New High Score! 

"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo) 06/29/2018 at 15:55 • Filed to: None

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I didn’t think I’d take to road biking like this, but I’m hooked. Did my longest, and fastest ride yet today. 20 miles at 17.9mph ave.

If you grew up liking extreme sports, or sports in general, but your body won’t let you play them I high suggest road biking. I was a BMX kid, then a skate rat, the a Perkour nut. And sometimes I did all three. However my knees won’t let me do any of those sports not for long anyway. Biking offers a lot of the same trills, and the challenge of setting goals for yourself and working hard to achieve them. And it’s a sport you can do with friends, or alone. The entree fee can be steep, but if you spend 4-500 on a used bike you could be set up for less than 800. I got lucky and was given a bike, but I had to invest 150 in parts to get it going again. 

Chariotoflove > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 16:08

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I’m a life long roadie. I can relate. Down here in the summer though, I have to go out early in the morning to avoid getting roasted.

What app are you using to track? I’ve been using cycle meter free and dealing with the ad screens.

benjrblant > Chariotoflove 06/29/2018 at 16:10

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That’s a Strava screenshot. There’s a free and a “premium” level but no ads on the free version.

benjrblant > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 16:12

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Woot! Was this on the red Canondale you scored? 18mph pace is no slouch!

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Chariotoflove 06/29/2018 at 16:13

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I use Strava. It’s 8 bucks a month but worth it. The coolest part is there’s challenges stup where till show your time compared to others who have done the same challenge. Like about a mile from my house there’s a mile long 4% grade, which is big for WI, and it’ll show how you’re time and speed compares to other people. It also gives you a specific location to track your progress I plan on doing that section every two weeks to see how I’ve improved.

Also it’s like 90 today so I feel yeah. I usually ride at 6 am or 8pm 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > benjrblant 06/29/2018 at 16:13

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Yup. Thanks 

TheRealBicycleBuck > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 16:31

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Welcome to the club. As a kid, I rode (not raced) BMX bikes, then I got my first road bike for commuting to school. After I bought my first mountain bike I scoffed at the thought of riding road again. I changed my tune once I started commuting by bike again in college. I realized that off-road tires suck on the road. A few years later, I committed to riding the Houston to Austin MS-150 , so I resurrected an old Schwinn World Sport. It stoked a fire that I didn’t know was smoldering inside of me. My wife surprised me a couple of weeks before the ride with the cash to buy a used Cannondale R-600. That’s it, I was hooked.

I don’t ride nearly as much as I used to and I miss it terribly. O nce you get the bug, it never goes away.

Tristan > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 16:39

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I’m trying to summon the willpower to get back into it. I used to ride absolutely everywhere. I was obsessed and spent all my free time riding. In 2006 I rode from Minneapolis to New Orleans. I haven't ridden in years now, though. I'm slowly fixing up my bike, but time for riding is scarce these days. I get up for work at 4am and I'm totally exhausted when I get home and I just want to hang out with my family. It's 20 miles to work and I'd love to get back into shape enough to bike commute regularly.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Tristan 06/29/2018 at 16:51

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I would be a loony commute. This ride plus about 2 more miles both ways would be my commute if I started biking to work. Luckily I have a normally  7-3/, 8-4 job and I love it. I can take an hour ride before or after work no problem 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/29/2018 at 16:54

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My ride right now is an early 90s Aluminum  Cannondale and I love it. My fixie is a Maruishi that problably on par with that old Schwinn. I do still want to get a mountain bike but the biggest appeal road biking has for me is that I don’t have to go anywhere to do it. I can just leave from home or work and go. No driving 20-30 miles to get to a trail. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 17:38

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I spotted your ride - it’s nice! I’d bet it’s older than you think. Down-tube shifters were replaced by brifters in the late ‘80s. http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/icons-of-cycling-the-first-shimano-sti-gear-shift-system-178099

My first “real” road bike was an early-’80s Schwinn Paramount with down-tube shifters. I was the coolest kid on the block when I was on that bike! I was so sad when that one disappeared.

You are right about riding the road being convenient, but that only works when the roads around your house are safe enough to ride. When we moved to Louisiana, that was no longer a viable option. I tried several times, but I found it was much better to load up the bike and go to river road, so named because it’s adjacent to the Mississippi River. A few years ago, several cyclists were killed on River Road and my wife started hassling me about riding over there. Now my options are severely limited. I should have known that Louisiana is one of the worst places to ride. ( https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_005fe5ae-5c3d-5056-bbe3-bec289f4bb04.html )

I need to move....

TheRealBicycleBuck > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 17:40

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Lucky guy. Kids really eat into riding time, so if I can’t commute by bike, I really only get to ride on the weekends.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/29/2018 at 17:46

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Thankfully immune just learned to ride and loves it. I grab my fixie, ot big Schwinn cruiser and go on 5  mile rides with him when I can

TheRealBicycleBuck > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 17:55

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When my kids were little, I would drag them around in a trailer. As they got older, we would ride in the street or go to the trails. I’ve never tried to take either of them for a really long road ride. Well, I took my daughter on one short ride and she managed to crash on a flat, level road. She was behind me, so I didn’t see what happened. She hasn’t been willing to go for a ride ever since.

Nom De Plume > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 17:56

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Congrats, just remember rest is what makes you stronger. Not riding harder more of the time. Cycling is about developing efficient movement to slowly build endurance into speed in exactly that order. Power to weight ratio has less effect on flat ground than barely getting your HR up and breathing easily when others are on the limit.

Try going out for 10 miles at an easier pace using a higher cadence and lower gear. Pull over and stop for a couple minutes or coast as much as possible when it gets tiring. Don’t force it. J ust pedal a little faster than you are comfortable doing for extended stretches at a time in a nice even manner. It won’t be nice and even unless you work on it.

Nom De Plume > Chariotoflove 06/29/2018 at 17:58

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What does a rider like yourself average; b iceps the size of tree trunks or slightly smaller?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/29/2018 at 18:01

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The shifters aren’t original to the frame. The guy I bought it from actually put it together in the late 90s on a bit of a budget so he ended up with really good DuraAce components that were probably already 10 years old. They work great tho the index shifter for the rear has such a nice positive “click”. Also he headtube logo is early 90s from what I’ve found. This one in yellow

A fair bit my my riding is on highways, however one good thing about living up north is wide roads with at least 4 feet of shoulder in most cases. I even my cousin in Minneapolis tho (actually 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis) he has losts I’d great roiding roads just out his back door and of coarse lots of fun bike paths built around small lakes. I loops 2 lakes and only road 6 miles lol

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Nom De Plume 06/29/2018 at 18:03

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This is important. I have a bad habit of being in too high a gear. And for a while I was trying to ride every day until I woke up on the 6th day and couldn’t walk 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/29/2018 at 18:05

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My kid crashed by ramming into my back tire. I moved over to the left, and slows down  to let him pass me, but he thought he needed to follow me and didn’t notice when I slowed down, good depth perception eludes him 

Chariotoflove > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 18:11

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Oh, I’ll compare my times to my own. I don’t need to get depressed comparing them to people who did it with legs. :)

I’ve heard of Strava.  I’ll check it out.

TheRealBicycleBuck > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 18:12

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Neat. I like Frankenbikes. My current road bike is a cyclocross frame with moustache bars and barcons (bar-end shifters).

The frame is ready for disc brakes and one of these days I’ll get a new wheelset and make the conversion.

TheRealBicycleBuck > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 06/29/2018 at 18:18

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I was at the back end of a pileup on a training ride. One guy slowed and collected almost everyone behind him. Only two of us escaped. The guy ahead of me bunny-hopped the curb to the right. I dodged to the left. Other than minor scrapes, nobody got hurt, but the guy with the brand-new carbon frame was more than a little upset. 

Chariotoflove > Nom De Plume 06/29/2018 at 18:20

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My musculature seems to draw mostly from my dad’s genes in that we get toned and strong, but don’t bulk up easily or excessively.  That said, since really going at it, my shoulders have taken me from a medium sized polo to a large.