." Then he was gone. It was the next day that I cycled
    into Winn Dixie.

    I know I'm among friends. They've even given me the number of a cycling
    buddy. Somebody I can call when I find myself topping up my
    Continentals at two in the morning. I just have to take it one day at a
    time.

    So. Who's up for a ride afterwards? Just kidding!

    No, really.

    (I take no credit for above)

  15. Veloise said:

    Have at it, folks!

    ...when you clean out your pockets and find five bike shop receipts,
    three of which have consecutive dates!

    ~~~~~~~~~
    Someone started this thread on our club's yahoo group, and it quickly
    devolved to spouse-bashing (not unlike the "How to hide an expensive
    bike purchase from your spouse" thread).

    --Karen M.

    Applies to all cyclists-
    When you know not one but two tailors that will replace chamois pads.
    Applies to MTBers-
    When the mud covering your brand new frame doesn't faze you.
    Applies to roadies-
    When you no longer think twice about wearing colorful spandex.
    Applies to weight weenies-
    When you spend $250 to replace a perfectly good component with another
    because it's 30 grams lighter.

    Regards,
    Bob Hunt

  16. ....when you pick up a new ride at the city auction, then check stock in
    your basement stash...

    to find that you have a set of grips, toe clips, and a seat bag in
    colors to match the new used bike...

    and it's a color that you've never owned before!

    --Karen M.

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

    Quoted message said:

    ...when you pick up a new ride at the city auction, then check stock in
    your basement stash...

    to find that you have a set of grips, toe clips, and a seat bag in
    colors to match the new used bike...

    and it's a color that you've never owned before!

    --Karen M.


    Well I think just about anyone who has been cycling for any length of time
    fits into that category.
    Ken

  18. I said:
    Quoted message said:

    ...when you pick up a new ride at the city auction, then check


    stock in

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    your basement stash...

    to find that you have a set of grips, toe clips, and a seat bag


    in

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    colors to match the new used bike...

    and it's a color that you've never owned before!

    and Ken huffed:

    Quoted message said:

    Well I think just about anyone who has been cycling for any length of


    time

    Quoted message said:

    fits into that category.

    Au contraire! Brand new product, still in the packaging, picked up on
    clearance or at a swap meet "just in case."

    --Karen M.
    just got more bicycle fabric from An Auction Site today...

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