My mountainbike passion

[sisko]

I feel like i own an explanation to some of you, especially those wondering why i spend less time in here and more on RL.
Well, i've been diagnosed with high blood pressure some time ago and this made me think about the future and the way i want to spend what should be the second half of my life (hopefully). 
So, i had to make some changes, and a healthier lifestyle was the first priority. I was already taking care of what i was eating, so in this respect, i only had to cut back on salt and eliminate processed food. It's not that hard once you get used to, but it's time consuming because if you want to eat something cooked, you have to do it with your own hands. 
Also it was time to exercise more. I had something around 102 to 105kg last winter, which was a bit too much for a 187cm person. I don't like spending time at the gym and you can't make me excercise unless it's a sport i really enjoy doing.
Few choices there.. just basketball and cycling. I quited basketball in college because of reccuring tendinitis, so unless i was able to get a new pair of knees, i was stuck with cycling, which brings us to the point of this thread.


Well, i first fell in love with cycling back in the school years. I learned to cycle on a full size bike, so i was quite "old" for that.. seventh or eight grade ..and it was love at first sight. I learned how to climb hills, how keep a constant cadence, i took good care of her doing all the repairs by myself and she payed me back with a nice pair of muscled legs, which i was very proud of.
We were never apart.. never, well untill i decided to sell her.  :'( And for what? Can you guess?
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To buy me a computer!!   
And a computer i bought! 
By the time i discovered Alpha Centauri (the game), my knees were gone, so no basketball and the bike was loooong gone, so no cycling. The obvious result: i was lazy and fat, fat as in well over 100kg.     And guess what.. SMAC didn't help either. 

Pictures coming up later in the thread, so stay tuned!

[Green1]

I live in a city where bicycling is common. There are co-ops that help you build bicycles. There are bike lanes everywhere. Walking to a store or to work is common and all the public transportation has bike racks. A good portion of the population does this and here, at least, you are not viewed as a "loser" for not having a car. There are other cities like this as well.

I have lived like this for years and I am in my 40s. However, due to my extreme lifestyle (which is not too extreme here) I look in my late 20s. You hardly ever see really fat people here unless they are tourists. I have seen other folks from the suburbia I left decades ago. Most of the middle class men have had strokes and hear attacks from a sedentary lifestyle. The women my age who were hawt now hideously out of shape behind a SUV that costs a years salary to some. So, I take small comfort.

There is nothing wrong with biking.. even into your 40s, 50s and beyond despite what society declares or some potential wannabe trophy wife may think they need to have to show off to the other soccer moms. One guy I know is my friend. He is 70. He looks 40. He never drives and rides bikes everywhere. Needless to say, dude has a wife 20 years younger, a nice house he bought for peanuts and fixed up, and a free life without rent or employers and his health... all for not paying extortion car notes, insurance, tickets from pigs that ambush honest citezens, and gas.

[Green1]

Sorry about the anarchist rant, lol. Most of the biking community are very much Anarchist leaning. Either that or very Bohemian leftist.

I had a question though. Why Mountain Bike? I have found the tires and maintainence on the Mountain-type bikes really inconvienient on maintainence and breakdowns, particularly cheap Wal-Mart china bikes (but there are some gems in Wal-mart). New Orleans and Louisana in particular are flat areas and I find a good cruiser is excellent for everyday use. A street or racer bike is a good way to get yourself killed as there are pot holes everywhere.

[sisko]

I had a question though. Why Mountain Bike?

well, i rediscovered my old passion some 3 years ago. we went to the mall and bought 3 bikes for the price of 2 (december sale if i remember well). mountain bikes for me (hardtail) and my son (full suspension) and a cross for my wife, nothing fancy or too expensive. the fact is, i knew nothing about 'modern' bikes. back in my youth all the bikes in my country were 'fixies' (no suspension) so, having a front suspension and wide tyres seemed like a cool thing to have. 
in time i found out that i did the right thing though, because if you want a safe ride in my area, you actually have to go off-road. the few bike lanes we have are all on the sidewalk and we are talking about some 8 kilometers of them for a 300k citizen town
if you try to use the roads, you have a big chance of being run down by a car because drivers don't pay attention to the bikers and have no idea of the speed you can develop on a bike. when you approach a crossing, in most cases eye contact is not established between the driver and the biker so you have to guess if the driver is aware of your presence or not. 
we have no bicycle culture. that's a fact! and this is unlikely to change soon, at least not in my lifetime..   

[Green1]

Oh, man...EVERYBODY bikes here! I hear Portland, OR, New York, and many other places are like that. In the Bywater area, St. Roch, and the Quarter, NO ONE owns cars, even families! Hell, where would you park it?

There is also a local Plan B outside the Quarter that is a bicycle co-operative where the community shares tools. A project for biking that I plan to have by December after complete travel to different places catching up on old friends is a cargo trailer.

Basically, I know some folks who will let me into the French Market to sell wares. I am still doing research on it, though and may have an apprenticeship arranged with a local expert on fused glass.

With this and the cargo carrier, I can cart glass to the market to sell. One guy I gamed with back in the day quit his job as a crane operator to sell things in the French Market. He and his wife just bought a house off of that, so selling wares here is no joke. Because of the way New orleans works, you damn near have to "know" someone to get in.

Any of you guys attempted projects on this nature? I know big city biking is VASTLY different than the "weekend" bike culture. If so, how did it work out?

I am thinking something like the pic I have uploaded:

Although many of the other vendors have trailers that are MUCH bigger. I really need to take a picture of one set up. Good friends of mine are a husband/wife team. She reads tarot on Jackson Square and he his a street magician. They have awesome bike they use to carry the set-ups!

[Green1]

I had a question though. Why Mountain Bike?

well, i rediscovered my old passion some 3 years ago. we went to the mall and bought 3 bikes for the price of 2 (december sale if i remember well). mountain bikes for me (hardtail) and my son (full suspension) and a cross for my wife, nothing fancy or too expensive. the fact is, i knew nothing about 'modern' bikes. back in my youth all the bikes in my country were 'fixies' (no suspension) so, having a front suspension and wide tyres seemed like a cool thing to have. 
in time i found out that i did the right thing though, because if you want a safe ride in my area, you actually have to go off-road. the few bike lanes we have are all on the sidewalk and we are talking about some 8 kilometers of them for a 300k citizen town
if you try to use the roads, you have a big chance of being run down by a car because drivers don't pay attention to the bikers and have no idea of the speed you can develop on a bike. when you approach a crossing, in most cases eye contact is not established between the driver and the biker so you have to guess if the driver is aware of your presence or not. 
we have no bicycle culture. that's a fact! and this is unlikely to change soon, at least not in my lifetime.. 

Awesome.

As you get in contact with more in the bike community online probably, you may run into "bike snobs" who sneer if you do not have a 600 USD Citizen or an antique 1970s era Huffy or Shwinn (this IS the fad here). But, a cheap NEXT bike is good. The snobs say it only lasts 500 km, but I have much more on mine since my Huffy turned up stolen parked outside a French Quater bar. Only thing is, those shifters suck! They wear out after about 1000 KM. NEXT tends to cheap out on components such as cables. The tires are also overkill for street driving.

SO... when you going park the car and start riding a bike to work? You KNOW you want to. Then, as Vader says, "Your path to the Darkside will be complete, young sisko"

[sisko]

The snobs say it only lasts 500 km..

oh, i did much more on that MTB before i had to change anything on it. it was a broken chain and it happened while trying to change down gears on a very steep hill (off-road). i changed also the cassette with the chain, at the advice of the guy from the local bike shop (we have one now ). he said i have a big chance to break the new chain if i'm using it with the old cassette. 

Only thing is, those shifters suck! They wear out after about 1000 KM. NEXT tends to cheap out on components such as cables. The tires are also overkill for street driving.

i was lucky to get Shimano for shifters, the low end Acera series, and they could have been both in good shape even now, if.. it wasn't for that tree i had to 'hug' to avoid killing a poor old lady..    ..well we were both going in the same direction, me on the bike lane (which is on the sidewalk) and her on what's left of the sidewalk (oh, well.. we have some pretty stupid people in the mayor's office), and then she suddenly decided to cross the bike lane without having a look first, leaving me no other choice but to 'get aquainted' to the tree next to the lane.. 
well, no one had to suffer but the rear shifter took a pretty heavy hit and i'm not able to change the speeds anymore like i used to.
i had to change also one of the break cables and the tires which were not suited for my new offroad demads, so i replaced them with a pair of Schwalbe which had also puncture protection. 

all things together, the maintenance was not that expensive for almost 3 years of riding on and off the road.

SO... when you going park the car and start riding a bike to work? You KNOW you want to.

well, i want to, but it's not that simple. the ride to work is not that long (about 2 and a half kilometers) and, mad drivers apart, the only difficulty is a little hill i have to climb to get there. still, i'm sweating on the bike, and sitting in an office like that, with 2 other people, for 8 to 9 hours it's not something i wanna do every day, so for now i'm using public transportation.

[Green1]

I do it everyday.

If I happen to have a job where I need to look sharp, I wear something different to bike then change clothes there out of a backpack.

For stank, it is not the body but the clothes 90 percent of the time.

Only thing.. you said office. I assume that is suit and tie. Meh... I did when I worked at the Hilton and had to wear a full tux many moons ago.

Public transportation, I only use if it is just pouring down or dangerously hot (+100 F heat index). I did the heat biking and one time got a case of mild heat exhaution because I foolishly drank too much coffee before leaving and not enough water.

[sisko]

For stank, it is not the body but the clothes 90 percent of the time.

i tried with all-cotton clothes without success. should  i try special cycling clothing? i know i'm stinking in those too after a 30km ride. i guess i'm just one of the other 10% of the cases.

Only thing.. you said office. I assume that is suit and tie.

yeah, it should be suit and tie, but the standards are a bit relaxed in this part of the world. 

Public transportation, I only use if it is just pouring down or dangerously hot (+100 F heat index). I did the heat biking and one time got a case of mild heat exhaution because I foolishly drank too much coffee before leaving and not enough water.

well, i guess, in a civilised country, air conditioning is the standard for public transportation.. that's not the case here!

[Green1]

Cotton is bad. Shows sweat. Not even useful for winter.

As cheap as I am, I have to go with underarmor type tops. It wicks the sweat off.

Oh yeah... where the heck are you? Man, folks would go with pitchforks around these parts without AC!

[Buster's Uncle]

He's in a poor country in Europe, and wishes I didn't know that much...

[Green1]

He's in a poor country in Europe, and wishes I didn't know that much...

No problem. He is a gamer. I could care less if he was from Iran or someplace like that. Gaming knows no borders. (Unless you are in China. The Great Firewall sucks)

Did not mean to pry.

[Buster's Uncle]

It must be irritating to have a detective for a friend.  Drives me nuts whem Mom does it to me.

[sisko]

As cheap as I am, I have to go with underarmor type tops.

well, i had to google that, but i still have not idea what you mean by "underarmor type" and what's so special about it..

Did not mean to pry.

no problem. anyway, you will find out eventually, if you follow this thread.

[Green1]

Underarmor is a manufacturer of very light poly-blend shirts and pants. If cash is an issue, there are generic versions available.

These shirts are made to wick off sweat in the summer. Unlike cotton, which absorbs sweat, holds it in, and gets very wet (and embarrasing), these let the sweat go through and they dry quickly. The fibres also are very resistant to stank.

The only thing cotton I always suggest is white socks.

In heat, always carry water and avoid too much caffiene like coffee. I messed up one summer and ended up almost passing out in 100 degree high humidity heat going to work and had to have a hospital pump me full of fluids. Not good and a huge bill to boot when I could have avoided it. Heat exhaution is NO JOKE!

Of course ask 5 folks, you get 5 answers and I still learn a few things myself. This tends to work for me.