posted March 12, 2002 by bikaholic

1. You find that a strange jargon is working its way into your everyday conversation. Words like "derailleur," "Campagnolo," "Biopace," "Kevlar," "Dia Comp," and "Shimano."

2. You have an uncontrollable urge to bring your bike into the house - preferably in the living room or the bedroom.

3. You find it amazingly easy to justify the purchase of a third bike - this one just for special rides.

4. You plan, and actually look forward to, a two-week bicycling vacation trekking across mountainous terrain and setting a goal of 75 - 100 miles a day, rain or shine!

5. You can actually remember which valve type is Presta and which is Schraeder, and are adament about defending your favorite.

6. Your spouse begins to automatically assume that you'll be on a club ride every weekend, or worse yet your non-riding spouse begins to learn bike jargon.

7. You meticulously care for your bike, while your $10,000 car quietly rusts away.

8. You view Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries as times to exchange gifts of bicycling components and accessories.

9. You hang around bike shops without really needing anything.

10. You're so naive that you think a "wheel-watcher" is a bike racing fan.

11. You accumulate bike catalogs - and find something new to order with each new issue.

12. You easily rationalize replacing perfectly good components, just because something slightly better or trendier just came out.

13. You never throw away the replaced parts - even worn out tires and tubes.

14. Your eating habits have changed. Things like "gorp," "Gookinade," and "carbohydrates" creep into your diet.

15. You plan the year ahead around the dates of TOSRV, GEAR, the LAW rally, the Hilly Hundred, the Makleville Death Ride, etc (the list grows longer every year).

16. You don't plan any family events ahead until checking the "Monthly Meanders" schedule.

17. You begin to regard your job or school as a troublesome nuisance, interfering with your quality biking time

posted November 14, 2002

Any one of your bikes is worth more than your car.

You choose an apartment solely on the basis of whether or not it is flat enough to ride into and how close the good roads/trails are.

Your bike rack is worth more than your car.

Your legs are tanned only to mid-thigh.

The first thing you ask when you regain consciousness is "How's my bike".

You actually move farther form work so your bike commute will be longer.

You mentally log every meal as "good fuel" or "bad fuel".

Your learn you have X money left over after paying bills and the first thing you do is reach for the nearest bicycling catalog.

75% of the tools you own are from Park or Campagnolo.

You dream of winning the lottery, and the first thing you think of is "how many/which bikes can that money buy?"

You can tell your significant other with a straight face that its too hot to mow the lawn then take off and ride a century.

Someone in a car asks for directions and you accidentally give them a route that includes motor vehicle barriers, or a route that bypasses all freeways/busy roads (or is very scenic etc.)

You buy a car based on whether or not a bike will fit in the trunk/back.

You pull up hard on the steering wheel trying to jump your car over a pot-hole.

You know the distance of every point of interest within 20 miles of your house as well as the location of every pot-hole along the way.

You refuse to buy a couch because that patch of wall space is taken up by your bikes.

page mise à jour le 15 novembre 2002 par SVP