Kolek planning to go pro
It has been a very warm past few days, but I've had some great bike rides. One of the things I love about Rochester is that while we have plenty of big city amenities, I'm close enough to the countryside that I can ride on quiet rural roads just a few miles from my house.Any other road cyclists out there?
I enjoy a lot of different sports but could never get into cycling. Too much mechanical stuff for my liking.
That is the one big downside for me.I actually came upon cycling by accident. I had been a lifelong runner - HS track team, later turned into marathons and stuff - but I overdid it and herniated a couple discs at around 40. My docs said that I had to give up running and find something lower impact, or risk surgery and pain even just walking. Swimming was out because of an old rotator cuff injury that I never had repaired, and nothing else seemed to fit.I figured cycling might be even worse than running (the uncomfortable looking hunched over position), but I gave it a shot and it turned out that the forward bending relieved the pain. Fast forward about 15 years, and I can't imagine going without my rides. The mechanical stuff and associated costs are still a hassle, but they've just become part of the background noise that I've gotten used to...and I LOVE the feeling of being on an open rural road on my bike.
While you were writing your post, I was out on a 35 mile ride in the hills of western MA. I love living in this part of New England, where I have access to lots of cities, beaches, mountains, but am able to have rural existence that gives me peace and I'm surrounded by nature. I live on a dead-end, dirt road, with no cell phone coverage, but hike, bike and cross-country ski amazing places just by stepping out my door.
Mecca .. Bradley Center .. Chaluparena.Past, present, future.
Wow, I'm very concerned for Benny. Being able to mimic Myron Medcalf's writing so closely implies an oncoming case of dementia.
Actually, it was biking around Rochester that convinced me I needed a car. I covered just about every bit of that city on my bike during my early teens. I remember the day I hit 1,000 miles on my odometer... I was on my way to football practice and wasn't so much feeling accomplished as I was dreading the 3-mile bike home afterwards. Even as the token skinny nerd on the football team, practice was easy compared to that damn hill in front of Calvary Cemetery (which today would probably not seem nearly as daunting, but to a 14 year-old kid trying to balance a helmet and shoulder pads, it sucked).I've probably ridden a collective 25 miles since the day after my 16th birthday.
Didn't know you were from RST, Benny!I can see what you're saying. I never used my bike as a form of basic transportation - I always lived near enough to walk to the places I needed to go as a kid, so my childhood riding was just fun around the neighborhood. I can imagine viewing it differently if it had been my transportation....
Not from RST, but lived there during my pre and early teens. I'm sure the city is much, much different today than what I experienced.
I don't care if I'm banned.No, wait...I don't care if everybody else here is banned.Wait, I mean I used to use Ban until I realized it had aluminum.I think we ought to ban aluminum.All in favor?
Wear a silk robe in honor.
I was thinking of inviting some Playmates over for a pool party. Just gotta get a pool...and a grotto...and a mansion.
And a great chlorine system