[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]Hey, Y'all! I'm so glad I found you![/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]I'm a 59-year-old overweight female (don't hang up on me just yet, please, lol) who just rediscovered the love of biking this past summer, after having not ridden one since I was 12! Since I started riding on August 11, I have gone from having my most strenuous exercise be lifting the lever of my recliner and walking to the fridge, to riding 7 miles a day at 10-12 mph. I know that's laughably few miles for y'all and laughably slow, but for this ex-totally-sedentary, ex-recliner-snoozing gal, it's extraordinary, so no snickers, please. (At least not where I can see them.) /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]I do have a bike, a 3-year-old Electra Hawaii 3-speed beach cruiser in candy apple red. I named her Freedom because I feel like that's what she has offered me. (Is that too lame for these forums? If so, I'm sorry I'm such a dork.) I love riding her on the bike paths here, and I go riding 5-6 days a week, trying to add about a mile a week to my distance. I don't at this point ride in traffic, other than getting off to cross streets on the bike path. Aside from the apparently typical sore-bottom issue and the helmet hair, I am LOVING cycling!! In the process, I've lost 30 pounds so far, and want to both continue riding and improve my endurance so I can go further (farther???), continue losing weight, and get healthier as I get older, instead of just decaying. In short, I would rather wear out than rust out. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]To that end, my sister and I are planning a 6-day bike tour this-coming summer, probably in June in Idaho. There is a sag-wagon-supported tour for beginners, on flat bike-path-type terrain it says, that we're dying to try. The most miles required in one day is 54, though I gather on that day I could quit or get in the wagon at some point, and only do 27, if I'm dying. Most days are about 30 miles. (But I WANT to ride every mile, and am working on a training schedule to try to be sure I can do so by that point, so I should be a lot less heavy and more fit by tour time.) Nights are spent in a hotel, so I can at least soak aching muscles in a tub and get a good night's sleep. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]MY QUESTION -- and I do apologize for taking so long to get to it -- is: Can I ride my beach cruiser on a bike tour such as this? The tour group does rent bicycles if needed, and I can afford to do so. But if it would work, I would rather take my own. Being so new to biking, I worry that suddenly being on a different bike, indeed a different TYPE of bike, might make it more difficult for me. On rental bikes, how do you know the seat -- er, saddle -- feels good? (Not that mine feels very good now, lol.) I barely know how to change the 3 gears on my bike; would theirs have a lot more and different gears? Are tires different on tour bikes versus cruisers? (I TOLD y'all I was new and ignorant; don't say you weren't forewarned, lol.) [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]SECOND QUESTION: If the consensus is that I shouldn't use my cruiser, should I rent one of their bikes for $175 (which seems a bit steep to me, even though I can do it), or spend that much (and more?) toward a different type bike of my own to be used for touring, and train on it until June? I ask because I am anticipating liking this tour so much that I want to do others, at least one a year, in different areas. If you suggest buying a bike for tours, do you have any suggestions for brand/type/price? I have asked a few people this, but their answers are suspect because they all seem to be trying to sell me the bike they want me to use! It seems to me that their eyes light up with dollar signs when they see me wandering around the bike store, confused. But I figure y'all might advise me without trying to get into my pockets, so your advice would be more trustworthy to me. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]I do thank you for any advice you can offer. It will be the miracle of my life if I pull this off, and I'm both excited beyond words plus scared to death of failing; but I think the fear will recede as the training advances and I feel more capable. THANK YOU ALL! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]SierraSlim[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]I'm a 59-year-old overweight female (don't hang up on me just yet, please, lol) who just rediscovered the love of biking this past summer, after having not ridden one since I was 12! Since I started riding on August 11, I have gone from having my most strenuous exercise be lifting the lever of my recliner and walking to the fridge, to riding 7 miles a day at 10-12 mph. I know that's laughably few miles for y'all and laughably slow, but for this ex-totally-sedentary, ex-recliner-snoozing gal, it's extraordinary, so no snickers, please. (At least not where I can see them.) /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]I do have a bike, a 3-year-old Electra Hawaii 3-speed beach cruiser in candy apple red. I named her Freedom because I feel like that's what she has offered me. (Is that too lame for these forums? If so, I'm sorry I'm such a dork.) I love riding her on the bike paths here, and I go riding 5-6 days a week, trying to add about a mile a week to my distance. I don't at this point ride in traffic, other than getting off to cross streets on the bike path. Aside from the apparently typical sore-bottom issue and the helmet hair, I am LOVING cycling!! In the process, I've lost 30 pounds so far, and want to both continue riding and improve my endurance so I can go further (farther???), continue losing weight, and get healthier as I get older, instead of just decaying. In short, I would rather wear out than rust out. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]To that end, my sister and I are planning a 6-day bike tour this-coming summer, probably in June in Idaho. There is a sag-wagon-supported tour for beginners, on flat bike-path-type terrain it says, that we're dying to try. The most miles required in one day is 54, though I gather on that day I could quit or get in the wagon at some point, and only do 27, if I'm dying. Most days are about 30 miles. (But I WANT to ride every mile, and am working on a training schedule to try to be sure I can do so by that point, so I should be a lot less heavy and more fit by tour time.) Nights are spent in a hotel, so I can at least soak aching muscles in a tub and get a good night's sleep. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]MY QUESTION -- and I do apologize for taking so long to get to it -- is: Can I ride my beach cruiser on a bike tour such as this? The tour group does rent bicycles if needed, and I can afford to do so. But if it would work, I would rather take my own. Being so new to biking, I worry that suddenly being on a different bike, indeed a different TYPE of bike, might make it more difficult for me. On rental bikes, how do you know the seat -- er, saddle -- feels good? (Not that mine feels very good now, lol.) I barely know how to change the 3 gears on my bike; would theirs have a lot more and different gears? Are tires different on tour bikes versus cruisers? (I TOLD y'all I was new and ignorant; don't say you weren't forewarned, lol.) [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]SECOND QUESTION: If the consensus is that I shouldn't use my cruiser, should I rent one of their bikes for $175 (which seems a bit steep to me, even though I can do it), or spend that much (and more?) toward a different type bike of my own to be used for touring, and train on it until June? I ask because I am anticipating liking this tour so much that I want to do others, at least one a year, in different areas. If you suggest buying a bike for tours, do you have any suggestions for brand/type/price? I have asked a few people this, but their answers are suspect because they all seem to be trying to sell me the bike they want me to use! It seems to me that their eyes light up with dollar signs when they see me wandering around the bike store, confused. But I figure y'all might advise me without trying to get into my pockets, so your advice would be more trustworthy to me. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]I do thank you for any advice you can offer. It will be the miracle of my life if I pull this off, and I'm both excited beyond words plus scared to death of failing; but I think the fear will recede as the training advances and I feel more capable. THANK YOU ALL! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]SierraSlim[/COLOR][/SIZE]
