Passing out of the 'Fred' stage

Badger_south

Think I can now see the "light at the end of the Fred
tunnel", if I can mangle a metaphor.

Today I rode hills again for the fourth day in a row and the
legs feel just fine (maybe the long winter and spring of
long slow distance had primed me, especially the week of
long faster distance I did in Va Beach end of last month).

I'm spinning pretty good all the time, and today I looked
down and my knees are only 5 inches apart - definitely not
Fred territory! (my hip injury predisposes me to having the
left leg flair out at times - the spinning is -definitely-
helping the injury, BTW!).

Got in and out of my toeclips without looking several times
today, (thanks FK). ;-)

I've now merged my am and pm rides into one long ride at
every possible occasion, always trying to get in -at least-
an hour per day.

I've completed a half-century (but only on the old BSO)

The weight has dropped more than 40lbs since I started, and
the aero-belly is fading fast.

I've finally got my test contact lenses and picked up some
wrap around sunglasses - so I'm stream-lining.

And of course, I have a real bike, so I no longer seem to
have those ride-shortening aches and pains (butt, triceps,
hands, hot-foot - all gone)

All I need is the blue fairy to tap me with her wand to turn
me into a real 'biker boy', eh? <g>

-B Saying my prayers each night - think that'll help? ;-D

Stephen Harding

Badger_South wrote:

> Think I can now see the "light at the end of the Fred
> tunnel", if I can mangle a metaphor.
>
> Today I rode hills again for the fourth day in a row and
> the legs feel just fine (maybe the long winter and
> spring of long slow distance had primed me, especially
> the week of long faster distance I did in Va Beach end
> of last month).
>
> I'm spinning pretty good all the time, and today I looked
> down and my knees are only 5 inches apart - definitely not
> Fred territory! (my hip injury predisposes me to having
> the left leg flair out at times - the spinning is -definitely-
> helping the injury, BTW!).
>
> Got in and out of my toeclips without looking several
> times today, (thanks FK). ;-)

Why would you want to leave the "Kingdom of Fred"?

As a Fred, you also get to climb all those hills wearing a
cotton T and jean cutoffs; perhaps pedaling in Tevas
constrained by toe clips.

You might even climb that hill on your 35 pound bike
faster than "Joe Tour" on his Ti Seven, clad in colorful
lycra and spandex.

The "awe factor" can be quite heady!

SMH

Gooserider

"Badger_South" <Badger@South.net> wrote in message
news:qushc09j6janj2vc5575sg0o51f7vo33ql@4ax.com...
>
> Think I can now see the "light at the end of the Fred
> tunnel", if I can mangle a metaphor.
>
Using toeclips still pegs you as a Fred, unless you're
riding a classic bike and wearing wool. Then you're a
retrogrouch. :-) Seriously, have you considered an SPD-type
pedal? You can get them with fairly wide platforms, and
they're double sided, so it's easy to clip in. I ride an
ancient pair of Look MTB pedals, and clipping in is super
easy. They're discontinued, but I think Crank Brothers makes
the Candy SL, which is very similar in platform size. Much
easier to deal with SPDs than clips in traffic, IMHO.

Psycholist

"Badger_South" <Badger@South.net> wrote in message
news:qushc09j6janj2vc5575sg0o51f7vo33ql@4ax.com...
>
> Think I can now see the "light at the end of the Fred
> tunnel", if I can mangle a metaphor.
>
> Today I rode hills again for the fourth day in a row and
> the legs feel
just
> fine (maybe the long winter and spring of long slow
> distance had primed
me,
> especially the week of long faster distance I did in Va
> Beach end of last month).
>
> I'm spinning pretty good all the time, and today I looked
> down and my
knees
> are only 5 inches apart - definitely not Fred territory!
> (my hip injury predisposes me to having the left leg flair
> out at times - the spinning is -definitely- helping the
> injury, BTW!).
>
> Got in and out of my toeclips without looking several
> times today, (thanks FK). ;-)
>
> I've now merged my am and pm rides into one long ride at
> every possible occasion, always trying to get in -at least-
> an hour per day.
>
> I've completed a half-century (but only on the old BSO)
>
> The weight has dropped more than 40lbs since I started,
> and the aero-belly is fading fast.
>
> I've finally got my test contact lenses and picked up some
> wrap around sunglasses - so I'm stream-lining.
>
> And of course, I have a real bike, so I no longer seem to
> have those ride-shortening aches and pains (butt, triceps,
> hands, hot-foot - all
gone)
>
> All I need is the blue fairy to tap me with her wand to
> turn me into a
real
> 'biker boy', eh? <g>
>
> -B Saying my prayers each night - think that'll help? ;-D

When you're saying your prayers, remember to pray that you
don't ever have to endure what is most definately the REAL
rite of passage out of Fred-dom. ROAD RASH! Road rash or
some similar injury that leaves some sort of scar that
allows you to tell a bicycling story when someone asks you
about it. I'm loaded with them. Getting hit by a car will do
that. So will crashing on wet RR tracks when the leader of
your paceline goes down and takes everyone out. Pretty much
all the "serious" riders I know can point to one scar or
another and tell you about the dog that flew into their
front wheel on a 40 mph descent or some such misadventure.
Of course, there are a few who can't point at all because of
their broken collar bones.

I wear my scars as sort of cycling merit badges (though it
would have been far more meritorious to have avoided the
incidents that caused them). But I think one small one would
have sufficed.

No ... saddle sores don't count.

Cherish your Fred-dom while you still have it.

Happy riding!

Bob C. I sure don't mean this to discourage anyone from
cycling. As my ER doc has said to me a few times, "if you
weren't in such great shape from cycling, cycling would
probably have killed you."

.O0 0o.

I've got a railroad track story and I all have to show for
it is some socks with holes around the ankles.

It was a Sunday morning ride with the fast guys. 75 miles
and I turned right to go home. I was tired and not paying
much attention. Railroad tracks crossed the road at a
45deg angle and I just simply forgot they were there. I
got my front wheel caught in the groove between the track
and the road. I went down and slid about 10-15 feet. I was
bleeding from my knees and my right sock had a big hole
around the ankle. The wound healed and did not scar. I
still wear the socks!

Badger_south

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:17:31 -0400, ".o0 0o." <els1400@yahoo.comSOCKS>
wrote:

>I've got a railroad track story and I all have to show for
>it is some socks with holes around the ankles.
>
>It was a Sunday morning ride with the fast guys. 75 miles
>and I turned right to go home. I was tired and not paying
>much attention. Railroad tracks crossed the road at a
>45deg angle and I just simply forgot they were there. I
>got my front wheel caught in the groove between the track
>and the road. I went down and slid about 10-15 feet. I was
>bleeding from my knees and my right sock had a big hole
>around the ankle. The wound healed and did not scar. I
>still wear the socks!

Never mind that...how was the bike! ;-)

-B Now serving tacos to the inattentive at all railroad
crossings...

S O R N I

.o0 0o. wrote:
> I've got a railroad track story and I all have to show for
> it is some socks with holes around the ankles.
>
> It was a Sunday morning ride with the fast guys. 75 miles
> and I turned right to go home. I was tired and not paying
> much attention. Railroad tracks crossed the road at a
> 45deg angle and I just simply forgot they were there. I
> got my front wheel caught in the groove between the track
> and the road. I went down and slid about 10-15 feet. I was
> bleeding from my knees and my right sock had a big hole
> around the ankle. The wound healed and did not scar. I
> still wear the socks!

You got off quite lucky, I'd say. Usually stories like that
reference a broken bone or two.

Bill "elbow common" S.

.O0 0o.

> Never mind that...how was the bike! ;-)

Right hood and pedal was a little scuffed. The bike was more
damaged sitting in the back of a van with 3 other bikes for
10 hours on the to and back from a race the previous summer.

Billy Bigelow

"Badger_South" <Badger@South.net>
> All I need is the blue fairy to tap me with her wand to
> turn me into a
real
> 'biker boy', eh? <g>

> Saying my prayers each night - think that'll help? ;-D

Gawd...

I can't believe you're actually typing such digital
nonsense.

Badger_south

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 23:02:12 -0700, "Billy Bigelow" <nomail@thank.you>
wrote:

>"Badger_South" <Badger@South.net>
>> All I need is the blue fairy to tap me with her wand to
>> turn me into a
>real
>> 'biker boy', eh? <g>
>
>> Saying my prayers each night - think that'll help? ;-D
>
>Gawd...
>
>I can't believe you're actually typing such digital
>nonsense.
>
I can't believe your real name is 'Billy'. Does your mommy
still call you that?

-B ;-p