New bike again...

>> I think those who are challenged in a dermatological sense shouldn't
>> throw
>> stones. Your dry skin doing better now in flatlander/muggy/bugland there
>> Kurt?
>
> Yep, although I don't think my joints will ever recover - they have been
> in bad shape ever since the first year in Denver.

How does more moisture in the air effect joints? I get awful stiff and
bad-jointy occasionally, and haven't really noticed a difference between sea
level and altitude at Denver. Stiff in both places.

> And just for the record, regarding the flatlander
> thing, my daily commute is just as twisty (although maybe not as scenic)
> as a
> ride in the CO mountains. When I was living in Denver, I actually had to
> ride
> for a half hour or more to get to anything fun.

Thats because you chose poorly where to live. The east side of town sucks,
and the punishment for making the mistake of living there is a long ride to
the canyons. My bike is just about warmed up in time to hit either the
canyons, or some nice dirt roads.
 >> Stay informed about: New bike again... 

>> Nah...he's just whining because he picked a poor place to live for all of
>> a
>> year while he was developing wildly inaccurate memories of Colorado.
>
> 30 months is more than a year, right? In fact, I think that includes two
> and
> a half cold winters with more snow than I have seen in my entire life.

Then you have led a sheltered life. Plus you were here during a BIG
blizzard, it was even BETTER this past winter.


> Even after traveling a bit, you have bits of boring roads connecting the
> fun stuff. However, PA and WV are right around the corner, if I'm up for
> a long day.

I don't like PA, well, not the part I'm familiar with anyway, but WV rulz.
 >> Stay informed about: New bike again... 

TroytheTroll wrote:
>
> How does more moisture in the air effect joints? I get awful stiff and
> bad-jointy occasionally, and haven't really noticed a difference between sea
> level and altitude at Denver. Stiff in both places.

It is something I and a lot of bodybuilders noticed - we seemed to have more
problems in very dry climates. I thought it was just a coincidence that
I started having a lot of joint trouble once I moved out there, until I
heard the same complaint from others. I'm not sure if normal peole would
have the same problems because they are not pushing heavy weights around.

As for the actual reason, I can make some guesses, but I don't know for sure.
I'm sure a doctor would say it is nonsense, but doctors don't really know
much about this stuff and they are very good at being experts on things
they know nothing about.

- Kurt
 >> Stay informed about: New bike again... 

TroytheTroll wrote:
>
> Nah...he's just whining because he picked a poor place to live for all of a
> year while he was developing wildly inaccurate memories of Colorado.

30 months is more than a year, right? In fact, I think that includes two and
a half cold winters with more snow than I have seen in my entire life.

> For the record though, the canyons are different than some of those SE Ohio
> goattrails I grew up on, I don't know which is better, but its hard to fault
> some of the flatlander roads. But Kurt is right, they just don't have the
> same scenery around them.

What I liked about the mountains in CO is when you got into them, the fun
just went on and on and on.... Locally, the best you can do is 20 minutes
here, 30 there. Otherwise, I need to take a 40 minute ride west to get to
some good roads (some of which can compete with CO, and some of which can't).
Even after traveling a bit, you have bits of boring roads connecting the
fun stuff. However, PA and WV are right around the corner, if I'm up for
a long day. Right now I'm just lucky I've found back roads in my daily
commute that are really great. It is hard to believe these roads are
hidden from civilization that is so close by. And almost funny when I think
of all the suckers in bumper to bumper stop and go traffic on the main roads
that are sometimes almost spitting distance from me (but hidden by dense
vegitation).

- Kurt
 >> Stay informed about: New bike again... 

saddlebag wrote:
>
> I've never riden in Colorado, but I've been through a pretty good
> section of REAL mountains out west and notice for the most part that
> those roads aren't nearly as tight and twisty as they are around our
> east end foothills. Sounds like you have a similar experience?

CO has some very nice well paved major roads that aren't too crowded during
the right time of day that are hard to beat. They also have plenty of
smaller roads off the beaten path. And the roads just don't end.

When I moved back to MD (hadn't had a bike before CO), the biggest adjustment
was getting used to a somewhat claustrophobic feeling. There is a lot more
dense vegitation here, with large trees lining the road, and even forming a
canopy of sorts. Instead of a cliff on one side, and a mountain wall on the
other, I'm surrounded by ditches on both sides, with trees lining the way
(choose your poison).

Another big difference is the elevation changes. For the most part, in
CO, I seemed to be either climbing or dropping in altitude, with pauses
in between. Here, out of the mountains, in the more local regions (where
the stretches of twisties don't go on for all that long), the elevation
is more of like a roller coaster going up and down over and over. That
also took a little getting used to. Either way, overall, riding was better
in CO than here, but my daily commute here is more fun.

- Kurt
 >> Stay informed about: New bike again...