Q: How many bikes can a cyclist own?
A: N+1. With N being the number of bikes one already owns.
Get it?
Just yesterday, only six days after launching QuipsyLA, I was cycling in my neighborhood on San Vicente and was stopped at a red light. The cyclist next to me started chatting, "I'm riding my old bike because my other bikes are in the shop." Then he beamed, "N+1!" I laughed and told him about my new company and our t-shirt, "I heart N +1," explaining the graphic was a play on the iconic "I heart New York." He laughed, saying, "That's a good one!" I knew it would be! After all, every cyclist thinks "N+1" is funny.
I've been a road cyclist for sixteen years and a mountain biker for over twenty years, so I've owned many bikes over the past several decades. You can say, I like bikes! Currently, I have five bikes and am happy with all of them. I ride my Specialized road bike the most with my Trek mountain bike coming in a close second in terms of hours cycled, not miles. Then, there's my Niner gravel bike that I ride occasionally. When I'm at home Zwifting on a trainer, I ride my other Specialized road bike that never comes off the trainer. My fifth bike is not used a lot, but I love it and can't part with it. This Santa Cruz Juliana mountain bike also has sentimental value because my brother Eric, who is also my QuipsyLA co-founding partner, generously gifted it to me after we vacationed in Bryce and Zion National Parks on a one week mountain bike trip. I had demo'd this dual-suspension Juliana for the week and fell in love with it. Subsequently, I starting hating my single suspension Trek at home. Eric helped end that misery for me.
Although, I'm not in the market to buy a new bike, I've always thought about riding an e-mountain bike. Not because I'm a lazy ass and don't like to climb, but because an e-bike would help me ride further, longer and higher. Win-win-win! So, who knows. Maybe there is a new bike in my future. N+1, baby!