Anyone go for long bike rides ?

I hadn't realized how nice it is having a bike shop right next door to my appartment until last weekend.
I woke up to a flat tire and would have just replaced my tube and tightened the back axle which seemed loose, but the guy who owns the shop adjusted the front axles tension and brought the fact that the back axle was bent to my attention. I usually don't like when people try to sell me stuff like he did, but I've had enough terrible experiences with broken bikes that I appreciated it and told him to do whatever he thinks needs to be done.

I bought this bike from someone else and I guess I really should have taken the bike in to get serviced when I first got it, because the reason the front tire went flat was because the duct tape patch on the tube came loose. I was surprised anyone would patch a tube with duct tape, at least until the shop owner showed me a tube someone else brought to him.
I kid you not, someone tied a small piece of string around the hole in their tube and rode the bike like that to his shop to get a new tube.

Anywho, after it was fixed I was compelled to take it for a nice long test ride and decided to ride down to visit my buddy who I usually take 3-4 hours worth of busses to see.
I rode roughly 23 miles only stopping a handfull of times to switch the shoulder my bag was hanging over, and once to get something to drink from the store about halfway there.
Funny part, is it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get there on a bike which is at least 15 minutes faster than the bus.

The last 3 or so miles were the worst. I was riding into a light wind, on broken-down sidewalks and streets, and was already tired. When I got there my legs were a little sore, my butt was killing me, and my bad hand was aching. But I got there, and definately got some exercise.

Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention, it was raining the entire trip. Sometimes just a drizzle, a few times a massive downpour. I don't know if I would have made it had the sun been beating on me the whole time. The rain was actually pretty nice.

Wow, that sounds like a great ride and some great exercise! Good job.

Someone really patched a tire up with some duct tape? What kind of bike do you have? A road bike, a mountain bike or a street bike? I have a mountain bike and have been thinking about riding from my house to my parent's house with it, but it is not nearly as far as the 23 miles you rode. It is actually only 8.6 miles to my parent's house (I just google mapped it), but there are some killer hills I think I am afraid of . Once I stop scaring myself of the hills, and it is nice outside I will take a ride over there. It is supposed to be nice out for the next week or so, so one of these days I'm gonna do it!

So did you ride your bike back home for another 2 hours and 45 minute ride???

Ha, I'm actually waiting for the sun to ride my bike and you were waiting for the rain!

Is it the thought of flying down the hills really fast that's scarry, or the thought of peddling up them ?
I know I'd rather ride 20 miles on mostly flat terrain than 9 miles with large hills any day.



I took the bus most of the way since there's bike racks on the front of the bus. I skipped taking the last bus in the trip and rode the last 15-20 minutes worth of the trip since I would have needed to wait longer than that for the next sure to be crowded bus anyway.



I wish I hadn't been in a rush to get out of my appartment, I probably would have thought to do that before I made the ride and noticed I could have taken a slightly different path and saved roughly 3 miles.

It's the thought of going UP the hills... flying down a hill is fun! (so long as I don't patch my inner tube with duct tape and the tire becomes flat! )

I was going to answer this before, but I forgot.

It's a 21 speed mountain bike.

The furthest I have ever gone on a bike ride was with my friend to go see another friend. This was quite a few years ago, though. We left from Enumclaw, Wa and went past the city of Buckley, not quite to Bonney Lake. I'd say it was probably about 16 miles round trip. It was fun. I love bike riding, but I don't even own a bike right now. I need to buy one.

I just got a new bike for my birthday in April. I have never been a real bike lover before, but now I love to go for a nice ride on a pretty day... If I could ever figure out how to make the seat more male friendly, I don't think I would stop!

I think a 3-4 hour tour is as long as I've been on. the Auburn-Kent interurban trail... it was a pretty easy ride!

Yeah my main problem is the seat too. I'll definitely be getting a more comfortable seat before I go for a lengthy ride again.

The seat I have now has plenty of cushin for once, but it's a little thin.
Though if I'd ridden one of the 20 inch BMX bikes with plastic seats I had as a kid, I'd probably still be walking funny today.

It's not just a male thing, an uncomfortable seat hurts us females too, well, it does me anyway!! What is it with these uncomfortable seats?? Why can't they make a comfortable one? Or do they and you guys just haven't found one or bought one yet?

I haven't gotten around to looking for a more comfortable seat, yet.

I think it would just look silly if I had a bucket seat on my bike!

Yeah, I had a BMX bike when I was a kid too... I swear I must have had an lead butt; especially since I used to jump everything I came to!

Man when I took a ride the other day I went past an old empty car dealership that had about a 4-5 foot ramp sitting out in the middle of the parking lot. I thought about it, then I remembered what asphault feels like.

I need to find somewhere near here with wooded trails in some hills for recreational riding. Hills are few and far between in my neck of the woods though.

I finally rode the 8.6 miles to my parent's house this past weekend! The weather was really nice all weekend so I took advantage of it. The hills were killer and just as hard as I expected them to be, but it felt good after I got to the top! Something is messed up with my bike gears though and made the riding up hill harder than it needed to be. I couldn't downshift into 1st gear so I couldn't get an easy pedal going. I'm going to have to get my bike looked at to see what the problem is.

Not being able to shift into 1st gear sounds like a calibration screw or two on the arm looking thing on the back rim needing to be adjusted as well as possibly the lines that lead from the shifter to the gears, and possibly the shifter itself.

As long as nothing's broken or bent it should take minutes to fix if there's nobody in front of you.



I'm jealous.

Well, I raised my handle bars because my shoulders were hurting bending down to hold them. So, after that, I think it stretched out my cables, so I think I need to get longer cables put in there. Do you think that is still a simple procedure? Nothing is broken or bent, other then the cable being a little stretched...