Road Cycling - The Big 2-0

Hey everyone,

Today was a hectic day; I wanted to get my slicks put on today, but the LBS doesn't open until 12 on Sundays and our Cable provider was coming at 1 to upgrade us to digital cable. This left a pretty small bike window open, but I still managed to ride my longest distance yet, 22.06 miles.

My dad and I parked at the LBS at 10 AM and headed out from there. Of course, I was still on my knobbies at this point. Anyways, we rode through some local towns (Southport and Westport for any Connecticutians) and along the shore of the Long Island Sound and out to a local Starbucks for a coffee on the river.

Originally, I figured we would probably get in 15 miles since we wanted to be back by 1, but when I saw that it was 10.07 to Starbucks, I knew we had to get 20. The ride back to the LBS was a lot more difficult because were riding directly in to the wind; in fact, my average speed went from 12.4 to 11.9 (which is still good by my standards and on knobbies).

Towards the end, I was getting a pretty bad headache because it was rather humid because a front is coming in today. My allergies were acting up as I could feel the pollen in my eyes and I got a runny nose, but overall it was still an awesome ride and made me much more confident about my road abilities. And now that I have slicks, I'm really looking forward to getting more in to the road scene.

Anyways, to sum things up, I rode 22 miles on knobbies, got slicks on the 4100 as part of my "roadification" process and had a blast. BTW, this is my longest ride to date, but I'm a fairly new cyclist though I'm really getting in to it and actually riding a 25 mile ride a week from today (Bloomin' Metric) and a 31 mile ride in Pennsylvania in August, and in a year or so I hope to be riding a 47 or 49 cm Trek or Fuji road bike.

Shane

P.S. If anyone's curious, the LBS was Westport Bikes (www.westportbikes.com).

great job shane

I remember when I first started to get into cycling, I was riding my old GT mountain bike, and I would be lucky to get just 30 min in for a ride! :D

now I tend to ride 5.5-6 hour centuries (100 miles) once a month and I commute everywhere. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and I feel great. keep at it pretty soon you'll be riding 50+ miles :)

Congratulations! I did my first 22 miles last Sunday. You should be proud. I did my first 30 miler yesterday, Saturday, and I felt really well afterward. I felt good enough to do 12 miles today. I did the 12 on a mtb, and I will never take it to the trail again. I mtb is for light streets, curbs, fields and gravel roads. I felt like I did a 20 miler on it. But...I had to know how different it was to ride the mtb vs the road bike on the concrete bike trail. Check my web page, I have started a bike distance log on it from the first day that I started riding the trail for excercise. Best - Ted

Originally posted by The Terminator
Congratulations! I did my first 22 miles last Sunday. You should be proud. I did my first 30 miler yesterday, Saturday, and I felt really well afterward. I felt good enough to do 12 miles today. I did the 12 on a mtb, and I will never take it to the trail again. I mtb is for light streets, curbs, fields and gravel roads. I felt like I did a 20 miler on it. But...I had to know how different it was to ride the mtb vs the road bike on the concrete bike trail. Check my web page, I have started a bike distance log on it from the first day that I started riding the trail for excercise. Best - Ted

Hey, I'm sort of "roadifying" my mtb (Trek 4100). So far I've basically just added slicks and the necissary flat pack items. Do you think I should continue by adding a rigid fork or that it won't matter too much since it's an mtb frame and it won't be a real roady at all and that I should just buy a new road bike? The problem is, the 4100 is almost brand new; I've only had it for about a month and a half and it only has about 75 miles on it. Therefore, I don't have vast expenses of money to go plop on a new roady and I do like my Trek...but since it has an MTB frame, the ride position, weight, and geometry are very different, even if I do add a rigid fork along with the slicks. What would you reccomend?

Thanks,
Shane

Shane,
I can tell you what I did. I started with a new KHS mtb, and I bought an old Bianchi road bike that had been well maintained. The very first time that I took the road bike to the trail, I KNEW that I needed a good road bike more than I needed the mtb. Like you, my money was already spent on a very good mtb, I wouldn't get rid of it because it has a definite purpose in my life. I can ride it all over town, up and down the steepest hills and down the mosts graveled road and across the roughest fields with my son. I like it very much for that. I don't really know that I will ever use it for riding rough mountains trails or anything that it would really, truly shine at.

A road bike on the road, or trail in my case, is like going from a Yugo to a Cadillac. For me, the $600 that I paid for a very nice Bianchi Campione, with all Campy parts and a Reynolds Ouzo carbon fork, and Michelin tires was more worthwhile than the money I spent on the KHS, $545. If I were in your shoes, and I was there just recently, I would do exactly what I just did, and that is to buy as nice a road bike as you are willing to spend the money on. You can never turn your mtb into a nice road bike, even though you can come close. You will spend too much money in doing this to justify it, in my opinion. I am not an expert cyclist, but I do know what my legs tell me, and I know what feels better and rides more comfortably, and makes me want to ride more on the road, and that is my road bike. It seems that the internet makes instant experts of us all, and we can do a little research and "know" a lot more than we used to have to learn with our wallets. I have only been at this for a short time, and someone with more experience may have a more validated opinion on the subject. I only know what has worked for me, and that is getting the road bike. :) If I had only known a couple of months ago what I know now, I would not have spent as much on the mtb, because the cheaper model would have held up very well for someone who is going to use it like I am going to use it. Best - Ted

Hmm...see, I really want a road bike, but I don't have a steady source of income at my age. I still have a few thousand dollars from my Bar Mitzvah but that's not "oo I have money I should spend it" money. The Trek was $350, and I would probably not want to spend more than 400 on a new road bike. And given my size (5'1" without shoes, 5'2" with), I would have to stretch to fit on a 49cm Fuji League. Trek makes the 1000 in a 47cm, but I'm not ready to spend that kind of money. I think my best bet would be to go used, but since those can vary in how they're maintained and there isn't a set supply of used bikes, that's risky. I'll probably just end up waiting a year or so and by then I'll be taller and I think I'd like to buy a new bike, so I'll probably get a Fuji League then.

Originally posted by VegasCyclist
keep at it pretty soon you'll be riding 50+ miles :)

It actually looks like that might be happening sooner than expected. I have my first SCBC (Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club) ride, the Bloomin' Metric, this coming Sunday (the 18th). I was planning on riding the 25 mile course with my brother while my dad did the 100km ride (62 miles). However, I remembered that my brother's leaving for Detroit that day, so I wouldn't have a riding partner. My dad and I settled and I'm now signed up for the 75km (46.5 mile) ride! I'm actually amazingly excited and can't wait for the day. It's going to be tough as that's twice as long as my longest ride. However, I can already feel many new leg muscles forming and I'm a lot more comfortable on my bike, especially now that I have slicks on. I figure if the ride is so close to 50, we'll probably just ride around for at least 3.5 miles afterwards just to get to the big 50. With all the rest stops with food, drink and bathroom, I'm hoping that I'll be ok. Wish me luck!