See you in the stacks
Excellent finding yourself story. Extra star because of BIKES! I do love a good bicycling adventure story.
I listened to this book on audio and really enjoyed the reader who I believe was the author. I originally added this to my list because it was a find yourself story and discovering what you are capable of. However, I was surprised to find out that this was also a cycle touring adventure as well.
This book offers an interesting and new (to US residents) look at bicycle infrastructure. The author suggest a build it and they will come philosophy to bicycle infrastructure. I whole-heartedly agree with this and 90% of what he offers in the book. My one major complaint is his stance on bikes. I feel they have a place and get more people on bikes. Anything that does that is a plus in my book.
The US has different challenges that the rest of the world, getting butts in saddles is one of the things we need to change. While the COVID-19 pandemic definitely sold bikes, it did not increase the amount of people doing everyday activities, like running errands and grocery shopping on bicycles. At least not from what I see daily. Commuting is also down, so commuting via bicycle at least for those already working from home didn’t change.
What we may have increased with the pandemic is recreational riders and not those who ride because it is the easiest way to get around which is what Mikal talks about in his book. For this to change in the US it means that we need to drastically change our infrastructure. Mikal talks about a lot of different ways to do this. If you want to see what needs to change in the US and places like it to make them more bicycle friendly, then this is a great book.
I loved this book and it only loses a star because of his stance on ebikes.
I ordered this book as a Zip Book. My library ordered it from Amazon and shipped it directly to me. When the library opens again I will return directly to the library and it will become part of the circulating collection. Very cool option!
I’ve been wanting to read Selene’s book for some time after listening to her on the Paceline Podcast. She is also known to Bicycling Magazine readers as the Fit Chick. She breaks down losing weight while cycling in an easy to read and digestible way. I can also tell you from my experience she is absolutely correct.
I’ve lost over 30 lbs mostly riding on my bike. During the COVID pandemic, I’ve been riding indoors and you can burn a huge amount of calories riding if you stick with it. Indoor tools like Zwift make it easier to stick to riding by gamifying the whole thing.
If you are a cyclist or interested in how the low-impact exercise of biking can help you lose weight this is a great read!
Excellent common-sense advice from someone who knows what they are talking about. Ever wish you could sit down with the bike shop owner for a few hours and pick their brain. This book is your chance. Great advice and makes sense to this Unracer.
Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike by Grant Petersen introduces us to those people who cycle not to race and not to get faster, but maybe just to get somewhere or to have fun. The recreational cyclist.
There are a lot of very expensive bikes and expensive gear. What Grant seems to set out to do in this book is to tell you that it’s not really needed to have some fun on a bike. Just because you have a bike doesn’t mean that you need to increase your FTP or find your optimal cadence. You can just ride to have fun and that can be enough.
You have way too many gears For all-around riding over a variety of surfaces and terrain, you need eight gears
Grant Petersen
I love this! Another one is to make it easier going up hills Grant suggests just standing up, you don’t have to shift down necessarily. There is nothing wrong with just getting up and letting your body weight on the pedals help propel the bike up the hill.
Look at the land as something to pass through, not to conquer
Grant Petersen
“Your bike will go where your eyes look”. Great advice. Another one he mentions you can turn with your hips, turn your hips in the direction you want to go and you don’t need to turn the handlebars. I’ve tried it and it works.
No matter how much you like it, bike riding shouldn’t be your only exercise. Ride your bike half of the time, then work the muscles that bike riding doesn’t
Grant Petersen
I highlight the quote above because I am guilty of this. I do add in yoga but really only so I can ride more without such stiff hips.
Just ride is a great book that reminds us that riding a bike doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or hard….just ride.