ubuntu-cyclists team mailing list archive

[Gregor Geiermann <aguafuertes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everybody,

I stumbeld over this Launchpad-Group one or two weeks ago and simply
subscribed, without really thinking about it. Anyway, I really liked
reading all of your bike + OSS stories, so here is mine...

I rediscovered biking last november - I had been sick and was looking
for a healthier and more independent way of transportation.
Additionally, this friend of mine (who I met at our local Ubuntu group)
told me great stories about her bike tours, and so I decided to buy a
not too expensive Cross bike (Bergamont Transmission) to see whether it
would work for me. 10 months later I am totally addicted: I bike
everywhere and even did my first tour, to Copenhagen, in Denmark.

Regarding OSS, I've been using Ubuntu since 2005 (Breezy) and did some
first steps in the Linux world with Suse in 1999/2000. I work in a
(corporate) web consultancy, where I am the only free software
enthusiast - which sometimes is fun, sometimes challenging. But over the
last 8 years this "struggle" at least yielded some positive results, be
it general awareness, switching to Typo3-CMS for many projects or the
explicit permission to run my laptop with Linux only in our otherwise
MS-only infrastructure (which is actually why Bug 207072 is biting me so
bad).

Back to biking, my next plan is to get a GPS device and map some tracks
for the OpenStreetmap project, especially for the Cycle map. I recently
saw that www.gpsies.com now also uses their data - very cool.

And finally something for the hardware geeks: I met these guys at the
FrOSCon FLOSS conference in Bonn/St.Augustin, who are developing their
own Linux-based bike computer, called Open Bicycle Computer. Check out
their website, maybe it is of interest for some of you: http://www.obico.de/

Gregor


Mike Rooney schrieb:
> 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
>
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