Riding the Learning Curve 5-7-14 MLCB Post #38

When I first got back into bicycling, I got a Huffy from a church sale to see if I would like cycling again as much as I had 15 years before. I did. I moved on to a Sears Free Spirit for my first road bike of my new bike riding. I learned a lot from that bicycle. It was the first one I took apart and regreased, and the first one I repainted, and the first one I rebuilt and tuned the wheels on. Then I got a Giant mountain bike, and that gave me my first good set of gears and basic touring capability. I later got a Giant Hybrid bike new, and some other bikes have come and gone over the years. I seem to finally be happy with my current bicycle, a Cannondale H600. Sure, it needs narrower tires, and some low-rider front racks, but it is a good bike, and seems ready to have some miles put on it. I think once it is tuned, and maybe gets new shifters, that it will be a really good bike for commuting and touring.
When I started i riding again, I had little idea that bicycles come in several different sizes. The fact is, when I was younger, I was shorter, and could buy a bike off a sales floor without having to worry about my size, as I was the top end of average size, and that was the size most mass merchandised bicycles were. I did not know of the plusses of having alloy wheels, and that they were lighter, and stopped better in wet conditions. Cranksets, brake quality, gearing, and other aspects of cycling were new to me. I had books and the internet to turn to, and I educated myself as best I could from them. When I joined a bicycle club, I was able to follow conversations about components and other aspects of cycling.
I still wonder at the amount of knowledge out there today regarding bicycles. Blogs, forums, websites and clubs still have a lot of information and resources to offer. I think this is part of the cycling renaissance we are experiencing, as well as personal cost-cutting measures required of everyone by the recent financial catastrophe and recovery. This emphasis on more basic living has brought a lot of people to the bicycle as a means of commuting to work and other commitments. This may be a good point for using the bicycle as an alternative mode of transportation as well as fitness and health. This has received a mixed reaction from both citizens and government alike. I think that local governments that support cycling are doing the right thing. One look at the infrastructure surrounding the automobile shows us that we are having a hard time filling all the potholes and patching all the streets that automobiles require and wear out. The more folks we can get riding bicycles for part of their errand running and work commuting, the better.
Now that I have made the transition back into riding again, on a frame that fits me, I have seen that I still have a lot to learn. One thing about cycling is that it, and the environment surrounding cycling, are always changing. Cities are expanding, and rural activities and hazards are where the edge of the city meets the edge of the country. Keep an eye out for agricultural equipment on the roads, some of it is sharp, and much of it takes up a couple of lanes of roadway. Tractors and attachments are still plowing where they always have, but thanks to urban sprawl, bicycles and cars are encountering them more. Enclaves of fields seem to populate the margins of our town. Sometimes, they are right next to destinations or trails. We are now in the season of planting, so these areas may be seeing a lot of slow, ponderous machines going about the work required of producing your cornflakes.
As I sometimes show or discuss trains from time to time on this blog, it would be remiss for me to mention that May 10 is National Train Day. http://www.nationaltrainday.com/s/ and you may be able to find an event near you. Also, May is National Bike Month as wellhttp://bikeleague.org/bikemonth. There are many events planned for this, so be sure and check those out as well. Now that spring, and temperate weather, are here, it is a great time to get out and explore by bicycle, and see some of the spaces between places you may not have found before.