BigRedBuster Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Looking for a new hobby where I can get some some exercise. Trying to get an idea of what I would need to spend for a bike. Do I go to a bike specific store? Craigslist? I'm looking for a hybrid mountain/road bike. Not training for Tour De France. Something recreational . . . Wife and I got ours from Target - hybrids. Haven't had much of a chance to ride since she found out she was pregnant right after we got them. And you thought she wanted to ride bicycles. Lol I used to ride a lot when I lived in Dea Moines. Now that I live in central Nebraska it's hard finding good places to ride. Quote Link to comment
Hooked on Huskers Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 The head is a pretty important thing to protect. Especially when you're on the road with a lot of unpredictable drivers in 1.5-ton vehicles. Always wear a helmet, that's a no-brainer. (Ha, ha, get it?) Bike helmet is a tin foil against 1.5-ton vehicles. Next gullible product, passenger car helmet. Protection. Thirty years ago, bike helmet was not yet invented. And I believe cellphone users are more dangerous than bicycle riders with no helmet. You know cellphone causes brain cancer/tumors? Just watch, millions of people becomes a Howard Hughes-esque life style in HH later years. Protection. Protection. 20 years in the future, common gear, every person except a few including me. (Travolta in plastic bubble movie) Another Protection: Quote Link to comment
The Dude Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I thought I did too, until I got into it. There's no substitute. Swimming? All/more the intensity, zero of the impact. It ain't natural ! Quote Link to comment
huKSer Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Just stay out of the middle of the road - I hate militant bike nazis. When I used to ride I realized a car was much bigger than me, so I stayed out of their way. Now a days, some of these idiots take up one or two lanes. I live close to a large hill and one time there was this guy straining to go up, weaving all over the road. Just about caused an accident. The moron was 20 ft away from a trail paralleling the road. Quote Link to comment
HUSKER 37 Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Which begs the question...ride with traffic or against it? Even before the horrors of the cell phones I never trusted drivers ... and chose to face the greater danger head on... Quote Link to comment
HUSKER 37 Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 I got my first Bianchi from a bike shop in Lincoln..It was a one of their cheaper models at around $250 and I usually rode it to Branched Oak Lake with my old college buddy and his $6000 Bianchi or along a trail I now forget the name of that ran NW to SE by a fountain on 27th and A? to Holmes? Lake. Later after moving out here (AZ), I loaned a co-worker $100 and he gave me his Diamondback Mtn Bike in leu of payment..I'd try to put 100 miles a week on it while they were putting in a new freeway close to my house in Awatukee. I got a hybrid at a local bike store 10? years ago..Trying to get my then wife into biking.. Bought a 29er Mongoose in flat Army Green at a Walmart while shopping for cables for the hybrid...Impulse buy...store return...Usually, they put out marked down returns on Fridays..Got it half price for $125...Usually take it to exercize my sled dog... For some reason I seem to have trouble keeping the tire inside the front rim.. I need more room!!! But overall...Bikes have been great tools in rehabbing wrongly bent knees and sore lower lumbar backs... Quote Link to comment
HUSKER 37 Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Something that now seems like a lost art when talking to bike "Experts" is the importance of riding efficiently...Back when I first got interested in bikes as a teen and riding to the Sand Pits Interstate lakes) and back from Holdrege (36 mi) my dad had a subscription to Popular Mechanics and they had an article about how to set up your bike to get the most efficiency...something like setting your seat to petal distance to be ~129 % of your inseam? or something...I can't seem to be able to google it Quote Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 A bike helmet is a must. It's not made to protect you from collisions with cars. It's made for if you spill off your bike and hit your head on the ground. I know several people who were saved from serious injury because of them. Also, on city streets, ride with the traffic. On rural highways ride against the traffic so you can see them coming. If possible, switch sides of the road when a car comes. And...yes....sizing the bike to you is extremely important for you to both enjoy the exercise and get the most out of it. Go to a bike shop that knows what they are doing. Quote Link to comment
Hooked on Huskers Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Bike users are the perfect countermeasures with beer gulpers. . Body balance. Me: Quote Link to comment
ShawnWatson Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Bike users are the perfect countermeasures with beer gulpers. . Body balance. Me: 1 Quote Link to comment
HUSKER 37 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 A bike helmet is a must. It's not made to protect you from collisions with cars. It's made for if you spill off your bike and hit your head on the ground. I know several people who were saved from serious injury because of them. Also, on city streets, ride with the traffic. On rural highways ride against the traffic so you can see them coming. If possible, switch sides of the road when a car comes. And...yes....sizing the bike to you is extremely important for you to both enjoy the exercise and get the most out of it. Go to a bike shop that knows what they are doing. I've never personally known anyone wear a helmet but I've seen some people wear them...dorks!...I know they're pretty light, but still enough extra weight to throw off your center of gravity when you're frefalling making you more likely to land on your head. I've had trouble going with traffic..(pickup following me, then turning sharply into me trying to get me to land in their bed) ***OOC Quotes alert*** I also had a problem facing traffic while an oncomming car nailed me with a "harmless" water balloon to the upper thigh...What with my speed added to theirs, it felt like a brick to the nads... I guess it depends on the road, lighting, and my current level of trust and/or deathwish...Sometimes it's fun throwing caution to the wind..Throw on some headphones and pretend the people in cars behind you will actually see you and not try to hit you. Quote Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I've never personally known anyone wear a helmet but I've seen some people wear them...dorks!...I know they're pretty light, but still enough extra weight to throw off your center of gravity when you're frefalling making you more likely to land on your head. WTF???? 1 Quote Link to comment
Ulty Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I've never personally known anyone wear a helmet but I've seen some people wear them...dorks!...I know they're pretty light, but still enough extra weight to throw off your center of gravity when you're frefalling making you more likely to land on your head. I've had trouble going with traffic..(pickup following me, then turning sharply into me trying to get me to land in their bed) ***OOC Quotes alert*** I also had a problem facing traffic while an oncomming car nailed me with a "harmless" water balloon to the upper thigh...What with my speed added to theirs, it felt like a brick to the nads... I guess it depends on the road, lighting, and my current level of trust and/or deathwish...Sometimes it's fun throwing caution to the wind..Throw on some headphones and pretend the people in cars behind you will actually see you and not try to hit you. Headphones, no helmet, can't figure out which side of the street to ride on... Sorry brah, but bike riding might not be for you. 2 Quote Link to comment
HUSKER 37 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I've never personally known anyone wear a helmet but I've seen some people wear them...dorks!...I know they're pretty light, but still enough extra weight to throw off your center of gravity when you're frefalling making you more likely to land on your head. I've had trouble going with traffic..(pickup following me, then turning sharply into me trying to get me to land in their bed) ***OOC Quotes alert*** I also had a problem facing traffic while an oncomming car nailed me with a "harmless" water balloon to the upper thigh...What with my speed added to theirs, it felt like a brick to the nads... I guess it depends on the road, lighting, and my current level of trust and/or deathwish...Sometimes it's fun throwing caution to the wind..Throw on some headphones and pretend the people in cars behind you will actually see you and not try to hit you. Headphones, no helmet, can't figure out which side of the street to ride on... Sorry brah, but bike riding might not be for you. Hey! I at least wear a ball cap to protect my purty hair..Stopped a tow bar from crushing my skull once in an attempted car-jacking. I prefer to assume I'm invisible out there and take the necessary precautions. Quote Link to comment
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