Just ride

a radically practical guide to riding your bike : equipment, health, safety, attitude

English language

Published Jan. 5, 2012 by Workman Pub..

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (16 reviews)

Just Ride is a revelation. Forget the ultralight, uncomfortable bikes, flashy jerseys, clunky shoes that clip onto tiny pedals, the grinding out of endless miles. Instead, ride like you did when you were a kid—just get on your bike and discover the pure joy of riding it.

A reformed racer who’s commuted by bike every day since 1980, whose writings and opinions appear in major bicycling and outdoor magazines, and whose company, Rivendell Bicycle Works, makes bikes for riders ready to opt out of a culture overrun by racing, Grant Petersen shares a lifetime of unexpected facts, controversial opinions, expert techniques, and his own maverick philosophy.

In 87 short, two-to-three page chapters, it covers:

Riding: Count Days, Not Miles; Corner Like Jackie Robinson; Steer with Your Hips, Shift with Your Legs

Suiting Up: The Shoes Ruse; Ponchos—the Ultimate Unracer’s Garment

Safety: #1 Rule—Be Seen; Helmets Aren’t All They’re Cracked Up …

2 editions

Not bad, but the tone rubbed me the wrong way

3 stars

I ended up giving this book three stars because I agree with the general idea: we need more people who want to just get on a bike in simple every day ways without feeling pressured away from bicycles by people insisting that they need to be buying the latest-and-greatest gear or wearing lycra and cleats.

That being said, the author couches the entire book in terms of the "Unracer", which, while amusing, also feels a bit like the same gatekeepy behavior he's railing against. At the same time, he starts out talking about how many people he's going to offend in a very dismissive way that rubbed me wrong. If you have to start out giving a disclaimer, it seems worth just changing your tone. It's a bit arrogant to throw in the disclaimer in a "their feelings don't matter to me, so this is fine" sort of way. This …

Sage advice, some of which you won't agree with.

5 stars

This is a well-considered manifesto about the absurdity of allowing bike racing culture to dominate the thinking of the everyday bike rider. I can see how this little book would upset a lot of the high priests and acolytes of the bicycle world, but for the rest of us, it's a good, common-sense guide. Ride in everyday clothes, carbon fiber works for racers but can fail spectacularly and suddenly for everyone else, exercise doesn't help you lose weight, use steady lights instead of blinkers, baskets are a good thing, etc. You won't necessarily agree with everything Petersen says, and that's fine. Take what works for you.

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Subjects

  • Bicycles
  • Cycling
  • Handbooks, manuals

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