Life is better on a bike!

Category: cycling (Page 24 of 37)

Sunday Ride

Yesterday afternoon we headed out on our thirty mile route to the east because the wind was to switch to east-southeast and we always like to have the wind at our backs on the way back.

It was another nice day, winter beats summer in these parts by a long shot, at least this winter (and last summer).

We had a rider join us, Fred, he is a truck driver who rides a bike every chance he gets. In his case 4-5 times a week.

He has even modified his truck to make room for his bike. When it is  raining he sets up the trainer in his truck and rides while he watches reruns of the Tour de France. 

In other words Fred is one of us. He loves his bikes and loves riding and makes time for it whenever and however he can.

Fred was a nice guy and we enjoyed talking to him and riding with him for the two hours we were out there. Interestingly he doesn’t have a bike computer so has no idea how far he rides. I like that. I don’t do it myself, but I like that he cares more about the experience than he does the miles – and that appeals to me.

It was good to be reminded that it is the riding and not the miles that count.

Day 51

Mark and Fred ahead of me on Westminster Rd.

Another Blog

I read a blog post yesterday about cycling that I am still thinking about today.

It hit home with me, expressing thoughts and beliefs that have crossed my mind, but that I have never taken the time to think through fully nor write about. Even if I had, I couldn’t have written so eloquently or insightfully. The blogger is Dave Horton and his  blog is – thinking about cycling. I encourage you to check it out.

With his permission, here is an excerpt from Horton’s post, Who is cycling for (click on the link to go directly to the post).

I hope you won’t just settle for this excerpt, I highly recommend following the link and reading the entire post. What he says is profound and so right. Read the comments too, some are essays on cycling in their own right.

I have posted in the past about why we ride, this post is more about why others do not. Read it, you won’t regret it. 


Who is cycling for/by Dave Horton

This might seem a strange question. Surely, cycling is for everyone? Well, after three years’ research for the Understanding Walking and Cyclingproject, my clear answer is that – in Britain today – it’s not. Our task of course is to make it so.

So who then, have we found cycling to be for? Primarily, for a hardy bunch of inadvertent elitists. People like me, perhaps like you, who ride despite the generally atrocious conditions which effectively discourage the big majority of people from doing likewise. Often we don’t notice conditions are atrocious because we’ve got used to them, and/or our skill levels have improved in order to deal with them.

We cycle, we take our capacity to cycle for granted, and we sometimes drift towards an expectation that other people should find it as easy, or almost as easy, as we do. We fail to understand how difficult other people find it. Read more here…

Restoring a Dumpster Bike

From Instructables.com is a handy step-by-step guide on how to restore an old bicycle.

The rebuild guide includes a list of tools and equipment you’ll need and pictures of each step.

I’ve never been lucky enough to find a discarded bike in the trash or a cheap one at a garage sale but I know people who have and they end up with a nice machine at very little cost.

Not a bad way to roll.

Check out the full article: Restoring a Vintage Dumpster Bike.


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