So, I'm thinking of buying a really easy, one-speed, no fuss bike and using it to ride around the city, if I can figure out how to get into the city without having to swim across the river with it lashed to my back.

Any advice, you bikers out there?

-- Kymm Zuckert (hedgehog@hedgehog.net), June 21, 2001

Answers

As a novice biker, there is one thing, above all which you must get. Skip the tassels from the end of the handlebars, no cards in the spokes until you get...a gel seat. This is the greatest invention since fire. Get a big, wide, comfy, gel seat. Get a gel seat cover for your gel seat. Your ass will thank you. I know mine big ol' ass did when I retrofitted my city and my off road bikes with gel seats.

-- Don (delson@mdsintl.com), June 21, 2001.

A nice big wide gel seat might be very comfy for someone who just wants to tool around on a monogeared bike and who has a plus-size butt. In contrast, my seat has a hole through the middle of it. Every spring I have to break in my butt muscles to ride, and then they're happy, but the one part of your body you can't break it is your pubic bone. My pubic bone loves the hole in my seat.

-- Lisa Houlihan (lisa@penguindust.com), June 21, 2001.

I just bought a bike not too long ago, and am going to buy a larger seat. My ass was so sore the last time I rode it that I stopped not because I was tired of pedaling, but because my ass was in PAIN!

Also... try checking out any local colleges - students may be getting rid of their perfectly good bikes - or the Public Safety office may have leads on where to pick up a bike that may have been deserted.

Have fun riding!! It's a hoot! :)

(ps - i got your tape, will be sending cds out this weekend!! xox)

-- Claire (claire@blueletters.net), June 22, 2001.

When I was a kid, I came to own a racing bike. It had 10 speeds, drop down handle bars and a rock-hard leather seat. It was quite a novelty for me at the time because my previous bike was a BMX.

For the first couple of months, riding that bike was an exercise in extreme soreness, if not pain. I must have built up some good butt calluses because at some point I no longer felt any soreness and riding that bike became very comfortable. To this day I remember that bike with fondness.

-- Roger Bixby (rwoodb@yahoo.com), June 22, 2001.

Kymm: You ask a sensible question about transporting your new bike and everyone wants to talk about your butt. Oh, the perils of being a celebrity. I did like the mental picture of you swimming the Hudson with the bike strapped to your shoulders, though. Maybe you'll have to move to Brooklyn so you can walk your bike across the Bklyn Bridge. Just a thought. Jon

-- Jon Arthur (zanne1504@aol.com), June 22, 2001.

This is also not a helpful suggestion, but it's worth noting that the multi-gear bikes (the lowest you'll get is 21 speeds, but you don't have to use them all) are soooo much better on hills. Also, they tend to be lighter, which means less effort to ride.

I assume your trains/busses/vans don't take bikes? Some do, in some cities. Or could you leave it at work, by any chance?

-- Jessie (blue@avocation.org), June 23, 2001.

Hi Kymm, Today I bought a Trek, Town and country. It's a cruiser but it does have four speeds. Nice big seat to hold a nice big seat. Went for a 2 hour ride and was comfey cozy. I highly recommend this bike. As for the crossing of the river, I live on the west coast and don't have a clue where your talking about. Hope you get a great bike. Jeni

-- Jeni (ksaylor@dswebnet.com), August 11, 2003.

went for a 3 hr bike ride and my butt wouldnt talk to me for 3 days cos of the pain i put it thru...... next time i ride a bike its gonna have a jason recliner strapped to it lol

-- sore ass (juzzmagic@hotmail.com), December 29, 2003.