Well, there's still a ton of snow on the ground, but it's time to
start thinking about bicycling for the 1993 season.  Why now?
Well, if you start getting yourself and your bike in shape right
now, you'll be ready to roll when the warm weather does come.
 
Plus, if you're really into it like I am, you'll want to start
planning the rides you're going to go on this summer.  Right now,
I'm planning to go to the League of American Wheelmen rally in
upstate New York in July.
 
So, let's talk about bicycling!  Feel free to ask questions.
I've been a member of the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society for
nearly ten years now, so I'm quite familiar with routes around
the area.  I can also answer technical questions about bikes as
well.  And any that I can't answer I'll refer to klaus.  :)

20 responses total.

So are we ever going to get that local bike ride going? (I suppose
we have to leave bap out this time...)
 
Seriously, a PicoRide might be a lot of fun.

I'm up for it.  How about if we schedule it for the third weekend in May?
That should give the weather enough time to improve and it's after
Mother's Day.

I like riding in the winter, on back roads.  No dust, hard surface, few
cars and you arn't resticted to land.  Riding on lakes and rivers is a
lot of fun, provided you get over the fear of falling in.

Do you use a mountain bike for this kind of riding?  I've been thinking
of getting one.  Maybe I should get one now before the season starts.
That way I could do some snow riding, too.

Yes Dan.  My mountain bike has opened a whole new world of riding for
me.  Not trails, but dirt roads.  They are all over and traffic is
scant, not to mention a whole bunch of new roads to discover.  I use
to look on my map and try to figure out how to avoid the dirt roads.
Now I do the opposite.

The latest ride calendar for the AABTS is now out.  Once again, we have
rides every night of the week starting in the first full week of April.
There are rides for all skill levels.  If you're just starting out,
let me suggest the following:

Salvation Ride: starts at the York Baptist Church, Stony Creek Rd
and Platt Rd, 530 pm in April, 600pm in May.

West Side Ride: starts at the Scio Community Church, 1293 N. Zeeb Rd,
630pm.

Lots of people also like the Dexter Breakfast Ride.  This starts
at 800am Saturday mornings.  This is the most popular ride, regularly
drawing 100 or more riders.  This ride starts at Wheeler Park, near
the train station.

For more information, including information on other AABTS rides, call
our hotline -- 994-0044.

Huron River Drive is in really bad shape this year (as if it wasn't bad enough
last year).  It seems like there are stretches where there are more pot holes
than pavement.  Maybe we should get a bunch of cyclists to show up at the next
Road Commission meeting to complain.  Any one know when that is?

Not sure. If somebody finds out, PLEASE let me know. For me, the only
other safe way to get downtown from my house is the long way up Packard.
HRD's bike paths really, really suck.

Where do you live, Laurel?  I might be able to suggest an alternate
route.

I'd ride more if I liked my bicycle but currently, I have a Scwynn 10-speed
racing style bike that I've had since HS...  And I'd rather have something
more comfortable than a racing bike.  But it seems that the good mountain
bikes and other styles, too, are rather expensive!?

Well, it depends on what you mean by expensive.  I've been scouting
around a bit lately, and it looks like you can buy something halfway
decent in the $300-400 price range.

If you just want something for basic transportation, you would probably do
better with a hybrid than a mountain bike.  These have the same position as a
mountain bike, but have narrower tires (somewhere between road and mountain
bike tires), and lighter frames (like road bikes).  Those, however, still have
the cost problem of the mountain bikes.  An other option would be to
"hybridize" your road bike.  If the bike has room, you could add wider tires
that would give you the capability to comfortably ride surfaces other than
pavement.  You could then add a stem with some rise, and a flat handlebar.
That would take care of the two most common road bike comfort complaints, and
only cost you around sixty dollars.

re :9, by Arborland. I don't think there is a bike path that goes
all the way down Washtenaw; generally I take Washtenaw to Huron Parkway,
then down Fuller. The alternate route is to take local streets down to
Packard near Platt, then up Packard.

Next Sunday, the AA City Bicycle Program is sponsoring the Bike Expo
and Celebration of Spring.  There are three rides of 30, 42, and 60
miles, and there are usually a couple of bike shops showing their
wares.  The expo is held at Cobblestone Farm on Packard.  The rides
start at 9 am.

   I'm getting ready to get my act together here...

What's with these cars now?  Not that they haven't always been bad, but in the
last few weeks they have been much worse.  First, a few weeks ago, some idiot
in a truck came by us very slowly, giving us about an inch of elbow room.
Then, after he got passed us, he pulled over all the way to the right edge
of the road and jammed on his brakes, almost hitting the person I was riding
with.  As if that wasn't bad enough, this car a group I was riding in
encountered yesterday was much worse.  We were going down Patterson Lake
Road, and a car came by us yelling at us to get off the road.  Nothing strange
about that, we thought, cars do that to us at least a couple of times a ride.
Usually we never see the cars again, but this time that was not the case.  A
few minutes later the same car came by again going the other way, and somebody
in it tossed a full Pepsi can into the group, hitting somebody in the face.

I presume you informed the police or sheriff? Not that that solves
anything, but it becomes a record. 

A few weeks ago my friend was stopped in his car at a stop sign, a young
man on a bicycle ran into him swore and then lifted the bike up and
brought it crashing down on my friends new car, uprovoked.  The mad
biker then rode off.  Make of this what you will.

re 17
   We were going to, but we couldn't even agree on what kind of car it had 
been.  We decided that it probably wouldn't do any good, because there is not
much the police can do when told to go out and look for "four guys in a grey
car."

Even if you did get a license plate No. and could identify the car, if you
can't pick the driver out of a line-up: Forget it!
r.e. #18.  What happened between the bicyclist and your friend before he
stopped at the stop sing?

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