Good thread, Joe. For me, bikes were a key part of my life from the moment I learned to ride a bike (which was age 6, so much later than typical especially these days). I lived directly adjacent to a huge forest with an impressive trail network, and my family would often vacation at various fishing lakes and the like, so I immediately took to exploring everything I could by bike. As a teen, I got really into mountain biking and biketrials (this was the early to mid 90s, so Hans Rey was my idol). Me and a buddy did a trials show for a high school talent show where we hopped on blocks, and off the stage. Into the early 2000's I kept riding mountain bikes but trials became less of a thing and fixed gear bikes more of a thing. I ended up going back to trials in the late 2000's but it didn't really stick. This is when I discovered touring bikes and bikepacking rigs. I remember thinking Rivendells were beautiful back then, but I scoffed at the fact they didn't publish geometry charts so I never paid them much mind (how serious could a bike company be if they don't even give you the geometry??). Well, heck, that's unfortunate for me. Instead I stuck to Surlys, then Salsas, and I went from a diehard hardtail MTB rider to riding full suspension bikes. Through the 2010's I've moved to Bridgestones and Rivendells, and just now I'm transitioning away from full suspension MTB's to a hardtail (Esker Japhy, currently mid-build).
So I don't have that "ah ha!" moment, but my entire upbringing centered on bikes and I can't imagine any part of my life (after 6 years old, anyway) without! On Friday, 3 September 2021 at 13:48:18 UTC-7 Joe Bernard wrote: > Will has an interesting post in the the recent Riv Newsletter about how he > and some friends first noticed bikes and got into them. After your initial > foray as a kid with a bike, what was the thing that made you notice them > later and turn you into an adult-person-cyclist? > > Mine is similar to Will's as a young man in Los Angeles, except it was the > flashy riders in "tight clothes" I picked up on. I vividly recall being > stopped on Pacific Coast Highway somewhere south of Long Beach (probably on > a motorcycle) and watching all the roadies go by, this would be early '80s. > This one guy went by on a green (actually celeste blue, but I didn't know > that at the time) Bianchi with matching bar tape and riding gear. That was > the moment I - a car and motorcycle nut - realized bicycles were a thing, > too. A very cool thing, and you got a workout in the process! > > I was hooked, what hooked you? > > Joe Bernard > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/884c98e4-503b-480e-8789-484c82ea13e4n%40googlegroups.com.
