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05-25-03, 06:57 PM
Hey everyone,
As some of you may know, I just got my first road bike, a 52 cm 2003 Fuji Finest, earlier today. For its inaugural spin, I took it on a 20.2 mile loop along the coast and through a small wealthy local town to break it in. I have to say it was wonderful.
I picked up the shifting like butter, except that I had trouble going from 2nd to 3rd on the front cog because the lever was like a bear to move. Eventually, I just would reach inside the handle bar and pull from that direction where you have more strength and it worked fine. Sometimes it was even stubborn to downshift on the front cog, but that was easily solved by pressing harder, just as before with upshifting; I'm just used to a more sensitive shifter is what it really boils down to.
Other than that, which I got used to very quickly, the only other real adaptation was the toe clip pedals. However, I quickly became pretty good at slipping my second foot in after I had started with one foot in a pedal. Now I really don't have to travel but 20 yards before I've got both feet in.
Anyways, for the actual ride.
The ride was fantastic and I think that having ridden so much on a mountain bike really trained me well. I travelled with such ease and stamina that it even surprised my dad. For a lot of the time when we were coasting, I was in 3-8 which is the highest gear possible and never once went below 2-5, and only there once. Through the 20.2 miles, I averaged 15.1 mph which isn't bad for my first time on a road bike, but I'd say that's around the D+ range for adult cyclists.
The route we took wasn't monstrously hilly like a lot of the roads in my area, but there were very substantial hills that I would zoom up. In one incident, we were riding along the coast and passed this guy on a mid-90's hybrid bike. However, he passed us a little bit before a pretty large hill and seemed to do so very arrogantly. Heading up the hill, we both smoooked him; my dad just shot up and I was following suit and while he was downshifting like crazy I was still in 3-7 and only downshifted once to reach the top.
Another incident such as that was when we were at a pretty busy intersection and got stopped at a red light. We were stopped there for a good 30 or 40 seconds, all the while watching this lady climb up the hill at the other side of the intersection. My dad leaned over and said, "Think we can nab her?" I wasn't sure but when we got a green she had already peaked the hill so he said we would on the next hill which immediately followed this hill. Low and behold, we scorched by her on the next hill and waved a polite hi, but it was still a very good feeling to pass these people on the hills.
We only made one stop and that was just on the harbor where there were a few benches and we just couldn't pass up the lovely view. We didn't stay for long and after that we really hauled. The first half of the ride was more of a getting-used-to-it phase, but by the second half, we were smoking through town. We were supposed to be home by 4 o'clock and figured we'd reach the car at 4. However, we made such good time that we got to the car at 3:20ish and actually got an ice cream cone as a reward.
Overall, I had an absolute blast and am incredibly happy with the purchase, even more so than, dare I say it, the Trek. My dad has been super supportive of my riding (probably because he wants another riding buddy, lol) and thinks I'm a natural, which is really flattering. When I got home, we did a little photo shoot and worked on the bike just a little bit by moving the reflector to the other side of the handlebars and adding a Cateye Mity2.
Anyways, that's just my first ride on my first road bike and I just have to reiterate how happy I am. In fact, I have a feeling that I might end up being one of those people who doesn't have, or rarely uses, a car when I get older.
Thanks for reading,
Shane
As some of you may know, I just got my first road bike, a 52 cm 2003 Fuji Finest, earlier today. For its inaugural spin, I took it on a 20.2 mile loop along the coast and through a small wealthy local town to break it in. I have to say it was wonderful.
I picked up the shifting like butter, except that I had trouble going from 2nd to 3rd on the front cog because the lever was like a bear to move. Eventually, I just would reach inside the handle bar and pull from that direction where you have more strength and it worked fine. Sometimes it was even stubborn to downshift on the front cog, but that was easily solved by pressing harder, just as before with upshifting; I'm just used to a more sensitive shifter is what it really boils down to.
Other than that, which I got used to very quickly, the only other real adaptation was the toe clip pedals. However, I quickly became pretty good at slipping my second foot in after I had started with one foot in a pedal. Now I really don't have to travel but 20 yards before I've got both feet in.
Anyways, for the actual ride.
The ride was fantastic and I think that having ridden so much on a mountain bike really trained me well. I travelled with such ease and stamina that it even surprised my dad. For a lot of the time when we were coasting, I was in 3-8 which is the highest gear possible and never once went below 2-5, and only there once. Through the 20.2 miles, I averaged 15.1 mph which isn't bad for my first time on a road bike, but I'd say that's around the D+ range for adult cyclists.
The route we took wasn't monstrously hilly like a lot of the roads in my area, but there were very substantial hills that I would zoom up. In one incident, we were riding along the coast and passed this guy on a mid-90's hybrid bike. However, he passed us a little bit before a pretty large hill and seemed to do so very arrogantly. Heading up the hill, we both smoooked him; my dad just shot up and I was following suit and while he was downshifting like crazy I was still in 3-7 and only downshifted once to reach the top.
Another incident such as that was when we were at a pretty busy intersection and got stopped at a red light. We were stopped there for a good 30 or 40 seconds, all the while watching this lady climb up the hill at the other side of the intersection. My dad leaned over and said, "Think we can nab her?" I wasn't sure but when we got a green she had already peaked the hill so he said we would on the next hill which immediately followed this hill. Low and behold, we scorched by her on the next hill and waved a polite hi, but it was still a very good feeling to pass these people on the hills.
We only made one stop and that was just on the harbor where there were a few benches and we just couldn't pass up the lovely view. We didn't stay for long and after that we really hauled. The first half of the ride was more of a getting-used-to-it phase, but by the second half, we were smoking through town. We were supposed to be home by 4 o'clock and figured we'd reach the car at 4. However, we made such good time that we got to the car at 3:20ish and actually got an ice cream cone as a reward.
Overall, I had an absolute blast and am incredibly happy with the purchase, even more so than, dare I say it, the Trek. My dad has been super supportive of my riding (probably because he wants another riding buddy, lol) and thinks I'm a natural, which is really flattering. When I got home, we did a little photo shoot and worked on the bike just a little bit by moving the reflector to the other side of the handlebars and adding a Cateye Mity2.
Anyways, that's just my first ride on my first road bike and I just have to reiterate how happy I am. In fact, I have a feeling that I might end up being one of those people who doesn't have, or rarely uses, a car when I get older.
Thanks for reading,
Shane