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What's Your Primary Ride? - Cycling


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It seems we have quite a few cyclists out there. Outdoor travel is close enough ;)

Owned a few bikes, but I haven't presently left my (relatively) cheap ride, the K2 Zed 2.0, '05 model. Pretty basic hardtail. Discontinued, at the time I think it cost me around $4-500 and has served well with minimal enhancements and adjustments. I've put around 3,000 miles on it, with lord knows how many tuneups behind me. About the only thing I've had to replace were the disc breaks, chain gears, chain and bushings (all once). Other than that, it's pretty heavy (but sturdy) and can handle wrecks well. Important for me.

Use it primarily for mountain biking and urban exploration. High performance road bikes and road biking tend to bore me, and I've never had the expendable income to justify buying another bike for something I have only a passing interest in. Though I've also taken the Zed (with nobbies) on a near suicidal MS150 run, twice. I really wouldn't recommend that to anyone, riding 150 (well, 163 to be exact) miles in 2 days on a mountain bike. Was a bad idea all around.

It's due for another set of replacements, so I've been considering it may be time for a new mountain bike. Suggestions welcome.

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  • Level 5*

Cool topic. My main bike is a Cannondale CAADX 6 (http://rivercitybicy...-6-130156-1.htm) that I use to commute (about 8 miles each way). It's a little too cold for me right now, so I'm only riding it a few times a week now. I am probably the opposite of G. I have a mountain bike as well, but don't ride it so much. It's great, and despite being more than a decade old, it is still in wonderful condition. I just prefer to go fast these days ;)

As for a new mountain bike, I am a big fan of Cannondale, but that's really only because they fit my body dimensions so well. They tend to be pricey and the low-end models these days start a little high. I think just about anything with an aluminum or carbon fibre frame would be great. I don't like shocks much, but I suppose it depends on the kind of riding you do.

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Well. We are in to snow and ice season here, so, I just use an old CCM pseudo mountain bike beater with good wide rubber for quick in town travel. I can reach anything within 1-3K of me faster by bike than by any other means of transport. Especially when you consider parking for a car.

Shopping for a new main ride at the moment. Current top of my list is a Specialized Globe City 6.1 as a full feature rugged commuter.

http://www.specializ...78&menuItemId=0

Got a few months before I need to make a decision.

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  • Level 5*

Hmmm, the usual suspects, so far.

I got a Masi Vincere road bike 7 1/2 years ago. Love it (though I still lust for a better one) -- it's nice enough and was not too pricey (~$1400). Have been putting 2000+ miles per year since, commuting to work ~ 15 miles round trip) and doing longer rides, some organized and some just around where I live (coastal Maine). Organized rides are various charity rides (Trek Across Maine, ME Lighthouse Ride and the like). Try to get in several centuries every year, did two last year. No racing though, too old and slow and not really built for it :) But what I like about road bikes is the ability to go long distances in a day. Secret dream is to ride across the country.

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  • Level 5*

While it's true that by this time of year, it's pretty much usually ice and snow, that's not the case this year. Today and yesterday it was in the low forties, very much like an early spring day, and spotter ~5 or 6 cyclist out there, mostly not having fun due to the 15+ mph wind. My bike is tucked up for the winter -- if we make it to Florida this winter, I'll ride down there...

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  • 9 months later...

Became a born again cyclist about 3 months ago having bought a £3,000 full carbon mountain bike a Raleigh MTRAX 5. Put more roadworthy tyres on, Schwelbe land cruisers and now commute to work. About 5 miles each way.

Loving cycling in the rain so no problem at this time of the year for me. Have two sets of rear LED lights, one flashing and one steady. Then one set of flashing Cat Eye lights on the front and a 2,000 lumen brighter than the average car on as my main beam when it gets dark! Have to keep this one low or I might fry vehicles coming in the other direction!

When I cannot get on the bike for the commute I feel like I am missing out, so try to get out in the evening instead. But very dark in the UK now, so having to catch up at the weekend.

I put a shower in the office about 4 years ago, so good to be able to use it at last!

Regards

Chris

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"Born again cyclist" I like that!

Me too, I'm just searching for tips on how to organise with EN an upcoming cycle tour of Brittany.

I'm not real clever with EN, but would like to give it a try, then take it with me on iPad and iPhone. Any help topics I should know about?

thanks

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Hi Tassiecelt,

Not sure what others more experienced than myself might suggest but this is how I would do it:

New folder for the journey

New page for every day

Each day would have a map showing the route. I use Quo V2 OS mapping software for this.

I would obviously give details of the days destination along with any necessary stops that may be required on route.

Whilst researching the route and being a keen photographer I would make sure I highlighted anything that I wanted to see, be it a building, view or other photographic opportunity.

Each day/page would include any emergency numbers or important details that may be specific to the day or used every day.

Cannot think of anything else at the moment.

Regards

Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks you Chris, late reply, lost this forum (so much here to search).

I can see how useful EN would be in route or holiday planning. I'm doing that now by collecting web site info, articles about sites and things to see and do, I can scan and file travel documents, tickets etc.

As far as actually document ting the ride / tour we plan, so far I plan to use other tools.

Cyclemeter app for iPhone is great for logging the rides data (distance, speed, GPS mapping etc.) the app emails the ride map to me and I can bring it in to Day One journalling app. I love Day One for keeping a diary. I tried adapting EN for this task but found it clumsy to use by comparison. Neither of these apps rely on wifi availability to work, this is something that may be sporadic when overseas.

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  • Level 5*

I bought some warmer clothing and I am intending to start back on the road on Tuesday. Most years I am done by this time of the year, but I am thinking that with the right clothing I can make this work, and maybe ride all year (excluding inclement weather days). As for logging my route, I keep track of my rides in my daily journals, but there isn't too much to say, because I am just recording my daily commute. Evernote, especially with the new update, works well for this. After iOS 6, with the last version of Evernote, it was tough to get started, so recording rides was a little difficult. The team has done a good job of increasing stabilty.

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I love the new version, it's encouraged me to use it for a home inventory, replacing a previous app which while very good, still does not offer iCloud sync. I have my wife using EN too, we can plan our next bike tour together with EN.

I should learn about shared notebooks, not tried that yet.

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