Paul Roberts has a inspirational post on biking as a route for increased spirituality. That generally seems to be true with me. Life is definately different on a bike, especially when you have been biking for hours in the middle of nowhere. I agree w/ all his suggestions, especially the saddle/seat.

So I got a chance to take the bike out for a spin to test the new geometry and seat; it's much improved, but there is still some chaffing, but in different areas than before. I'll probably have to get some petrolium based lubricant. But it definately feels alot better, more like an actual road bike made for distance riding. It's hard to explain, but my body and the machine are much more in sync. Hopefully i won't be in agony on Saturday when I do the next club ride.

Here is a short review of an article in Lancet which found that almost all 'serious' mountain bikers had scrotal abnormalities. It's pretty interesting stuff, but the recommendations fall short I feel. Anyway most people around here don't do mountain biking, and almost all of us don't do it to the extent of the study population (which biked 5000+ k/year).

Also, here is a great collection of bike info, from repair to nutrition. This is a coalation of posts on the usenet rec.bicycles forum. Here is another big compilation of bike info, at Sheldon Brown's website.