- Joined
- Jan 17, 2009
- Messages
- 5,204
- Reaction score
- 1,547
The bike I have could be better...... but mostly in the sense of being able to keep up better on group rides or to ride longer distances for the same amount of energy/exercise expended.
As far as exercise, to me it does not matter if my bike isn't so efficient when riding solo - if I'm willing and able to ride "X" distance. If the bike was easier to ride then I could ride "X+Y" distance,but the amount of exercise would be the same. If I only still rode "X" distance, I'd be done faster, but would have had LESS excercise. I know some could quibble with that, but it works for me.
The opposite end of that spectrum is when people on the group rides have electric bikes. Yeah, good for them - they can "out ride" me, and blow past me going up hills or anywhere else. But none of the electric riders should ever dare to tell me I need to speed up! Anyway, they are not getting in as much exercise, they are riding more for the sake of riding with a group or taking some "hard" trail more easily. UPDATE - Boatgeek mentioned commuting. Yeah, I wasn't thinking about that, just the group rides I've been on. Commuting means a commitment every day (or every time weather allows) no matter how much you may feel up to it that day. And electric is a great way to do that, use as-needed.
That all said, definitely should have a good comfortable bike to ride, not a crappy too-cheap one (or even mid-range that just does not fit you for whatever reasons - see the other thread or things like bike fit). But it does not have to be really expensive unless you want to do a group ride more easily or set some impressive mileage total rather than doing it for the sake of exercise.
I am glad this thread got revived today. Reminds me that on Monday's group ride my front brakes went out, a little over halfway into the ride. Could not get them fixed, but the brake pads do seem to be worn out in any case (just so bizarre that while I'd had some noise from them in recent weeks, they went from "OK" to almost nothing from one minute to the next).
Anyway, after googling a few minutes ago for where I might get some brake pads.....and not wanting to risk a bad job on replacing them, I decided my health is more important than a few bucks. So I'm going to drive over to a bike shop I REALLY trust (a 25 minute drive), and have them replace the pads. Or do whatever else is needed, as it is still very strange they went out so fast). Need to do that today since there is another group ride I plan to do Wednesday, and forgot I needed to plan to do that today till seeing this thread.
As for my own riding, with the broken arm setback over winter, slow start, then a 2 month summer time-out from any riding to get things ready for NARAM, I'm at about 620 miles for the year.
As far as exercise, to me it does not matter if my bike isn't so efficient when riding solo - if I'm willing and able to ride "X" distance. If the bike was easier to ride then I could ride "X+Y" distance,but the amount of exercise would be the same. If I only still rode "X" distance, I'd be done faster, but would have had LESS excercise. I know some could quibble with that, but it works for me.
The opposite end of that spectrum is when people on the group rides have electric bikes. Yeah, good for them - they can "out ride" me, and blow past me going up hills or anywhere else. But none of the electric riders should ever dare to tell me I need to speed up! Anyway, they are not getting in as much exercise, they are riding more for the sake of riding with a group or taking some "hard" trail more easily. UPDATE - Boatgeek mentioned commuting. Yeah, I wasn't thinking about that, just the group rides I've been on. Commuting means a commitment every day (or every time weather allows) no matter how much you may feel up to it that day. And electric is a great way to do that, use as-needed.
That all said, definitely should have a good comfortable bike to ride, not a crappy too-cheap one (or even mid-range that just does not fit you for whatever reasons - see the other thread or things like bike fit). But it does not have to be really expensive unless you want to do a group ride more easily or set some impressive mileage total rather than doing it for the sake of exercise.
I am glad this thread got revived today. Reminds me that on Monday's group ride my front brakes went out, a little over halfway into the ride. Could not get them fixed, but the brake pads do seem to be worn out in any case (just so bizarre that while I'd had some noise from them in recent weeks, they went from "OK" to almost nothing from one minute to the next).
Anyway, after googling a few minutes ago for where I might get some brake pads.....and not wanting to risk a bad job on replacing them, I decided my health is more important than a few bucks. So I'm going to drive over to a bike shop I REALLY trust (a 25 minute drive), and have them replace the pads. Or do whatever else is needed, as it is still very strange they went out so fast). Need to do that today since there is another group ride I plan to do Wednesday, and forgot I needed to plan to do that today till seeing this thread.
As for my own riding, with the broken arm setback over winter, slow start, then a 2 month summer time-out from any riding to get things ready for NARAM, I'm at about 620 miles for the year.
Last edited: