30 August 2008 Bike tag

I am sitting here waiting for a furniture delivery, listening to a call-in show on blogs, and pedaling through bike blogs. I'm taking the cyber-journey because Rose tagged me (something I've never heard of before) and it involves a bike quiz. I'm such a casual biker that I'm more than a little intimidated and want to see what the 'real' bikers answered. Looking at other people's blogs and following their favorite links is also a great way to procrastinate and hope that something will come up before I have to face the challenge.

So the mattress sets arrived, I painted the back door, checked work email, hemmed a pair of pants, folded laundry, ate dinner, and went for a bike ride (to get in the mood) and now it's time to play tag.

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be? I currently have an 18-yr-old touring bike, a 12-yr-old mountain bike with front suspension, and a 3-yr-old mountain bike with full suspension. There are many more options out there that I’ve never experienced (e.g. pugsley, 29er, etc.) I guess for my riding, I’d go with a full suspension mountain bike, maybe with lock-out suspension, and have 3 sets of tires -- mountain treads for the trails, slicks for commuting & touring pavement, and studded tires for winter riding. And can I have someone on call to change the tires at a moment’s notice to switch from one use to another?

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why? I’m going to copy Rose here just a little bit. I haven’t been able to do it much this summer, but I really enjoy my summer commute to & from work. It takes me through part of the Campbell Tract and Far North Bicentennial Park and then along the Chester Creek Trail. On the Hillside, I usually have the trails to myself in the morning, and surprisingly, often in the evenings, too. Then on the Chester Creek trail in the morning, retired people are walking their dogs and looking so pleased to be outside. Other bikers on their way to work are enjoying the heady smells of the May Day trees or the surge of energy that will help to carry them through another day. I don’t think I’d be able to do the hill up to our house for the rest of my life, but most of this route would be doable for another few decades. (At 70, my dad bikes 100 miles a week!)

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike to ride for the rest of her / his life? Maybe someone without much money and they can only buy one bike? Apartment dweller? Just plain mean?

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrow-minded? Here, I am completely copying Rose’s answer. She said it so well: “I do ride both, but I prefer riding my mountain bikes. I love riding through the woods on the trails, getting away from the noise and the traffic and seeing a little nature.”

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent. No, I haven’t. If there was a free demo, I’d try it. But I’ve never had much interest. It doesn’t look that comfortable or stable to me.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss? Guilty on the triathlon but not the floss (tho’ I do use it, despite what my dental hygienist might say). I swam, biked, and ran the Gold Nugget Triathlon twice (2004, 2006). A great way to get in shape but my knees don’t like running, I hate being tied to the pool schedule, and there’s so much else to do besides training so the triathlon itself doesn’t hurt too much.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why? This is just about ice cream, right? Not gelato, sorbet, Rabah’s lime & lemon creamy concoctions? If so, I can do without ice cream (and my butt says I should unless I’ve ridden a lot of hills in the previous 12 hours). Now if the question were about pesto and bikes -- that would be a harder choice.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it. What bizarre twist of fate or parallel universe would make you choose between ice cream and bicycles? The divas just rode Spencer Loop in its entirety. Even though I had a big bowl of pasta with pesto and a salad before the ride, I was hungry half way through. Lots of hills so I’ve just scarfed down (while thoroughly enjoying) a few scoops of Haagen Daaz vanilla with Matanuska Rubie’s Rhubarb-Raspberry sauce. Yum!

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do? All depends on the circumstances. Usually the bear has seen me first and is already running away when I see it. When I’ve seen the bear but it hasn’t seen me, I’ve stopped, stood as still as possible, grabbed my bear spray if I’ve got it, and waited until the bear has passed from sight. Depending upon which way it has gone, I turn around or continue on the trail ahead.

Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.
Here’s a problem … the few biking bloggers I know have already been tagged. I’m guessing that tag-backs are not allowed in this cyber-game. The funniest bikers I know should be blogging but aren't … so I’m tagging Jamie and Jo-Ann and punting on a third. If J and J answer the questions, I’ll post them.