Biking Down a Country Road

[BabyBoy2023]

I love to ride a bike though I am blind. My favorite place to ride is down a long gravel road in the country. I am staying at a cousin's house until I find a place, and when it gets warm out, I am going to do some cruisin'!!!! Where do you all like to ride?

 

[Tenawearer]

Off road, through the woods. Climbing and descents in the mountains.

 

[VanHelsing]

Living on the edge of a medium sized town in Wiltshire, there are plenty of great rides, but my favourite has to be Swindon, Marlborough, the over the downs to Avebury, before heading home. A fabulous 30 miler.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

Off road, through the woods. Climbing and descents in the mountains.

Hi, TenaWearer, I'm just curious as to how you bike through the mountains. I have never been on a bike in the mountains. Do you get special tires that are made for bicycles, or do you mean motor biking? I think it would be cool to pedal bike through the mountains. I just don't know how it's done. As to my last reply, I didn't mean to sound offensive or like I was making fun of you. I was just wondering how you do it. I deleted it and posted this reply instead. I hope you are doing well. Take care.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

Living on the edge of a medium sized town in Wiltshire, there are plenty of great rides, but my favourite has to be Swindon, Marlborough, the over the downs to Avebury, before heading home. A fabulous 30 miler.

Yeah, I like smooth concrete biking trails too. I like the ones that run alongside busy freeways and express lanes because I love the sound of high-speed traffic, especially at night. There's just something about night traffic that is so exillerating and fun to me. I have always liked highway travel at night, and biking alongside one is so much fun; however, don't do it without a bike being equipped for night riding. A headlight and reflectors are extremely important for this sort-of thing, and being that I am blind, you won't catch me on a bike trail alongside a high-speed traffic area alone no matter it be day or night.

 

[Tenawearer]

When on holiday the mountain bike comes with me, no mountains in the Netherlands. Plenty of goed well marked mountainbike trails locally and in the rest of the country. I also have a road racing bike. As soon as the weather improves I will have to get cycling again. Been a bit lacks lately.

 

[Tenawearer]

No offence noted or taken BabyBoy.

 

[MudPuppy]

Mountain biking (single track) when I can, paved bike paths or roads when I must. When it's not cold out, I get in 50-200 miles a week. My knees get cranky when it's below 60F/15C.

 

[littleFeathers]

Where do you all like to ride?

I live in a very rural area, so there's plenty of roads to ride around here that aren't too busy (especially early on a Sunday morning) and some back roads through wooded areas.

In the summer time, I get out early in the morning before dawn to beat the heat. Yes, I have plenty of lights; if someone hits me, they're going to have a Really Hard Time explaining to the judge how it was they couldn't see me.

Last year I rather unexpectedly came to own a mountain bike. This is something I always thought I'd enjoy but didn't pursue because the decent trails are about an hour from here and my time had been very tight. With the time constraints eased, this was a good time, and I spent last summer learning how to ride a mountain bike.

The first thing I learned is that mountain biking is almost, but not completely different from the road biking I'd been doing for almost 20 years. The bike is heavier, with a sturdier frame, big knobby tires and suspension components, the shifters are different, the posture is different (you sit upright on a mountain bike, not down beak-first like on a road bike), and that's just the bike (my road bike looks positively spindly next to the mountain bike). Riding trails, over roots, drops, rocks, under tree branches, up and down Hills, across creeks, that takes a different mind set. It took me a while to get past some of my road biking instincts, because some things you do on a mountain bike (like mud, gravel, tight turns) would be certain disaster on a purely road bike.

 

[BabyBoy2023]

I live in a very rural area, so there's plenty of roads to ride around here that aren't too busy (especially early on a Sunday morning) and some back roads through wooded areas.

In the summer time, I get out early in the morning before dawn to beat the heat. Yes, I have plenty of lights; if someone hits me, they're going to have a Really Hard Time explaining to the judge how it was they couldn't see me.

Last year I rather unexpectedly came to own a mountain bike. This is something I always thought I'd enjoy but didn't pursue because the decent trails are about an hour from here and my time had been very tight. With the time constraints eased, this was a good time, and I spent last summer learning how to ride a mountain bike.

The first thing I learned is that mountain biking is almost, but not completely different from the road biking I'd been doing for almost 20 years. The bike is heavier, with a sturdier frame, big knobby tires and suspension components, the shifters are different, the posture is different (you sit upright on a mountain bike, not down beak-first like on a road bike), and that's just the bike (my road bike looks positively spindly next to the mountain bike). Riding trails, over roots, drops, rocks, under tree branches, up and down Hills, across creeks, that takes a different mind set. It took me a while to get past some of my road biking instincts, because some things you do on a mountain bike (like mud, gravel, tight turns) would be certain disaster on a purely road bike.

I love roads winding through wooded areas, and as a kid living in the town of English, in Crawford County, Indiana, I would walk with my big sister and little brother along the road that ran through the woods not far from the house we lived in at the time. Oh, I can still smell the moist air and the scent of the various flowering trees and things when I think back on those overcast summer days.

 

[Cottontail]

I did some mountain biking as a teen. I went over the handlebars a few times. My body definitely couldn't take that anymore. Wife and I go on a lot of rides during the warmer months, mostly on flat trails by the water here. Our favorite ride is a 12-mile round trip to a brewery/BBQ place where we like to have lunch. Always good to eat unhealthy food and then immediately work it off--or try, ha ha!

 

[messydiaper]

I love that you're a blind person riding a bike! Go you! And enjoy!

 

[BabyBoy2023]

I did some mountain biking as a teen. I went over the handlebars a few times. My body definitely couldn't take that anymore. Wife and I go on a lot of rides during the warmer months, mostly on flat trails by the water here. Our favorite ride is a 12-mile round trip to a brewery/BBQ place where we like to have lunch. Always good to eat unhealthy food and then immediately work it off--or try, ha ha!

I so dearly wish I knew you because you seem like the humorous type, and I get along great with those folks. You take care, and I hope all is going well for you. May spring come early so we can go biking some more? Oh, and don't launch yourself over the handlebars anymore, ha ha. You take care.

BabyBoy2023

 

[Cottontail]

I so dearly wish I knew you because you seem like the humorous type, and I get along great with those folks. You take care, and I hope all is going well for you. May spring come early so we can go biking some more? Oh, and don't launch yourself over the handlebars anymore, ha ha. You take care.

We almost went riding on Saturday. It’s been very warm here.

And I’m a cautious rider these days, quite unlike my younger self. My worst bicycle accident ever was during a game of chicken right outside my parents’ house. My best friend and I underestimated each other and almost ended up in the hospital. Front rims looked like pretzels, I was almost knocked out, friend got a black eye from the top of my head hitting him in the face… Needless to say, there was never a tiebreaker.

(Cottontail the bunny has bandages all over her body for a reason!)

So what does “riding blind” entail, if you don’t mind my asking? I assume that you must have sight enough to perceive the major boundaries of your environment, even if not clearly?

 

[VanHelsing]

Yeah, I like smooth concrete biking trails too. I like the ones that run alongside busy freeways and express lanes because I love the sound of high-speed traffic, especially at night. There's just something about night traffic that is so exillerating and fun to me. I have always liked highway travel at night, and biking alongside one is so much fun; however, don't do it without a bike being equipped for night riding. A headlight and reflectors are extremely important for this sort-of thing, and being that I am blind, you won't catch me on a bike trail alongside a high-speed traffic area alone no matter it be day or night.

Well that makes you look the fool! The route I suggested is virtually all off road. If you want to be ironic at least don't make yourself look moronic!