What kind of cycling do you do?
By Philbo
@Philbo (578)
Canada
June 19, 2009 2:43pm CST
Calling all cyclists on Mylot. What kind of cycling do you do? I want to hear from all of you even if all you do is take a spin around the block when you get a rare urge to get your blood circulating. If it make you feel better I'm old and slow. Can't race for the life of me. On one cycling forum they refer to riders over 200lbs as Clydesdales. That's me. I ride an ancient Nishiki Landau and my kids all ride bikes that I've built out of derelicts because that's what we can afford. I mostly commute right now but I do go on tours when I can with my family.
3 responses
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
20 Jun 09
I used to commute to work - a 12 mile round trip. But since I cost my job at the end of last year, I don't do that anymore. But since I have now got lots of free time, I'm intending to start cycle touring as a good way of still getting on my bike and doing something meaningfull with it.
By way of training, I'm doing a few long runs to try and get myself conditioned to cycling more than 12 miles in a day 
I've done a couple of these rides so far, the first was about 55 miles and the second about 45 miles. I'll probably get out again next week for another ride.
I've done a couple of these rides so far, the first was about 55 miles and the second about 45 miles. I'll probably get out again next week for another ride. 1 person likes this
@Philbo (578)
• Canada
21 Jun 09
Sorry to hear you're unemployed right now. I'm on a four day week right now and it has been tough to scrape by on that. Sounds to me like you are still in good riding condition though. Cycling is a great way to cut transportation costs. Tours don't have to be that long. Ours are usually fairly short because we travel with children. Have to stay within their limits. It can make for a very memorable inexpensive vacation. Regular riding can also make you feel better about yourself.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
21 Jun 09
That's very true. A tour can be as long or as short as you want and as hard or as easy as you want that's one of the attractions for me. I'm planning on doing the Trans - Pennine ride in a month of so. It's just over 200 miles from Southport on the Lancashire coast to Hornsea on the North sea coast. I'm thinking of taking a week over it which will be reasonably easy I think.
1 person likes this
@Philbo (578)
• Canada
21 Jun 09
Take your time see the sights. Our first family tour was only a little over fifty miles and we took four days over it. It doesn't sound very impressive until you consider we were riding completely self contained, my twin boys were only five riding on training wheels and my three year old daughter was in the trailer with equipment piled up around her ears.
@EvrWonder (3571)
• Canada
21 Jun 09
Tours with the family must be a lot of fun. I have tried to get other family members together for a big ride but it never seems to transpire.
I ride mountain bike that I love. Years past I used to be a wild woman, off road, going mach one with my hair on fire, everywhere I went. Crashed a few times but good but I am still walking and still have the same bike.
It's a Norco, 18 speed and I love it. An elderly man built it for me many a moon ago, in his bike shop. It has a oval sprocket so makes twelve and six o'clock much easier ;)
Now that I have my small dog I walk more. I want to get a basket for her on the bike but she wont wear a helmet. I wouldn't want to have an accident with my dog in a basket on the bike.
Still working on how I could safely take my six pound dog with me on a nice ride.
I haven't ridden for about a year but keep looking at the bike. Oh, I will.
I used to ride all year round, rain, snow, ice, sun, didn't matter.
Well have fun riding & thanks for the post.
@Philbo (578)
• Canada
21 Jun 09
They are a lot of fun and in spite of being very inexpensive the way we do it they are still among the most memorable. When I was a kid I used to ride a lot off road with my old one speed. Mostly unopened road allowances. Did some trails in the Shorthills back when I lived in the Niagara area. They weren't open to cyclists but I never got in trouble for it. If the game warden was there, he was too busy fishing. All you had to do was ask him how the fish were biting while you sped on by. By the time he answered I was gone and he didn't have a chance to kick me out of the park. He fell for it every time. Never did down hill. I know when I lived in the Eastern Townships in Quebec you could ride down the ski slopes at some of the resorts during the summer. Tend to stick to road cycling now. I did ride right through the winter this past year. Only missed when the weather was really bad or there was too much snow on the road.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
22 Jun 09
Hey... congrats on the tours! That's an awesome thing to do! I do not ride very much actually. I do more running. Just started that about 3-4 months ago and am scheduled for my first 5K this coming Saturday. Anyway, I read it's not good to run every single day, so the days I don't run I ride. I also ride in the evenings when I run in the mornings. I haven't done that for a week or two because I am old too!!! ... and I needed to save the knees for the 5K! I just rediscovered the joy of riding again just a few weeks back. I jumped on my bike and was going to go for a short ride and ended up riding all over town! I enjoyed it so much I have done it several times on purpose!!
@Philbo (578)
• Canada
22 Jun 09
I used to play a lot of basketball and suffer from what we in that sport call white man's disease. My knees and ankles are really banged up. Running is just too high of an impact sport for me. Cycling thankfully is low impact and my knees and ankles don't suffer any discomfort at all. I did run a 10K in college but I won't disclose my time. Keep on riding.
