Inspired by this thread -
What’s your favorite? (Pic thread)
I had a big desire to love the feel of steel with this LeMond Zed, but I never got stoked about road biking and sold it two years after I got it, with only 2 rides and one almost ride.
I guess this crush was never meant to be my love
I was slow to warm to road riding. I grew up riding a bike for transportation because my mother didn't drive. Occasionally my friends and I would go for long rides on the Prairie Path (Chicago area), but that was the extent of recreational cycling for me. When I lived in Chicago after college I did a little road riding along the lakeshore. When I moved to the Bay Area I bought a mountain bike, which I rode in the Marin Headlands regularly. I also ended up commuting to work on that bike. I thought road riders were a little strange with all the lycra and seriousness.
Then I moved to Davis, and my mountain bike became my utility bike. I used it to pull my daughter in a Burley trailer and then on a Trail-a Bike. I bought a hybrid bike to be more efficient. My brother had been road riding off and on for years, and my sister started riding Cycle Oregon and training for that, so I bought a road bike and started road riding to join them. I didn't start having fun with it until my brother and I signed up for a supported ride that went from Davis to Santa Rosa. I wasn't quite prepared for that ride, but I had tons of fun, and it motivated me to ride more and to sign up for more organized rides (which meant more training rides, etc.). Davis has a huge cycling club with a race team, but while I have ridden on some of their rides and know some great people who ride with them, I prefer to ride with a small group of friends or by myself. I have had so many great days on my road bike. I love the sense of freedom and also the camaraderie of a tough ride with a group of friends. I also like riding by myself because it gives me time to think and to do my own thing.
I started missing mountain biking a few years ago and finally bought a full-suspension bike last summer. Mountain biking is not what it used to be for me. My last mountain bike was fully-rigid. The trails I rode were smooth. I've been seriously challenged and terrified on my new bike. I had a bad crash in a clinic last fall and ended up with a quad contusion and having to replace my helmet. I thought maybe my Marin Hawk Hill might be the bike I wanted to love, but didn't. But over the winter I resolved to only do rides I felt comfortable on, and with people I felt comfortable with. I haven't made it on to too many mountain bike rides yet this season, but the ones I've done were confidence boosters. And as soon as I recover from foot surgery I'm going to go ride the smooth trails in the Marin Headlands, and hopefully ride in Tahoe with
@Tricia.
Here's a picture of me on my bike last summer before I started going on terrifying rides:
@Tricia, if you ever want to give road riding another try, I have an extra bike you could use!
