# Cycling



## RVdogs (May 5, 2010)

Just wondering if any of you are bicycle enthusiasts, whether on road or dirt. I've been riding on the dirt since the late 80's- early 90's and still get out at least 3-4 days per week. I like to mix it up with some road cycling too.

A lot of our camping is centered around cycling destinations and races that I still like to compete in.

Anyone else ride?


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## bill_pfaff (Mar 11, 2005)

Is that a Fat Frog jersey?


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## The Teke's (Oct 11, 2009)

Sure do. I just got back into it last year. Decided to get off my lazy butt and start losing weight. Three bikes and 25lbs later and still loving it. I'm hoping to shed 10lbs more before my first century in Aug. We also make sure there's biking tails of some kind when ever planning for camping trip. You must be super dedicated to do MTB races. Last 26 mile loop I did kicked my BUTT!


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## ejr11 (Sep 9, 2009)

I was heavy into road cycling as a young man, but took about 18 years out of the saddle after a bad accident. Started MTB this last year and am totally hooked. Don't tell my wife, but our trips do center around good riding spots. I think she's catching on.







It might be all of the maps laying around, and the sneaking out of the trailer for 4 hours in the early morning that's giving me away. Not interest in racing really, I like the solitude.

Speaking of solitude, I've put myself in some pretty remote areas lately on my bike. Can you recommend a good GPS for MTB? Or have any experience with a SPOT device? SPOT I'm leaning towards getting a SPOT over a GPS for safety reasons.


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## Joonbee (Jan 18, 2008)

To no avail, I gave up trying to keep up with my wife. We do hike an dbike a bit, but she is the avid cyclist. MT. Washington AutoRoad bike twice and a couple of centuries a year. SHe has been off the last couple years for our first son and after the second is born around the first of July it will be "game on" again. She can't wait.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

After putting about 1500 road miles on my mountain bike over the last year and a half, I decided to pick up a road bike last spring. As I am now dabbling a bit in triathlons, I'm happy that I made the move to a road bike. Last summer I had been planning on and training for riding RAGBRAI this summer. However, with my wife's wife's situation, there is no way I'd would take a week hiatus this summer. I am hoping that some of next summers vacation time will be centered around RAGBRAI. Anyone what to team up?


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## Up State NY Camper (Apr 7, 2010)

Mountain biker here. The closedt campground to my house has many many miles of trails kept up by the local mountain biking association. We were on 9.2 miles of them last weekend.

We also have a state park near us where we drive the bikes up to the top of a mountain, and take an hour and a half downhill ride through the woods back to camp where we get in another car to go get the truck and do it all over again. Only about 10 minutes is spent pedaling up-hill, the rest is all down. It is awsome.


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## GO WEST (May 25, 2009)

Yes. I really wanted to get the 25RSS with the "bike door" but we went a different route on a camper purchase for my parents sake. I concentrate on how to get my road/mountain bikes + my wife's and daughter's and our tandem along with us (that's why I need a truck instead of an SUV for a TV). I am the cyclist, my girls have never been too serious but I am hoping my daughter will take more interest in "keeping up" with me. I prefer the road. I've been at it for 27 years, averaging a little over 2,000 miles per year, more like 3500/yr for the last three years. It's a great way to get exercise and enjoy the outdoors.


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

Both a road and mtn cyclist for 30 years. I'm lucky, I can ride most everyday at work during my lunch. Usually we go out on the mtn bike but sometimes we'll take the road bike. I used to do a few centuries each year but the last few years the kids sports activities have kept me from doing any of the long weekend rides that I need to do to get ready for those. I might try to do one this fall if I can get some long training rides in this summer.

This morning I took a few hours off from work and went to watch the start of the Tour of California. It was starting about 15 miles from home so it was easy to go and watch.


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## CA-NYCamper (Mar 30, 2009)

About to step out the door to my first triathlon of the season. I've mountain biked since a teenager but am into slicker surfaces now. I've got a road bike and a tri bike and have to say I'm on my tri bike 3 times a week. My road bike sits on my trainer. A friend of mine, fellow age-group competitor, bout his 20' SOB so he could stay in it while at away races.

Great to read other OBers riding stories.


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## Bakerman (May 1, 2007)

Hi, 
Own 3 bikes, 2 mtn and 1 road. I love getting out in the woods with friends or family to ride, or just an hour road ride for exercise. I was wondering how to harness the collective widsom of Outbackers to compile a list of cycling links, so that when you're planning an out of state trip one could search online easily for cycling links, trail info etc, maybe even ride groups w/other outbackers when traveling? I'll start with my 2 fav Connecticut cycling links:
crankfire.com - CT public access trail maps, reviews & info, downloadable gps tracks for my fellow geeks. discussion forums.
ctbikeroutes.org - suggested CT cycling routes with descriptions, searchable by town/distance/difficulty

Is there a place we can store links by state if this catches on? I'm hoping we could create our own forum and name it: OutBikers !!!


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## mike (Dec 17, 2006)

I also road a little with a mountain bike and this year, I also am scheduled for a tri. I picked up a used trek 5900 road bike and starting to ride. Tommorow I am supposed to do a forty mile ride. btw Chis what bikes are u bringing to Racine next weekend.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

mike said:


> btw Chis what bikes are u bringing to Racine next weekend.


We will have a nice long weekend, so I think I will bring both.


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## SDCampers (Oct 29, 2008)

Mountain Biker here. The Black Hills of SD have some fantastic riding. Memorial Day weekend we have the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival with rides races and other fun stuff. Draws a couple thousand people. There are fantastic trails right in Rapid City built by the pros. My son is more into the downhill stuff, and there's plenty of that here just no ski lift to get you to the top.


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## mike (Dec 17, 2006)

H2oSprayer said:


> btw Chis what bikes are u bringing to Racine next weekend.


We will have a nice long weekend, so I think I will bring both.
[/quote]
Sunday afternoon or Sat morning sounds like a good time for forty or mayby a twenty a 3 mile run? what do u think?


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

My kid has a iron horse 7 point something, I think 7. It has a full suspension, disc brakes, fat tires. I know it was sure expensive. Ive watched him jump off two story houses with it. Jump off a set of about 20 stairs and does about 50mph down mountains with it doing big aired jumps along the way too. It is one super light bike for a down hill beast that it is.

We prolly got $5-6k in it. I know when it breaks it sure costs a bunch to fix it. Just put bigger tubeless tires on it a while back and redone the forks and r shock. Heck, another 1000 bucks there.. I cant believe how much these Mtn bikes cost if you use it all the time.

Sure be nice when he grows up, lol But hey who can knock a kids hobby. Beats drugs, jail or getting girls prego.. Keeps him busy and out of trouble... Thats priceless!

As far as me riding.. Naw.. Got dirtbikes with big noisey motors for my fun! My kid can out run me down hill though, lol Me on motorcycle, him on mountain bike... He rides the dirt bikes too though.

Many ski resorts let you run down em in the summer. Take the tram up and go like heck down. He has a BLAST! Be sure and wear a real motorcycle helmet. A few die a year from cracking there heads on rocks. More end up stupid or in wheel chairs. Luckilly we live about an hour and a half from the resort. Just be sure and wear a real helmet!

If they gotta ride up, they tend to go slower down hill, cause they are already tuckered out a bit.

Carey


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## RVdogs (May 5, 2010)

ejr11 said:


> Can you recommend a good GPS for MTB? Or have any experience with a SPOT device? SPOT I'm leaning towards getting a SPOT over a GPS for safety reasons.


The Spot is great for emergency situations and for riding solo in remote areas. AFA GPS units, I like the Garmin 500 unit for the bells and whistles it offers.


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## RVdogs (May 5, 2010)

Fantastic! Nice to see so many cyclists in here! I was thinking I was alone.







We have a fun local cycling club that gets out for group rides at least 3x/week.

To bill_pfaff: that's a Fat Chance jersey I'm wearing. If you don't know the history, they went out of business in 2000. An East Coast bike builder named Chris Chance was the brainchild behind Fat City Cycles and his wife Wendyll ran the financial end. They started building bikes out of Somerville, MA in the early 80's and quickly developed a cult following, me being one of them. They ran into financial troubles in 1994 and sold to Serrota in New York. Eventually, the company would slowly fall apart and the employees went on to form Merlin, Independent Fabs, and Seven Cycles. I'm a bit of a Fat Chance fanatic as I have 5 different models of their mountain bikes and 1 of their road bikes, the one I'm racing in the Fat jersey. I like the geometry and handling so much that I also have an early 90's Merlin Titanium mountain bike, two steel Independent Fabs (IF) mountain bikes, and a titanium IF singlespeed mountain bike.

I ride road primarily for the fitness although I did enjoy doing a couple laps on the final stage of the Tour of CA on Sunday. It's only minutes from my house and the circus out there was amazing.

I am lucky to have several trailheads within 15 minutes of my home, three that are less than 2 minutes away. I started racing short endurance and downhill in the late 90's. Several broken bones later, and hopefully a little more wisdom and skill, I've gravitated to endurance riding and races. Last year I competed in the BC Bike Race up in Canada. http://www.bcbikerace.com/ The absolute hardest thing I've ever ridden in.

This year I've done a few 8, 12 and 24 hour endurance events and some shorter distance races. I have one more 24 race (5 person relay team) in September and a solo 10 hour race in December.

If anyone travels to the Southern California area of San Fernando Valley to Santa Barbara, look me up and I'll show you the trails/roads. I'm in the Conejo Valley region (Thousand Oaks) and we have tons of prime riding.


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

I have a TREK mountain bike and just ride the local paved bike trails and My son and I race BMX. He has an FMF expert and I have a Redline 24" cruiser. I raced back in the 80's and he showed interest in it so we decided to do it together. Needless to say I am much slower then I was back then but we are having fun and I get to teach him a few things and he gets to laugh at me when I come in last. I get to teach him that winning is not everything and not to quit. So hopefully he can get some life lessons and memories out of this.


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## Scott Z. (Jul 13, 2006)

A little late to the thread - but I am an avid cyclist as you'll see by the list below. Been riding off and on since 1983 and primarily road bikes. Did my first 24 hr mountain bike race this spring and got hooked on that so am doing more off road riding this summer which has improved my fitness. I am a "little" guy and thus really love climbing.

I enjoy older steel road bikes and have had a blast working on them over the past two years. They have a classic look, feel and ride. I've gone completely with tubular tires this summer (thanks to a gift of 5 complete wheelsets) and the ride is even better. We go out on group rides and I always have the oldest bike but find myself in the front of the pack.

I also write a blog for our local area on cycling.

For riding I have a lot of options to choose from:

Road bikes:
1984 Gitane Tour de France - hill climbing and racing bike (19 lbs) (Super Vitus 983 frame)
1984 Gitane Sprint - periodic time trialing bike (Vitus 788 frame)
1978 Peugeot PX10 - I built this one up this past spring (Reynolds 531 frame)
1982 Niskiki Olympic 12 - one heavy beast but a great way to get into shape (chro-moly)
1974 Teledyne Titan - 1st mass produced titanium road bikes in the U.S. (Titanium)
1984 Peugeot PSV10 - 20 lb bike from my dad - a little too tall so I don't ride it (Super Vitus 980 frame)
Late- 1960's Peugeot PL8 - project bike for sometime down the road.
1968 Gitane - lower end bike - project that is 1/2 complete right now (free frame from our local bike shop)

1982 Trek 610 - Reynolds 531 - this one is my daughter's (12 yo) bike
1983 Raleigh Grand Prix - my son's (14 yo) bike

Mountain bikes:
1987 Trek 800 Antelope - a really heavy but sturdy bike - mailbox runner
Trek 830 Mountain Track - 12 yo daughter's bike
early to mid-90's Performance M300 - 11 yo son's bike
1996 Klein Pulse II - my mountain bike (sold a Bianchi road bike to get this one)

Cycling - especially the classic bikes is addicting. But, as I tell my wife it's a healthy addiction.

Scott


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## GO WEST (May 25, 2009)

How do you find the year models of your bicycles? I bought a used Mercian (Derby Cycles England "The World Over") in 1994. The previous owner didn't tell me or didn't know how old it was. It is definitely "retro". The gear shifts are on the down tube. I upgraded to some brakes that use cables "hidden" under the handle bar tape. My biopace chainrings finally wore out this summer and I went to a 2-ring modern set. It is a chrome moly steel frame with a combination of Dura Ace, Ultegra, and 105 components. I also have a Trek Antelope but again I bought used in 98 so I don't know the age. The longer I keep the Mercian, the more "out of place" I seem to be among cyclists I ride with or know.


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## Scott Z. (Jul 13, 2006)

Different ways to tell the year and sometimes you just may be close, not exact:

1) Depending on the bike there are a lot of different websites that may have catalog scans where you can tell by decals, etc. 
2) the classic & vintage forum on bikeforums.net is a great resource
3) Sometimes it's a guess - Teledyne Titan's were made from 1973 to 1976. Based on other owner serial numbers on the Classic Rendezvous site I made a guess that mine was an earlier model
4) You may be able to find date codes on the parts like the rear derailleur
5) For the old Trek I have I went to the Vintage Trek website where they have an exhaustive list of serial numbers and the models and model year info

The older the bike the harder it can be to tell. And, components can always be changed and, thus, misleading.

For example, the Klein I bought this year has cable routing similar to the 1997 and later models (after Trek bought Klein). But, I bought it from the original owner and he swears it was a 1996 model - so that's what I'm going with.

Your Mercian sounds like a really nice bike. I never worry about feeling out of place with the older bikes. If it works for you then ride it - that's my philosophy.

If I sold every one of my bikes I might be able to get one modern carbon fiber bike. But, what's the fun in that.


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## Ish (Jun 15, 2010)

Hey Scott Z. - great collection! Sure puts my 6 bikes to shame.

Road:
'95 Specialed M2 pro
'04 IF ti crown jewel

Mtb:
'05 Turner 5 spot
'07 Surly KM
'09 Surly Puglsey
'93 Giant ATX 780


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## RVdogs (May 5, 2010)

Very cool collections here! Here's my current stable. I'm obviously more into mountain biking. It looks like I have buyers for a few of them so the herd is getting thinned, much to the relief of my wife.









Road:
1992 Slim Chance
2002 Lemond Zurich
2011 Trek Madone 5.2

MTB:
1982 Salsa Scoboni
1985 Fat Chance Kicker
1987 Bianchi Super Grizzly
1988 Ritchey Timber Comp
1989 Fat Chance
1989 Wicked Fat Chance
1990 Merlin Titanium
1991 Monster Fat Chance
1993 Ti Fat Chance
1996 GT Zaskar
1997 IF Steel Deluxe SS
1999 Yo Eddy! Fat Chance
2002 IF Steel Deluxe geared
2006 IF Ti Deluxe SS
2008 Specialized S-Works Epic
2009 Trek Fuel EX9


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## Scott Z. (Jul 13, 2006)

RVdogs said:


> Very cool collections here! Here's my current stable. I'm obviously more into mountain biking. It looks like I have buyers for a few of them so the herd is getting thinned, much to the relief of my wife.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Super Grizzly has a great reputation and some day I'm sure I'll add one to the stable. I sold my only Bianchi (a road bike) to get my Klein Pulse II. Is your Super Grizzly celeste in color?

The Merlin titanium frames are great - my dad has a 1991 Spectrum titanium road bike. Those frames were made by Merlin.


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## GSJ (May 20, 2008)

Very impressive collections. My wife and I are both on Trek EX8's full susp. We love them. Been MTN bikin since the mid 90's. We have both competed off and on. My wife being on the podium far more than me. Still very avid recreational riders, and now my daughter is getting the singletrack bug. We were just on a trip and camped at Mount Ste Anne, just outside of Quebec City. Some phenominal biking there, XC and DH.Check it out.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

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You guys seem to know what you are doing with your bikes....maybe you could give this guy a hand.


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## RVdogs (May 5, 2010)

Scott Z. said:


> The Super Grizzly has a great reputation and some day I'm sure I'll add one to the stable. I sold my only Bianchi (a road bike) to get my Klein Pulse II. Is your Super Grizzly celeste in color?


Yes, it's the celeste green color. Here are a few pics of her in action.


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## RVdogs (May 5, 2010)

GSJ said:


> We were just on a trip and camped at Mount Ste Anne, just outside of Quebec City. Some phenominal biking there, XC and DH.Check it out.


Ooh, I haven't been there yet, but it's on my list. I've ridden and raced in several areas in BC. The trails around Whistler are a blast.


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