Who rides Mountain bikes in here???

MacLeod

I know how ya feel bro.

Everytime I go on vacation for a week by Wednesday Im convinced Ive lost 10 pounds of muscle and gained 10 pounds of fat!! Its reverse anorexia (spelling?)

When I went out to Texas in March to visit me mum, I made sure I took $20 so I could hit their local gym at least twice!

The missus just got her a bike today. A Raleigh M50 so now we're all set. Ive already picked out several trails we will be hitting in the upcoming weekends!!

We're going riding with my sister-in-law and her husband Sunday. However they have wimpy road bikes so we'll be crusing along the RiverWalk here in downtown. Still should be fun tho.

mantis

Road bikes are cool. I would buy a road bike. I wouldn't give up my mountain bike for one.

Miles is what it's all about on the road. A friend of mine rides both and likes road biking better. He loves going 30 to 50 miles a pop. Crazy ****.

Have fun, I'm picking up the wife a bike today or tommarrow so we can do the family bike ride thing.

I also picked up a killer bike rack from Thule for the Truck. I'll get some picks of it as I love it.

Dan

jmierzur

Road bikes are not wimpy, just a different experience. Many mountain bikers ride road bikes early in the season for endurance conditioning. In my case, I would rather ride my Litespeed road bike in the foothills than my mountain bike on a trail.

Different strokes for different folks.

Dennis Gardner

As with any adventure for the family, consider that different passion and skill levels may leave other family members in your dust and take the enjoyment out of your rides for both sides.

Talk all this over before wasting money, or that new bike of hers may sit in the garage after the first time you were inconsiderate of her on the trail.

Unless you met her on a bike trail, she may not share your new passion. To many, the physical games that men play need to stay amongst the guys.

Biking is great family fun if you "gear down" into family mode.


Just my .02.

nadams

Ran into that when I used to ride with my youth group. We had several kids stop coming to our rides because there would always be a group of us way ahead and they'd all be trying to keep up. What we ended up doing is organizing two separate groups for different riding levels. One group would stick to the fairly non-technical trails and just ride out throgh the woods, while the rest of us would go looking for obstacles. Both groups ended up at the same point in the trail every once in a while, and we all had fun.

I suppose it's different with a wife, though... you can't just stick her in a different "group" . "Here honey... you go ride with those people over there, I'm gonna go up this hill climb".

MacLeod

Originally posted by Dennis Gardner
As with any adventure for the family, consider that different passion and skill levels may leave other family members in your dust and take the enjoyment out of your rides for both sides.

Talk all this over before wasting money, or that new bike of hers may sit in the garage after the first time you were inconsiderate of her on the trail.

Unless you met her on a bike trail, she may not share your new passion. To many, the physical games that men play need to stay amongst the guys.

Biking is great family fun if you "gear down" into family mode.


Just my .02.

That is a good point but she used to be an avid biker and we've been riding a couple times now with her on one of my dad's hand-me-down Huffy's and she's had fun.

She is excited about getting new bikes as much as I am so we should have a lot of fun with it.

mantis

I don't plan on taking my family on the hard trails. Easy rides will be the most I'll go. With the boys well thats a totally different story.

I like it as it gives us as a family something else to do. Both my kids enjoy riding and my wife just wasnts to come along for the ride.

Dan

mantis

OK here are some pic's of the rack. It's Thule Pro 4 with anti sway.

mantis

Alittle closer view

Dennis Gardner

You would have to put lights or red flags on something that sticks out that far in my state!:D

Nice Rack, Dan!!

brettw22

I went riding yesterday and about lost my life......

Granted this was 20 miles in 105+ degrees to get my car that was in the shop, but according to my HRM, I burnt through about 4500 calories for the time I spent out there dehydrating....lol.

The Camelbak ran out of water just as I was riding onto the car lot....thank god.

mantis

brettw22,
Damn hardcore!!! But I love it. I rode 19.55 miles this morning ( thats where the pic's came from) and it's 86 Degrees. I only needed one 20 ounce bottle for the ride. I rode for 1 hour 15 minutes ride time. I was out for 1 hour 30 minutes. I took a break at the turn around point. I rode a canal trail which is basically straight . small turns here and there but also flat so easy riding. I went for cardio burn and man did it. I don't think I burned 4500 calories like you did but man would I love 2.

Killer man Killer,

Dan

MacLeod

4500 calories?!?!? Damn dude! youll be looking like Armstrong in no time if you keep that up!

Mantis- Stopping and looking around is what its all about. Thats the cool think about mountain biking is you get to see scenery you dont normally see. I stop about every 20 minutes or so and take in the veiw. Ill use the gym for working out. Biking is my fun time.

Thats a cool rack. Ive been wanting to get some mounting brackets for my truck. They fit on the bed rail and you mount your front fork to it. I cant seem to find them anywhere but looked on Yakima's website and therye $70!!!!!!!!!

http://yakima.com/home.html

That is super ridiculous for a freaking braket that small! Ill keep looking and laying the bikes in the bed of my truck I guess.

mantis

MacLeod,

No tow hitch on your truck?? They make awesome bike racks that holds up to 5 bikes hitch mount that I have seen. My rack was 199.99. And worth ever penny. I looked at alot of racks and like this one the best for the money. Nothing wrong with the bed of your truck if you have a good way to stand the bike up and don't allow it to get damaged.

Alot of guys including one of my friends use his bed. He bungie ties it to the side and to the bed. It stands up nice. More work then a rack but didn't cost him anything but the bungies he already owned.

Dan

exalted512

nice rack

MacLeod

Originally posted by mantis
MacLeod,

No tow hitch on your truck?? They make awesome bike racks that holds up to 5 bikes hitch mount that I have seen. My rack was 199.99. And worth ever penny. I looked at alot of racks and like this one the best for the money. Nothing wrong with the bed of your truck if you have a good way to stand the bike up and don't allow it to get damaged.

Alot of guys including one of my friends use his bed. He bungie ties it to the side and to the bed. It stands up nice. More work then a rack but didn't cost him anything but the bungies he already owned.

Dan

I have the stock bumper and ball but no receiver hitch. I dont tow anything.

I thought about latching them up against the side of the bed but I was skeered of it banging up against the paint and scratching my bike and truck.

I found these at Dicks Sporting Goods and these are what I wanted. Ill shop around and see if anybody has them a little cheaper but this is what I wanted. You can lock em into place so nobody can steal them while youre in the store or sumthin' and they take up zero bed space.

mantis

There cool.

I want as well to get a lock of some sort. I wanted to go to the store but feared someone ripping off my bike. That would just suck. Thule makes a nice bike rack cable with a lock that can lock up 4 bikes front and back tires included.

Dan

MacLeod

Man, you really need to hire an armed guard it seems. A friend of my wife had just picked her bike up from River City Bicycles and was hauling it in the back of her pickup and while at a redlight some **** stain ran up, grabbed it out and took off with it.

All she could do was sit there and watch several hundred dollars ride away. :mad:

A locking mechanism of some sort, even if its a simple chain with a padlock thru the bike is almost a necessity.

wodom1

Well, I went and bought myself a new mountain bike this weekend. I picked up a Cannondale F400 from the shop I linked to. It ended up being around $825 after taxes. This thing is great. It's super light and shifts very easily. I can also lock the shock so that I can choose whether or not I have supsension. I can't wait to hit some trails, though I don't have too many options here in the midwest. I've been riding all over the North side of Chicago this weeknd. I'll have to take some pics sometime this week. Here's a stock pic of a red one -- mine is dark grey.

Specs...

brettw22

I'm pretty excited to get up there in Chicago this week.....

One thing I noticed is there are a TON of trails out there......forest preserves etc etc, but at least they have space set aside for people to go biking.

wodom1

There are a lot of places to ride in the city. Yesterday I took the Lakeshore Drive bike path North for about three miles and had a good time. I live in Lincoln Park and if you get on the lakeshore path heading south towards downtown, you better be prepared for a traffic jam. There are thousands of people at the beach and they just walk across the path without even looking to see if someone is coming. The path is also packed with pedestrians, roller bladers, and other bikers so it's a little tough. I've found that if I ride North there aren't nearly as many people. As soon as I bought my bike on Saturday I rode from the shop in Wrigleyville to downtown to see the Trump Tower's construction then jumped back on the lake shore path and rode back north to my apartment. I can't wait to get home from work and go for a ride again this afternoon.

wodom1

Brett,

Where in Chicago will you be moving? Into the city or in the suburbs?

brettw22

Burbs.......I'll be living in Lisle, which according to the street sign said: Population 11,500.

I laughed.......

wodom1

Yeah, there's not too much going on in Lisle. There is a Metra train stop (regional commuter trains) there and you can be downtown in about an hour on a regular all-stops train, or about 30 minutes on an express. Naperville is nearby and has a lot more going on. I used to live in Aurora which is further West than Lisle.