@tragedyjones said:
@Arkandel said:
@tragedyjones That's inhumane. You should sue.
Prisons are terrible. Details at 11.
Prisoner's relatives are worse. Work customer service for one of the company's that provides the phone service for inmates and find out just how bad. >.>
So the Giant Soulless MegaCorp I work for is relocating my position to another office that (shockingly) will end up being closer to where I live. In a decision that positively impacts my life, purely by accident. So I'll be within pretty easy biking distance of work starting next month.
I'd like to at least try this. I've been toying with the idea of buying a bike for awhile, for health reasons, and this seems like as good a time as any.
Does anybody who bikes regularly have advice on what kind to get? The Internet tells me there's a huge range of choices and price ranges.
This would be mainly for city commuting/tooling around, but I'm within driving distance of some decent desert trails where I go hiking now and might in theory want to bike out there at some point in my life.
@Three-Eyed-Crow said:
Does anybody who bikes regularly have advice on what kind to get? The Internet tells me there's a huge range of choices and price ranges.
I bought a bike semi-recently so... Basically, go to a local bike store or two with an idea of how much you are willing to spend. Be aware that they will try to upsell you - it's how they make a living after all - but also that the laws of diminishing returns apply to bicycles; if you go up from $300 to $400 you'll get a much better model but go up from $800 to $900 and won't be as big a deal for your commute and recreational rides.
Then test ride the bikes that match your range and make sure they fit your geometry. Are you comfortable on the saddle, does it feel right? Does it look nice? I mean if you're gonna spend a few hundred bucks on something you'll keep for a few years it might as well be something you'll enjoy in every way.
That's it!
10 pull-ups here I come. I could do you once upon a time in my distant athletic youth, and I'm slowly closing back in. At 7 right now, so that's just 3 more to go.
Never in my life have I been able to do a pull-up.
I'm a rodeo clown.
@lordbelh You could cheat and drop five pounds before going for it. That's how I got to five from my usual maximum of 3.
@Three-Eyed-Crow I love bikes. In addition to everything @Arkandel suggested, I would offer that you might consider getting a road bike, if your main use is going to be on pavement. Someone might suggest a hybrid, but my experience is that I'm basically a sail in the wind; being hunched over the handlebars would be vastly superior. If you want to go out to do trailriding, you can always look around for a second-hand trail bike. Honestly, they're far more common and far less expensive than a road bike, so unless you have storage space concerns, owning a second bike for the occasional off-road experience isn't that bad a thing.
See, hybrids have the skinny tyres of a road bike with the uprightness of a mountain bike. The problem is they're difficult to use if the trail you're on is gravelly while also being upright for the wind (as previously mentioned)
Oh! Get a U-lock. No, a thick cable is not the same. Get a U-lock. I can't stress that enough.
@dontpanda said:
Oh! Get a U-lock. No, a thick cable is not the same. Get a U-lock. I can't stress that enough.
Yeah, there are some good locks on Amazon (I recommend the Kryptonite Evolution Series which I own, the OnGuard Pitbull STD is pretty good too) for $50ish which are more than good enough for most people. You don't want your brand new $$$ bike gone because some guy took it off with a single lever (that's what most of them do, just use a piece of metal they find around the area, twist the chain around it and hope it yields).
Also get some apps. 
There are some sweet ride-finding ones out there, and with GPS you can keep track of where you're going, how far you're riding etc. If you're into that sort of thing it's a blast - gadgets!
Man, comparing my exercise numbers from just 3 weeks ago to today and I can see a visible, numerical improvement in the stats. Even after taking an entire week off due to plague.
@dontpanda said:
Oh! Get a U-lock. No, a thick cable is not the same. Get a U-lock. I can't stress that enough.
Got a Pitbull U-lock. The guy at the bike store cut $10 off the price when I was buying the bike, and I live in a college town where bike theft is rampant, so I figured it was worth $40.
@Arkandel said:
Also get some apps.
I'm using Strava, which seems to work well enough, but was also the first thing Google gave me that synced with my Fitbit, so I don't know if there are better ones out there. I am enjoying riding three or four times a week, though, so thus far it's a life upgrade.
@Three-Eyed-Crow I've heard of Strava. Since my Fitbit model has GPS I haven't used it but I think it's one of the good ones. Have a ton of fun with your new bike!
So I got a replacement Fitbit Charge HR that was mailed to me on vacation...
Naturally, while I was on vacation, it was working just fine. Allegedly
Fitbit is kind of awesome with their customer service,though.
And I only gained back two pounds while out of town and doing nothing but eating! Woo! >>
Is there any tribal knowledge on which fitbit is the best? Just asking, because there are quite a few out there.
@ArmedCarp If you want to track your paths the Surge is great since it comes with GPS. If you don't but you still want your tracker and smartphone to talk (for music control, text notifications, etc) the Blaze will do. If you just want caller ID, the Charge. If you just want steps and maybe a heartbeat monitor almost any model will do - and you get to save a ton of money in the process.
You can use https://www.fitbit.com/ca/compare to see for yourself which model has what.
Awesome. Was just seeing if there were any known issues or whatever. That helps a lot. Thank you.
Look in to any complaints of rashes. Some people have issues with certain devices
Doublepost: I received an unsolicited comment that I was losing weight today.
I'm a rodeo clown.
@ArmedCarp Their batteries holding a charge is an issue, that's about it. To give you an idea, I had a replacement tracker sent which itself had battery issues so now they're sending me a second replacement for the first placement.
There's a suspicion it could be because I was charging from a wall socket instead of a computer's USB port (!) which is silly since I've been using the same one to charge a bunch of different devices, but...
@tragedyjones said:
Doublepost: I received an unsolicited comment that I was losing weight today.
That's awesome. Congratulations. I need to work harder at it.
@tragedyjones said:
@Arkandel said:
@tragedyjones That's inhumane. You should sue.
Prisons are terrible. Details at 11.
Prisoner's relatives are worse. Work customer service for one of the company's that provides the phone service for inmates and find out just how bad. >.>
