I never ended up making the Epic Bicycle trip. I took a traveling job and have been driving around the country. Check out http://travelingtek.com for more updates.
Last night we rented a movie from Redbox, so that was my "excuse" for a ride this morning - I had to return the movie. I started out at 7:30 a.m. and it was COLD! Luckily I was smart enough to wear leggings and my long sleeved shirt; I was not, however, smart enough to wear full gloves. Who knew I'd need gloves in September? When the temperature is 57 degrees and the bike is moving at 30 mph the wind on my bare fingers feels like 10 degrees. Made the 13 mile round trip in 1 hour 7 minutes which I didn't think was too bad, considering that I wasn't even working - this was just a pleasure ride.
I had an interesting experience this week. I was at a customer site and went to the hotel fitness center to work out for a bit. I was on an elliptical in front of a TV, and was all by myself in the fitness center. I started to flip through the TV channels and came upon the AMGEN California Tour on NBCSport. Long story short, I found myself enthralled with the bike race; I was paying attention to details the way some guys pay attention to football. I was noticing who had good "form" on their bike, noticing how efficient the support team was, marvelling at how they could change out tires, etc. "on the fly" - not to mention the scenery was beautiful. I've always liked to bike, but this experience seemed to cause something in me to "gel"; I realized that this is on my bucket list - somewhere near the top. I'll never be in the Tour de France, obviously, but I want to ride more, and better, than I do. So now I have a new goal, and I'm going to...
I decided to address this issue first, because if you're not comfortable you won't be able to ride very fast OR very far. The first comfort item, of course, is the bike itself. You don't have to spend a fortune on a bike, but you DO need to spend enough to get a decent one. I don't recommend buying your bike at WalMart. Find a reputable dealer. The dealer should be able to measure you for a frame . You should be able to straddle the bike and your crotch should not touch the center bar - there should be about 1/2 to 1 inch of clearance. In addition to frame size, tire size (or, more appropriately, rim size) must be considered. Most mountain bikes or trail bikes use 24 or 26 inch rims; most street bikes use 26 or 27 inch rims The next question is bike configuration. For riding in a hilly area such as northwestern Pennsylvania, you will want as many gears as you can get; if you can include a "mountain climbing" gear, that is even better. Riding "stan...
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