What Even Is A Cyclist?
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- I decided to make a video about my cycling journey. From someone who just had a hybrid Trek to being a full on bike nerd with way too many bicycles of all kinds.
I also explain a little bit of how I started making weekly bicycle videos here on RUclips.
#cycling #gravelbikes
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Grew up cycling w my sis. 80s kids. Trauma. Alcoholic. Led to DUI. Bought my first adult bike to get around after lost license. Fast forward to 2019. Trauma returned. Encouraged to move my body. Found Trek Pilot and started cycling and backpacking. Fast forward to last year after hiking 1100 miles on PCT I outfitted bike w bags and hit the KATY trail in MO. Now I’m addicted
I wanna do the Katy trail this fall. Congrats
@@CryptJeeper it’s so awesome! Looking forward to the GAP & C/O trails in October!!
A real journey. Congrats.
We have been talking about the Katy Trail too - maybe next year.
Although not a user, I appreciate your position on e-bikes. We mechanical bike fans have to learn to graciously accept all riders and celebrate their participation. Thanks
100%
Growing up on the south side of Chicago where the streets were tough and money was always tight.. I was fortunate to have a grandfather who would buy neglected bikes, repair them and sell them for a profit at a local flea market. I was his help mate back then between the ages of 8-11 ish. I never had a fancy bike but he made sure I always had a bmx type bike to get around in. I also remember building my own bmx bike from the frame up at 10yo. (Chrome redline) as I got older I learned to use public transportation and eventually drive. I regret not sticking to biking but I'm glad that spark has been rekindled the last 20 months or so. Thanks for all the inspiration and motivation you provide in your videos! 🍻
Awesome - thanks for sharing.
I think we all look back on certain aspects and wish we could change them - but who knows - maybe we wouldn't be better off?
Cheers brother!
Great story...
68 yr.old life long bicyclist,born riding from a very young kiddo,there were gangs of kids biking everywhere,big beach community so you rode everywhere,my parents gave me alot of freedom we rode &camped on many beach heads crabbed & fished & used our bike to tote al our gear,army pup tents,fryingpans,&our catch was strapped on our western flyers, scwhinn newsboy specials they were tanks & we had such adventures,which inspired me to become a roadie in highschool,touring cyclist all over U.S.,evolved into bikepacking in my retirement! Its been a long love affair!!
So cool - thanks for sharing!
It all started in my 9th grade school year of 93-94. I was 13 years old and quickly turned 14 in only November. I sat in my basement night after night hobbling together pieces of bicycles into anything operational that would get me to the arcade, friends houses, jobs, the mall. Then that summer to girls houses. Everyday bike riding at that age turned my 14 year old frame into an impressive athletic physique for a young lad. They were throwing them selves at me. The bike has never failed me in my pursuit of a peter pan life. I worked at a deli and saved for a year to buy a carbon fiber Trek MNT bike which I modified into an Urban BEAST. I was a NYC bike messenger while I went to school for a bit. Then would commute from BK to Manhattan when I got a real job for a few years. Later on I bought my cyclocross and moved to upstate NY. Im a lifer.
Awesome!
Grew up in Belgium so cycling was a fact of life. But I only started going on rides after I bought an old Peugeot and just enjoyed it so much more than my not-so-responsive upright city bike
Nice.
Biked around my small Midwestern town as a kid. Came back to cycling as an adult through commute riding to work. But that ride is start to finish a 3 mile climb. So the fitness came with the consistency. That combined with the beauty of where I live now (Santa Cruz, CA) made me want to ride more and further. 😎🚴🏼♂️
I wasn’t really a biker, still don’t consider myself a hardcore biker but it’s my favourite hobby when time allows. One day my work supervisor asked me if I wanted to go ride my bike in the forest. Hated it, all scratched up and banged up. Vowed never to do it again. But over the following week we talked about the experience and realised we had cheap fun. Rode again the next weekend somewhere else and haven’t really looked back. There’s been lulls in the saddle time due to life back it’s still there to enjoy.
My daughter had a Giant Sedona stolen while at college. She used that bike as her sole transportation, so we quickly replaced it with a Target Schwinn, which was never stolen.
Its the worst feeling....
Dang. I had a Sedona stolen in 2021, too 🙁. It was my first “real” bike with a large frame for a 6’2” guy.
@@Roboprogs ours was a really good bike. Funny how nobody stole the replacement Target Schwinn.
Started riding a second hand Schwinn Stingray at 8 years old, now 60 and haven’t stopped riding yet. Just changed bikes many times over the years.
Nice!
Love your history, mine is similar but I tried to keep all my bikes. My profile pic is the back end of my 1970 Sting-ray and I still ride it.
Years ago - I would say I was in middle school - my mom brought home a discard book from a school library called The Boys Book of Biking. I decided in that moment that I would become a "serious cyclist" some day. Of course, before and after reading the book, I was already doing the "80's kid movie" thing - using bikes to explore and go see friends, occasionally go shopping, and sometimes going a town or two over to see friends who had moved to a different school. Most of my bikes were beaters. I especially remember one with a bent pedal that oscillated this way and that way as it went around the circle. I got so used to it that when I rode on a bike with 90 degree pedals it felt weird.
It was probably the early 90's when I finally had enough money to buy a "hybrid" (with fairly narrow tires). I spent $300 on the thing new (on clearance - I think it's a Bridgestone) and I still use it today. I never felt like I reached my goal of being a "serious cyclist" till I had a mechanical issue while commuting to work and I flagged down some cyclists who ended up not having the tools I needed - but one of them asked if I was a serious cyclist. After a very brief chat he said "Oh you're a commuter!" and I felt like I'd indeed made my childhood goal.
I've never gotten into group rides. Most groups I've heard about are way too fast for me. I remember one time my wife and I went on our tandem with some people we knew from our inline skate club. They talked on and on about how we would be too fast for them and they left us in the dust. It turned into a real problem which would be a good story for another day.
I did one two day ride with a youth club from Ithaca. That's probably the only one. We did a lot of family rides over the years. Watching this video I found myself thinking that you're lucky to find people who want to go at your pace.
Two years ago, I helped my son and a number of his troop-mates get the cycling merit badge. This culminated in a 50 mile ride - which turned into a 60 mile ride for me because I had to repeat part of the loop to make sure all the kids got to where there parents would meet them. Two years later I am totally out of shape. I recently set a goal of riding to a point not even a mile and a half from my house as the crow flies. I can feel my condition improving. Hopefully soon I'll be able to start commuting again - but my current job takes me to post offices all over multiple counties, so I'll have to pick my battles, as it were.
My parents did not ride bikes, but they got me a yardsale bike and got me off training wheels at 3 years old. I eventually ended up on a chrome Rhino BMX bike and would ride all day at the different campgrounds we would go to as a family. As I outgrew the bmx I bought a Haro hardtail that was chained to a telephone pole down the road from my house for $145, and I rode that thing through multiple sets of brake pads as my way to get around before I could drive. Those two bikes gave me freedom and made me realize I could ride anywhere. I didn't really ride for 6 years after getting my license, til I bought another bike at REI after college, which happened to be a road bike. I quickly realized how much I missed the feeling riding a bike gave me, and I also missed my bigger tires from my hardtail so I sold the road bike and got a gravel bike. I then slowly got clipless shoes, lycra, more bikes, and bikepacking stuff; but I really became a bike nerd when my father in law gave me his 1988 Schwinn Impact that I restored and took on all different kinds of rides even though I had much nicer bikes in the garage (I loved peoples reactions to it and how fast it was compared to how slow it looked). It made me realize that a lot of different bikes could be fast and fun. I now enjoy every type of biking, and realize that anyone that rides bikes a lot is a cyclist, irregardless of how they look or what bike they ride. I enjoy your videos, and love the lowrider panniers off road, there aren't many of us that do that! The internet would tell you that it doesn't work haha.
Heck yeah!
My father was a roadie cyclist, I grew up in the sport. I raced road and track until 2006. I became a certified cycling instructor around 2005. I currently ride about 16,000 miles per year, bike commute to work some days depending on if I need a car during the day. I found that I am diabetic in 2022 so now I eat and ride differently as I use cycling as a way to use less insulin.
Great to meet and ride together in SE Michigan. Appreciate hearing your bike origin story and evolution. And hell yes, get out, ride, and advocate for more and better bike stuff.
Yeah - nice to meet you too.
Thanks!
Thanks Tim, great chat.
For me, I am the only one in my family that rides. I started out in a CCM Voodoo back in the '80s. From there I got into BMX (Kuwahara and then Mongoose) when dirt jumping was starting. Then in my later teens I moved over to road riding after watching the movie American Flyers. I did that form of riding for about 10years (rode a Steve Bauer Whirlwind and then upgraded to a Eddie Merckx Corsa Extra). I moved out to the West Coast of Canada and my eyes were opened to the Free Ride movement and met Wade Simmons and Ryan Leech and an event - I was hooked (rode a Rocky Mountain RM7 and Rocky Mountain Slayer 90).
But as I got older and my body couldn't take the abuse, I move over to more of the touring the back logging roads before bike packing was a thing - started out with a (Kona Sutra). Now I have two bikes, I have a Kona Unit that I used for the backroads, as it is a beast for gravel and the good old party pace and ride a Rocky Mountain Solo A50 for when I want to wind through my hair (well, the lack there of). =]
Ha!
Awesome - thanks for sharing - I love to hear stories like this!
@@TimFitzwater You're welcome Tim -- I too love to geek out about bikes. =]
Earthquaker! Hell yeah. Love those people.
Het man nice to hear about your attitude ; here i the Netherlands we are used to cycling from the age of 4.
When you .ook at videos of cycling in the Dutch city of Amsterdam or Utrecht, you notice also a variation of bikes used by commuting to school and work or shopping by people up to 80.
I ride the same bicycle as you, i am 68 now.
Greetings Ton.
It is so fascinating to see the way the Dutch ride. Its just the most effective way to get around - so it makes sense.
Thanks!
Top vid, awesome content as usual Tim. My family has always been nuts about bikes, my paternal grandparents ended up getting married after meeting up on a ride then pedalling a few hundred km together back in the late1930s. I could rave on all day about bikes and my love affair with them but to keep it as brief as I can ill just add a few bibs n bobs. I was born in 1973 and was riding as soon as I was walking then started building bikes up from old parts at the start of the bmx craze here in Aus back in the early 80s, dragster to mx conversion, then did the track and road thing, Mtb bizzo and everything in between, my truing stand lives on the kitchen table and 10 of the 30 odd bikes the kids and I have live inside. My Dad rode a fold up bike around Europe and the UK in his 70s and still rides daily which always inspires me. I'm currently building him a replica of his Dad's bike from back in the day, a two star Malvern Star but with lighter aluminium parts for his 79th birthday when I'm not tinkering or riding I'm working on the cyclocross/cross country mtb track that I'm always extending on my land. I'll stop now but leave you with this. The symbol for infinity Is a figure eight on its side the humble Velocopede is a true representation of that in real life I reckon.
Awesome! I love to hear the story!
Thanks!
Grew up riding bikes. Got my first full time job right out of HS and bought a Paris Sport ten speed. Rode that constantly for about ten years, then bought a mountain bike in 1983 and got super into riding trails. I then got a Fat Chance, which was the hot racing bike at the time. Mountain bike raced and did well, but it was exploring by bike that primarily interested me. I’ve ridden single speed only for about thirty years and just built up an old Fat Chance frameset into a multi geared bike with swept back bars, Blacksheep Mountain Moustache, and Rene Herse 44mm slicks. I’m enjoying riding geared again, and the bike is great. I’m going to convert my Fat City Ti Fat into a geared, rigid mountain bike for trails. I still have a couple of singlespeeds, which I’ll continue to ride.
Nice!
Great chat. Good to know there are folks out there that didn’t come from any particular “scene”, but are just lovers of the ride. Personally grew up riding a huffy daily around my neighborhood as a kid from age 7-11 in the 90’s until I started skateboarding, which totally engulfed my life for well over a decade from that moment on. Bought a hybrid Diamondback in 2008 and rode it sporadically in the burbs, city, and everywhere in between til I stepped up to a Bianchi Iseo in 2013. Used it as a daily commuter/bar hopper while living in the city. Moved out of Atlanta and back to the burbs in 2015 to settle down/raise a family and put the bike to the wayside. Moved multiple times with it and kept it idle in the garage for years until I taught my boys to ride last winter, then would occasionally ride here and there. Life events lead me to picking it back up religiously back in May and I’m absolutely hooked. Just hit my first 40 mile ride in 11 years last Saturday. All old country backroads far outside the burbs with beautiful scenery of forgotten old farmlands and structures. Then another 16 miles the following day on my Sunday Ritual ride. Wasn’t sore in the least bit. It’s amazing. Prepping up to hit the Silver Comet trail from Georgia to Alabama for my first bike packing trip here in October. Super stoked. In the meantime, I just got a ‘93 Specialized Hardrock that I’m tuning up to turn into a total gravel/atb. Can’t wait to start hitting some off road trails! I appreciate your videos, Tim! Definitely solid motivation to keep getting out and exploring your backyard.
Nice - and thanks so much!!
Skateboarding was my thing in the mid-90s but we would often put our boards behind our backpacks and ride to our spots.
Love your channel and a buddy recently told me about your videos so I had to view some and subscribe. As a kid always rode my bike everywhere and loved it. Grew up in the 80's and literally started crying when one Xmas my parents bought me a Schwinn Predator. Rode that to my first job as a kid daily. Through HS really didn't ride bikes alot, was more into skateboarding. Fast forward to my late 20's early 30's. Usually owned a bike but never seriously rode it alot. They would collect dust, get flat tires and I'd just look at them. Pandemic happens and they say to stay inside...well I thought that's weird and I'm gonna do the exact opposite!! Got my Trek commuter bike tuned up and rode daily, usually 2 rides a day. Did that for months! Had an epiphany one day while out riding and felt just as invigorated on my bike as I did when I was 12! It was vividly evident I needed this relationship to feel truly free and to soothe my soul..riding is truly my medicine and the only activity that calms my mind and is therapeutic. Upgraded to a Surly Straggler and fell in love ❤ now I ride as often as I can. Usually solo along the canals and paths that exist where I live in AZ. Truly love being on 2 wheels and that sound of gravel crushing beneath me is so satisfying to me. Spotting owls at night, seeing rabbits and coyotes and sometimes being all alone on the canal at night is magical ✨️ thanks for keeping this amateur cyclist inspired!! And I plan on riding as long as I'm capable! My next step is getting my son who is 2 out with me in trailer a friend recently gave me. That will be next level when he can accompany me. ❤
Very nice!
Love the content. This video made me think of my cycling journey. Cycling for me started as a means of getting to my friends houses. In the 70s we were allowed to go anywhere we wanted on our bikes. Parents didnt seem to care.
Same as a kid in the 80s.
Stumbled across your videos for the first time, I like the overall feel, the "I'm just out for a ride" vibe without pushing the latest and greatest new products. Keep it up, I'm loooking forward to seeing more.
Thanks so much!
Yeah - I just love riding - I don't care about the really fancy stuff just the functional stuff.
Hey Tim you are with your enthousiasm a kind of ambassedor for the cycle promo.
Greetings Ton
🥰
I remember those early days. They were a product of a weird pandemic time. Super glad we crossed paths and proud to be one of the earliest subs that twisted your arm enough to check out Nutmeg with me after the weirdness of covid had calmed down. While we don’t get to ride enough together, I’m proud of where the channel has gone and happy to have played a role in that. Here’s to many more adventures and laughs.
Hell yeah!
Really it was livestream that you brought up Nutmeg and Ronnie - I had no idea!!
I love that you have no expectations but just go with the flow. No pushy personality driven videos. You deserve more subs, but the feeling of a “best kept secret “ is part of the fun.
I love that your rides have the feel of a bunch of kids out for fun.
Keep it up you bunch of hooligans😂
Thanks!
Great ride footage of non racers out for a fun day. Dig the number of Alt bars.
I'm watching this video while working on my grandfather's Motobecane Nomade, I think a 77. It's been sitting in my shed for the past 10 years, I used to ride when I was younger. I have been fixing it up in his memory, and I've been feeling inspired to get out there. I've been watching your videos through the entire restoration project, which has inspired me even more now that I know what bike touring is and how much of an adventure it can be. I'm hoping I can get on the road today, I just have to put on the bar tape and the chain.
Awesome!
I have mine(my Dad's) on display in the store front window with a mannequin in vintage kit.
I stopped riding it when I got some other vintage bikes but it still looks super cool and I did put a bunch of miles on it.
God luck!
Growing up riding, then getting away from bikes for a certain period of time, then getting back into it seems to be such a common timeline for people. I'm so glad I rediscovered cycling, I think sometimes about where I'd be if I never actually stopped riding.
For sure. I think that too but then who knows who I'd be.
Maybe better - but maybe worse.
Life is wild and full of chance!
Cheers!
I define it as anybody that rides is a bicycle rider but a cyclist is somebody that riding is their passion.
For real!
My parents didn't really cycle, I don't even think my dad has ever owned a bike in my lifetime and mom just got one recently that I found in the dump and fixed up, but I always just found it a lotta fun to ride a bike around as a little kid, even if it was just some old bike with flat tires I found in the hangar from my older siblings.
Of course as a teen here in Belgium, a bike is just how you get around, and I only really discovered I was actually really into bikes when I started learning bike repair after I had a nasty accident and had to fix my bike.
Then got really into MTB for a couple years, but also started building up some retro bikes and really enjoyed that. Now I enjoy everything from commuting, to road, to MTB, to cruising around on a repaired old rusty bike.
I wear kit when I go out on my road bike for a long ride, but that's the only time I do.
I feel more comfortable in regular clothes (mentally) but the road kit does just make the road rides feel a lot better physically.
I'm now "that bike guy" to my friends, since I've built up a whole bunch of bikes the past few years. I think I've owned about 23 bikes over the past 5 years, many of them being given to me for free, found in a dump (or even a canal) or bought for cheap. Almost all of them not in a rideable state when I got them. Those 23 is not counting the few wrecks I still have in my garage which I'll be fixing up soon.
Also built a few for friends, and I really enjoy that!
Awesome! Love it!
Didn't grow up in a cycling family however Mom made sure we had bikes. First bike I remember was a banana seat bike from Western Auto. Pretty sure it was a hand-me-down from someone. Next I hit the big time with a "BMX-ish" bike from Sears. This was the first bike I recall modifying as I extended the front fork with steel round tubes for a more leaned-back ride. I learned the important of the padded-cushion covers on the top tube and cross-tube of the handlebars. I'd jump this bike over anything. Next up was a Schwinn Varsity blue 24" ten speed. I flipped the handle-bars upside down and could ride wheelies for blocks on this thing. I outgrew that and ended up riding my sisters (she's tall) Schwinn red-white-blue varsity ten speed until I left home for college. I didn't have or ride a bike for about 10-years after that. Once I had kids, and they started riding, I bought a Trek 800 and rode it for 18 years - loved that bike. Got more into "cycling" in 2019. Added a Jamis Renegade to the line up. 2022 came the Surly Bridge club. The first time I put on an actual bike Jersey was this spring. Still not necessarily comfortable in a "kit" but know the value of a proper chamois on long rides. Consider myself a person who likes to ride bikes - not necessarily a cyclist. Enjoy your channel. The color/clarity of the clip with the train passing overhead was exceptional.
Awesome - thanks for sharing!
I remember those pads that came on my little huffy too.
Cheers!
Kinda like you, rode around everywhere in town as a kid on the old huffy back in the 80s. Picked up a GT hybrid in the early 90s....which got stolen while camping. Bought a used Gary Fisher mountain bike which I converted to drop bars and single speed to race CX for awhile. Now I have a couple of old steel bikes set up for road and gravel with a full squish mtb that I ride every now and then....it just depends on the mood! Great video!
Heck yeah! Love it!
Thanks!
This was interesting, thank you.
Great video, As I turn 60 I look back on my life and realised the best times of my life have been when I'm riding a bike, and the worst times have been car related. This has inspired me to tell my story.
Heck yeah!
Growing up in the 80’s I rode my bike everywhere and I did my paper route on a bike into my teen years. Cycling fell off for me a few years after I got my drivers license but I always missed it. Years later we got both of our kids on bikes and my wife and I went out and bought some comfort hybrids so we could do some family bike rides. I remember my son on a 10” bike doing 6-8 miles on the Towpath with us. As the kids grew we did longer rides with picnics along the Towpath and in the CVNP. As the kids got into their late teens family rides became less of thing but I kept cycling. and currently I ride the towpath or the Kent Bike and Hike every weekend and will participate in the Towpath Century ride for the second time next month. Thanks for your work on the channel and I love that Raleigh and the Raleigh sweater.
Nice! Thanks!
So have we crossed paths?(I can't keep screen names straight)
I was at the TP 100 last year filming and I ride all those trails weekly. (Just got back from a Towpath ride tonight)
Got back into cycling in my 30's, thought I was a tour we France rider for a while. Now I am nearly 60 I'm more into endurance and randonneur riding. Love the channel, peace.
Awesome!
Thanks!
When you mentioned in the video that you're about to reach 20k subs, I was confused and had to check. Honestly surprised you don't have at least twice as many subs. Onward and upward!
Thanks!
Grew up by Pittsburgh. Grew up jumping bmx. Kinda got away from bikes in my late teens. Rail trail development got me back into it. Got a $10 1980 Ross 12 speed and rode it across Iowa in 2006. Then got a starter modern road bike (swhinn fastback). After 10 years I swapped those components to a 1993 hybrid for a budget gravel bike. 9 years ago I got a job at a bike shop...6 years later and I own the bike shop! Somewhere along the line I got into bike commuting and bike commute +150 days a year.
Awesome!
Love to hear the story.
Where is the bike shop?
@@TimFitzwater Wheeling, WV. I got the shop under duress in 2021.
I love all the comments. My first bike was a Columbia 26” 3-speed, bought with S&H Green Stamps in 1967. Took a couple of years to grow into it since I was 8, but that bike was my freedom. Still riding but on a Fuji Jari these days. Headed out for a day ride w a couple of my childhood buddies in a few hours. We’re still biking 57 years later. Love your videos, especially this one. Thank you.
Heck yeah - love that you are all till riding!
Cheers!
"your college professor looking type"... guilty college prof bike commuter here. I enjoyed the origin story of the channel. I'm trying to teach myself video editing too so I can make content for my students. Keep it up! Your videos are great! And thanks for the shout out for bicycle advocacy.
Ha!
It’s funny because I have a good friend who is a college professor who commutes to campus everyday. But of course I think he looks cool on his modern gravel bike. I’m sure we are both a couple eccentric weirdos to the kids though!
@@TimFitzwater I commute on a long tail cargo eBike, so I have no doubt I look eccentric. It's good for school drop-offs though!
Nice!
New here am glad to be here, absolutely love that Raleigh sweater
Thanks!
My dad bought me a Trek 930 when I was 15 and I had that bike for 20 years. I always dreamed of being a bike messenger so When I was at music school in Boston I rode around like I was one, which I wasn’t. I then got into vintage bikes cause they were cheap and I started piecing them together best I could. They were mostly coaster brakes but some were 3 speeds. I picked up a 60s Schwinn tandem and my girlfriend and Have been Barhopping on it for years. I got into the idea of bike camping, so I rode and camped solo along the Erie Canal trail from Albany to Buffalo twice. I suffered a bit of nerve damage in my hands from improper fit unfortunately so now I’m looking to get serious with a bike fit and new bike. The world of gear is a bit intimidating these days and I hope to find something soon! Love the channel and watch often and your type of riding is what I’m into! Thanks 🙏
Awesome path - thanks for sharing!
(I'm actually heading to Boston this week with my bike)
Bikes for me have always been about freedom. Freedom to get around as a kid. And then later it became a way to experience a bit of freedom to and from school and then to and from a job. It was a way to build freedom into a day I felt I had very little control over. Almost like a personal protest or a way to take back some thrill in life.
Eventually I discovered how strong the global bike community is. This led to traveling by bike. Freedom to explore countries and meet people I would never meet otherwise. A purpose I was looking for. And still am.
Then a friend of mine started road biking. I always thought roadies looked a little stuffy in their Lycra so I had never considered it. But I figured, what the hell. Let’s Lycra it up and ride fast. An excuse to build a modern steel road bike. And that became a 630am habit which is virtually daily now. I love the discipline of waking up before sunrise and showing up on time to the ride. Ending at a cafe by 9am with the entire day ahead of you.
There’s really no kind of biking I don’t love. Whether it’s making a plan to go bike packing or simply finding the best route on google maps to run an errand as simple as the post office. It never gets boring and the people you meet will always also love bicycles.
Heck yeah!
Not sure I’ll ever be a morning rider but there is no wrong way to do it!!
Cheers!
A few years ago i was talking to my friend laura about backpacks. And i told her about a cylcing backpack i have that i never use because i "dont really cycle," and laura said, "dude you ride your bike every day," and thats when i realized i was a cyclist and had been biking to get around germany for about 4 years at that point and it has slowly become a huge part of my identity. I just started out of necessity but I'm very thankful for how it influenced me. Had a professor at shawnee state who cycled to campus everyday and he was such an oddball to everyone else there but spending some time in europe turned him on to cycling and i think its funny how i feel like ive become him as well. Cant imagine going without them now. Ive probably shared this story before so thanks for humoring.
I don't think you had - but regardless thanks for sharing again!
Yup- I know I'm the oddball known for riding everywhere in this town now too....
@@TimFitzwater ride with pride and ignore the haters haha
Grew up with my 4 sisters sharing a bike. Started getting totally obsessed with cycling in my 30's. I'm 68 now & I never want to stop! I go about 10-15 miles a day, more miles when its not summer (Florida, ugh).
Heck yeah!
I might make my way down there this January - been too long.
Grew up getting pulled behind my mom on an Alleycat where I would “help pedal”. I always had mountain bikes but never really loved them. I would commute to work in high school on a trek hybrid which was miserable. I bought an old Schwinn varsity in college and loved it even if it was terrible. After college I didn’t ride a lot but my friend got me into rail trails (on the trek hybrid) and that’s where the trouble began. I bought a Fuji Del Rey so I could keep up with my friend and I was hooked!
Nice!
I have a Del Rey frame I need to build up or give away.
@@TimFitzwater They are great frames! They have a lot of natural flex to them. Honestly with the right componentry they could be a decent gravel rig depending on the tires you throw on there.
I started commuting to work on a e bike(radrover 6+) 2 years ago,rode it until I realized I no longer needed the electric assistant if I was on a lighter bike.the rad was 73lbs but it got me started as a bike commuter.
Nice!
This is also something I need to highlight when talking about e-bikes. The haters think it only goes one direction but you prove that is not the case.
Thanks for sharing - cheers!
Biked as a kid, in my 30s now, eight months ago started using the bikeshares in DC. At first I'd go on a couple short rides with my husband on the weekends, five miles at most. Then I started using the bikeshare for commuting. I max out at about 25 miles at the moment, your longer trips are really inspiring. Im hoping to get in shape, finally get my own bike, and start doing longer routes and bike touring in this area, once I have more experience. Everything about getting into biking has been very overwhelming, so I appreciate the inclusive approach you take, even if I can't understand all of the jargon yet. Found your channel from a reddit post recommending cycling RUclips channels 😂 Hoping to learn enough where I'm no longer overwhelmed at the idea of entering a bike shop. Biking has made me appreciate the DC area more, and it's made getting around a whole lot more pleasant. Thanks for putting together these videos!
Awesome - I love to hear that!
I didn't understand all of the jargon at first either - don't be afraid to ask(me or the shops).
DC has the best infrastructure of any city I've been in so far.
A good shop will take the time to explain things - and if they don't - walk out.
Cheers!
Wow! I’m shocked you were getting those comments. Akron looks like very pleasant and relatively vibrant community to cycle in particularly for the rust belt.
You know - the internet.
I once flew to Bend Oregon and met a buddy of mine that lived in Alaska at the time, he is a cyclist and his sister lived in Bend so he knew how awesome it was to ride there. We rented bikes and rode all over the place. Bend is one of the coolest bike friendly places I have ever been and I highly recommend looking into going there and doing that sort of thig. They have great Mt biking as well as road biking. They have great brewery's and killer restaurants. Lots of money in that town, its so cool, look into it sometime. If you never have been to Oregon its a must. Bend is in Central Oregon though so its a dry high desert place with Mt Bachelor right there, we actually took the road up to Bachler and it had just been freshly repaved. You see people of all ages out riding bikes all over town. Crazy cool place to visit.
Would love to get out that way. I have seen some vids.
It is all about finding the time and the money!
Refreshing !
I had bikes as a kid but wasn't obsessive. I was a bmx'er or anything like that. I started bike commuting then graduated to touring. I don't have a ton of cycling friends so mostly it's a solo thing for me which is tough because I'm pretty social. I am riding across the US in stages as vacation allows. Next up is Omaha to Detroit! I started in Seattle.
Awesome! Good luck!
Love your channel. I appreciate the chat. I don't have bike friends so it's refreshing to watch your videos.
I got into cycling in the mid 80's, when I was in college at the University of Oregon. I remember the first time I did 25 miles. I was just absolutely wrecked, standing in the shower for what seemed an eternity, and I said to myself "I could never do that again!"
Smash cut to a few years later, and I'm into racing, on the club team at Oregon, and going "just" 25M I didn't even consider it a ride.
I'm 58 now, I still ride. I'm just slower.
(got a new sub also)
Nice!!
I have been bicycle obsessed since I was a kid. Bmx first then late 80s got a mtb, then in early 2000’s got a road bike. I regularly ride mtb and road, I’m not a racer and I love your videos. I’m glad I found the channel.
Thanks so much!
I’m with you on e-bikes for hot days! I bought my first drop bar bike when I was 11 after my older brother got into cycling as a sport. In the late 80s I learned how to dress for cold weather the hard way ridding about 11 miles each way to work. Bought my first spandex shorts because a bee flew up my shorts and a jersey with a zipper followed after a second sting! In the 90s I started mountain biking and ridding year round. For the first few years I only saw one other person ridding in the winter. He turned around while I was getting my bike ready because he had never seen anyone else in the aria. I’m kind of a roadie who doesn’t race.
I enjoy the chanel…
Thanks!
Around here it has been crazy to see the growth in winter cycling! I think out local shop doing a year around ride helps.
Don't know why but decided I wanted to ride Flatland BMX in my late teens, then stopped in my mid 20's. Only picked up a single speed in 2019 cause the car was giving me issues and wanted to try commuting by bike. Did 2+ years commuting everyday rain or snow (coldest day on the bike was -22C) Few years later picked up a 'gravel' bike and now mostly ride that.
Been half ass making video about photo/bikes just need to put more effort into it. Don't remember why I even started a YT channel probably to document my photo walks.
Had my hip replaced in 2017 and bought a Schwinn Discovery that looked like it was under water for a while. Cleaned it and rode it as my rehab. Fell in love with it and now do two 40 rides each week. Stay safe and healthy.
Awesome - cheers!
Love the idea of e-bikes as transportation! Fewer car trips!
100%
How could anyone say it better,,, thanks Tim,,, spot on...
Western Canada
Don
Thanks Don!
Love it Tim, time zones suck for me as I love being able to be apart of your live streams.. 🇦🇺
I grew up riding on the dirt road that I lived on in the 80s. Then I got back into riding in my mid twenties for something to do. I rode a planet earth bicycle with a torsion bar suspension and took it on the GAP / C&O. So far the only big bike ride that I have done. I then bought a trek 7300 hybrid that I still ride today. I met my wife later that year and now with kids in sports it’s hard to ride but I really want to get back into it. Which led me to Tim’s channel.
11:14 I spy an Angry Catfish cap!
1985 at age of 15 I got a Nishiki Prestige. Had a few friends that were really into riding and off we went. Spent a few summers in Michigan doing plenty of fun road rides on that bike. After a few years and while working at the local shoe store, I had a manager who was really into this sort of new thing (new to me) called Mountain biking. Fell in love with that and did it on and off for few years. Then got married, got a regular job and life goes on. Jumped on the mountain bike (92 Trek 970) occasionally over the years. Fast forward to about 2019 at age 49 and found myself out of shape and going into mid life crisis. Headed to a local bike shop to have my mind blown with all the changes in the bike industry from tire sizes to hydraulic brakes. I found myself overwhelmed thinking bout bikes and clip less pedals and all the stuff I need to get back into riding. Finally grabbed a Fat bike cause that seemed to fit a fat 50 year old who wanted to ride again. Started hitting the trails again and said screw it I'm riding flats wearing vans and regular clothes. So here I am in 2024 still riding the fat bike (with 27.5 plus wheels), a new to me vintage Trek 420 for road rides and the old Trek 970 set up for tackling the streets of Detroit (well at least the Riverwalk of Detroit). But I will tell you its this channel and others like it that are really an inspiration to just get out and ride. Keep up the great work. Lastly I do wish that I would have hung on to that Nishiki Prestige.
Heck yeah!
There is no wrong way to do it.
I think a lot of people see the clipless pedals and Lycra as a barrier to entry / I try to let people know you only have to do that of you want to.
Cheers!
Nice scenery for riding there.
Here in inland California everything dries up and turns yellow by May or June. At least “it’s a dry heat” 😜. Bring lots of water if you’re out for more than 20 minutes, especially huffing and puffing up the foothills.
i rode bikes all my life don't own a car i keep having my my ebikes stolen i agreed to what you say about the biking people need more support
ThanksTim .....I appreciate you , the rides , the education , and of course , Edmund ! Im older , was a runner , got injured , and my nephew suggested a bike . I ride bikes too , wear lycra , and rode my older brothers stolen bikes as a kid , but these newer bikes are insane !! Cyclismastic
Heck yeah! Cheers!
Awesome channel. Great talk!
Thanks!
Started on a Sears Spyder bike with chopper bars. As I grew, it was a Schwinn Varsity; I rode the suburban gravel. It was stolen my Junior year in college. It broke my heart. 🫤 I replaced it with a used cheap Free Spirit; what a heavy dog. In 1990 I bought a Stumpjumper and had tremendous fun; literally wore the bike out! I practiced falling too. 😉 Now, at 62, I have a Salsa Journeyer while dreaming of other bikes; n+1!
That is an awesome(and pretty classic) path!!!
I’ve been a subscriber since 2022. I love your content. I been riding since 2019 before the pandemic. For the most part, I rode a lot of gravel and road on a cheap bike too. it was during the pandemic that I became more of a serious rider. I ride religiously now. As for RUclips, I started making content so that I could share with my friends and family. Although I am not a big channel I found enjoyment in making content. Making video is my second biggest hobby behind riding.
Thanks!
Same with me - I make the vids because I enjoy them. ...and since my old number one hobby became my job(photography) the bikes and then vids are my two main hobbies now.
Just subbed to the channel so I'll check it out when I get the chance.
Hi Tim, that's a great story about how you got into being a cyclist that inspires other people to ride . Those word's are my description of you, not your description of you, I imagine that you are to humble to to accept the fact that thanks to your little RUclips channel you definitely do inspire people to get out there and ride there bike. Neil.
Thanks Neil!!
Always look forward to your videos and a big fan for quite a while.My greatest scape thank you so much holler😮
During the Arizona summer, I’m a bike owner.
Your summer is our winter
I got into cycling as a fun way to try to get into shape and fell in love with it. I lost 160 pounds and got rid of my sleep apnea and am no longer pre-diabetic. I've seen a steady rise in my w/kg and VO2 max. You're channel has been a great source of inspiration.
I'm from the Ohio area, but live in Kentucky now. I miss the OTET. I'll check out the discord. Would love to meet up and ride sometime, but I want to get my fitness level up a bit more so I'm not holding anyone up or having to drop.
Very cool! Congratulations!
For the public meet-ups we do "no drop" rides.
Hey Tim, like most kids of the 80s & 90s my bike was my freedom and I went everywhere on it. It wasn't until the mountain bike trails started popping up in our area that I really got back into it, though. I bought a cheap, but quality Raleigh mtn bike from a small local shop and felt like a kid again. After doing a bike packing trip, I decided I'd like to do more all-around exploring and discovered "gravel bikes" as an alternative to road bikes and picked up a Salsa and it's been the perfect bike for what I like to do the past 3-4 years. I wish I could get into the local riding scene more, but I still find it a bit intimidating and honestly, a bit cliquey...and my social anxiety doesn't help. I do really enjoy solo riding, though. I've also noticed that the bike scene is really into drinking, and don't get me wrong, I like to drink, but I can barely find time for a couple of hours of riding, much less a bar hang or parking lot beers.
Very cool. Its been fun to read the comments of everyone's history.
On the local scene - I don't really find that at all. One thing I always tell people(social anxiety, shyness etc.) is at group rides you already have the huge thing in common - bikes. When I started showing up I found that asking someone about their bike is all I needed to do to make conversation. Dirty River's Yeti Rides, Akron Bike Party - I find them all so inviting. Also - for anyone who wants to hang out and drink they do that after the ride not during.
I will say a lot of my videos do show eating and drinking hangs - but those rides are with my close, personal friends.
@@TimFitzwater I think the phrase "it's not you it's me" is true in this case. I just have a tough time fitting in with groups😅. The yeti rides are awesome and friendly for sure...I need to get myself to another one of those rides soon!
I guess it probably helps for me that the group of friends I ride with the most is something that formed over time - not something I “joined”.
I had a couple of crappy kids bikes in the 70's that I learned on, riding in rural OH. Later, in the late 80's I had an apartment in Pittsburgh next to a bike shop. I was into "industrial" music at the time and I would raid their trash for old parts and make them into noisemakers. 😆 A friend saw this and gave me a road bike thinking I was going to cut it up, but I ended up using it and later getting into bikes more... I've always been more into getting out and exploring on a bike than bike "culture"
Nice!
Even though I've gotten a bit into the culture now exploring is still number 1!
Hi..Tim outstanding youtube channel was wondering could you do a vid of the kinda food you eat and water are juice when your out on your bike putting in the big miles ..thanks.. put it to a vote for the vid...Awesome bike by the way !! 🚲 🚴♂️
Thanks!
I haven't done vids like that because I don't really have any kind of plan....but in my long ride vids I do usually show what I eat.
I might end up making one though to show how random I really am!
I think I might title it: "What(not) to Eat & How(not) to Train"
Lol - but for real!
@@TimFitzwater hahaha..thanks Tim
What is a cyclist; almost everyone in the Netherlands cycles, but we don't think we are cyclist.
We are just average Dutch people who are used to cycle because it's healthy and relativ cheap.
Most houses have a shed to put the cycles in for the night. Even apartments have it downstairs.
Seriously, I would watch a channel where it was just ride videos with cool soundtracks. No talking. Descriptive subtitles only.
Lucky for you I just dropped one of those 10 minutes ago!! (besides a 30 second intro)
If you ever feel like watching a bunch like that I made a ton during the pandemic. I just went back and watched a few and it has inspired me to make more of them again. I had some serious time to get artsy then too.👨🏻🎨
ThreeWheelJourney videos and Dave Benfer himself got me into bike touring.
Man! You know we want this shirt! 😀Cool story about your journey. It worked in your advantage to start out riding anything. Whatever you got. It can be just as much fun riding that old french hand me down as it is riding a $8000 carbon Pinarello. You don't have to start at the top. Just grab something with air in the tires and go.
Ha!
Yeah - riding is riding. I may be a bit more picky now but in a jam when traveling I'll grab a Citi Bike and go.
Great video! Never boring.
Thanks!
The movie breaking away got me hooked. I wanted to go fast and Cycle so I bought a Schwinn varsity and finally a Peugeot racing bike in high school. I gave up cycling through college, work and family. I rediscovered my love about 10 + years ago. I dabbled in hard tail mountain bikes, but loved the speed of the road, the kit and “carbon”. (Forgive me) My cycling has matured in the past 2 years and I am starting to embrace steel and the relative slower roll of trails and bike packing. 😜
Nice! I remember watching that movie as a kid when it came on cable TV.
I also think it is possible I may have gone down a roadie path if when I got back into cycling the people around me rode like that.... no hate on any of it - I love watching bike racing!
Cheers!
I tried doing the OTET that week in June it was 100 degrees. Got over 130 miles from Cincinnati to London and had to cash out. I'll try again one day!
I usually fair well in the heat - the second time we did the OTET it was brutal....but I have friends that definitely melt. This was a rough summer with the humidity. It really only let up the last week.
Thanks Tim: perhaps we can hear your story regarding how you transitioned from corn farming to professional photography sometime.
I do believe I have it somewhere on this channel.... I just need to think of what vid(s).
I always rode bikes as a kid, but like you, I didn't come from a biking background.
In fact, there was a time where I would just use public transportation to go from a to b.
When I got a new job, which was really close to my place, I took my bike out of mothball again.
Then my bike was stolen from my basement and I got a nice bike from a coworker, 2nd hand.
Then that got stolen too after 2 years or so.
That was before covid, I then got myself a 50 euro 2nd hand dad bike which I tried to restore, never worked on bikes before.
It was a Peugeout Country 200 hybrid bike. With seized seatpost and bottom bracket and whatnot.
But the seed was planted, I just kept attacking it with lack of knowledge and tools.
I attacked the seatpost with a hacksaw over the course of a week and then collapsed it with a pipe wrench.
The bottom bracket was even worse...
In the meantime, I got myself a hand me down Giant Bouldershock that I rode while I was working on the other bike.
That was finished in the end and with all the knowedge I had gained, I realised that the frame was way too small for me and that all my effort was in vain.
That bike went to a good friend and I still see it and sometimes ride it.
My next bike was a Gitane roadbike that I completely restored, becuase I wanted to go fast.
I rode that almost daily, to work, downtown, everwhere. Ignored the pain because the bike was too small for me as well.
This is the short version fo the rabbit hole, I ended up restoring a Motobecane as a singlespeed and a 90s Marin mtb as a neo retro build.
Currently restoring a 531 tubing frame in my size to ride around, a Peugeot coincidentally.
Now I am fixing and flipping bikes for fun.
Jeez! We have a lot of the same kind of bikes. 90s Marin, Peugeot, Gitanes...
French bikes are such a pain - why do we mess with them!?
Thanks for sharing - love to hear it - cheers!
I like to think of myself as a bikelist
Keep moving people, bike 🏍 ride every day is great 👍
I didn't start biking until I was in my 40s when a couple of friends in Vermont turned me on to mountain biking. From there it progressed to road cycling and eventually touring. The biggest we did was 3 months in Europe. Things slacked off until a couple years ago , when my interest became renewed and I began doing little bikepacking trips and more road riding. This year, I checked the GAP Trail off my bucket list, but did it on the 4 hottest days of the year in mid-July. But I did it. I'm 74 and looking for a new adventure. What is your "discord" channel? I don't live that far from Pittsburgh.
Nice! Would love to do a long tour of Europe.
Discord is like a message board - link in the description of the videos.
Found Discord. Now how do I find your channel
Use the link in my videos - it goes straight to mine.
Loved the video
Thanks Roger!
At my age EVERYONE learned to ride a bike with a banana seat! 😂 Classic. And pick your option for the rail at the seat back: low back or high back?
Got into road cycling 15 yrs ago when I could no longer rely on running due to a knee issue. My first “road bike” was an old Raleigh MTB! Spent a year riding roads and trails with that thing. Weighed a ton. Then bought my first road bike and joined a local club. Tons of fun. But the found gravel and rest is history. I still ride road on a BMC roadmachine, but much prefer my GT Grade gravel bike. It has way more miles than anything and it goes anywhere. It’s my “One Bike to Rule Them All!” 💪🚴♂️
I know mine had a low back, black seat, silver bike.
My road bikes just sit most of the time - I just don't ever want to be limited in where I go!
Great message
Started riding a rubbish second hand bike at about the age of four. We lived on our bikes. Bald tyres. Rod brakes. Thin brake blocks. Fixy.
Main purpose to ride wherever our parents said was dangerous to go.
Gap from 8-12 then rode frequently when at senior school until 18. Dabbled for many years.
Jan2020 my dog died and soon after I bought an e-bike and using that and my old mountain bike did more and more. Joined a cycling club in late 2020 and achieved 3,000 miles up til April 2023 when I acquired a rescue Labrador.
Not so much cycling since but still ride to the shops, doctors, pharmacy, parties, holidays.
Off cycling in Brittany (France) for the first week of September with the cycling club. Yeah!
Incidentally where I live in the uk ’hitting someone up’ usually means there is another mouth to feed in nine months time.😂👍
Nice!
I often get comments on the differences between British English and American English. I thin the funniest is the term "bonking". British people will get on my case about it but GCN says it all the time!
cool
You never made that video going over the vintage raleigh and the history of the company--would love to see that!
I didn't - just this one ruclips.net/video/szJlsNNLlMQ/видео.htmlsi=UL4RvqMZtzPucKUp
The vintage Raleigh was actually a Huffy and I ended up giving it to a friend to build up.
I've been a cyclist for over 40 years, have owned well over 200 bikes in my life. I always have between 6 and 10 or so bikes at any one given moment. I have a couple ebikes, one for me and one for the wife who doesn't really ever ride unfortunately. Anyway, I love my ebike, I don't really ride it a ton but when I do ride it its awesome for what I use it for. I took a 2003 Gary Fisher hard tail disc brake mt bike and put an air fork on it and bought a mid drive ebike kit and put that on it and turned it into a monster. It will do over 30mph wide open. Its perfect for going somewhere and not breaking a major sweat like you stated but I can also do some pretty tough mt bike stuff I personally could not do on a regular bike due to me being 62 years old and weighing about 210. The ebike can get me up some pretty steep inclines at creek crossings etc. I live in flat North Texas so no mountains here. Its a great fun bike that can get me to places a motorcycle or scooter is not allowed. The majority of my riding is on a regular bike but the ebike is super fun and worth having in my opinion.
Awesome!
Dang - 200!!!
@@TimFitzwater Give or take, I have photos of most of them I should count and see.
15:08 get out there
1970's oil crises happened and I was not gonna line up for gas. Used my last 1/4 tank of gas to get to a bike shop.
Heck yeah! I've researched the bike boom but wasn't born yet. That was probably the biggest cycling game changer with the pandemic being a second.
Dankeschön
Merci Beaucoup!😂🥰