ubuntu-cyclists team mailing list archive

["Mike Rooney" <mrooney@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 4:59 PM, Alex Launi <alex.launi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> What happened to create interest in this now? Why was no one interested when
> I proposed this over a year ago
> (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=472619)? Is this the effect of
> high gas prices causing people to ride their bikes more? I'm really
> interesting in hearing how long most of the people on this list have been
> riding, and also what you're riding! Let's get some gear talk going! At the
> moment I'm mainly riding my 52cm EAI bareknuckle which I take up to the
> Trexlertown track whenever I can. This bike is my baby, sometimes I think my
> girlfriend is jealous of our relationship. I've got a old steel Trek 800
> road frame, converted to a fixed hub, that I use in the crappy weather, a
> Trek mountain bike for fun weekends in the woods, an old steel Peugot UO-8
> (currently being rebuilt), a late 50s J.C. Higgins 3-speed cruiser, and a
> Schwin Tandem from the 80s. That's my stable right now. I'm looking to
> acquire my roommates' cannondale road bike, but I think he wants more than I
> can afford. :( What are you all riding?
>

Hi everyone! I forget where I read about this group, perhaps a blog somewhere.

Anyway, for me cycling is a mostly functional thing which I use in
place of driving, although I also really enjoy the side effect of
paying more attention to the outside world and "getting some fresh
air". It is a combination of gas prices, environmental concerns, and
health that cause me to do it. I save money on gas, use a more
renewable resource (my body), and as a result don't have to worry
about going to the gym (and paying for that, too!). As such I am
probably not as "hardcore" as most people here :), in that I am not
into biking necessarily for the sake of biking.

I know the brand of my bike is Trek but that's it; it hasn't been
tuned up or anything like that in probably 8 years. I just keep the
tires inflated so I can get from point A to point B. I have been
riding to class for I would say about 2 years, and try to generally
bike anywhere if it is less than 3 miles or so, and otherwise use a
car based on the weather and my mood and patience at the time :)

I do agree it is nice to have something other than computers to talk
about every once and awhile, and think this group is a cool idea!
Hopefully I can learn a thing or two about bikes and cycling. If
anyone is in the area it would be neat to ride around together or
something, though Ubuntu LoCos are hard enough to pull together
generally, so I imagine an Ubuntu Cycling LoCo would be even harder.
Though who knows, in a few years Ubuntu might have a respectable
market share and that would change!

Does anyone ride a fixed gear bike? Recently as I have been biking
more I wanted to ask someone questions on their practicality.

Mike Rooney
mrooney@xxxxxxxxx