Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - It's been a long time coming

Ok , I just read about historians roadie history and I have new hope for myself. I am 44 and a tad....:) overweight. I started biking for real in 1990 after blowing my knee out... I was heading towards my first road bike when I totally blew the knee (playing soccer) and had ACL reconstruction...ouch... then I got pregnant with child #2 I had to take my Giant Carbon fiber 600 ultegra off lay-a-way and use the money to pay for other things... like food.

so I took a several year break from biking and 4 years ago for my 40th b-day I rehabed my nishiki saga... a small cross bike that I just loved.... I was getting back into the sport and found a great Bianchi racing bike at at garage sale... it has the clipless and all the great 16 gear racing stuff of the mid 90's the campro veloce grouping etc... but I have only riden it a couple of times because it scares me....

I am getting inspiration from this forum.. so thanks to all of you who are my heros... oh and yes I am WAY over weight...

So again thanks to all

Hey MODS are you going to let her get away with this? Block her previliges until she posts a pic:)

Getting used to riding a road bike takes a little time after being out of the saddle for a while (I wasn't on a road bike from 1978 to 2008 so I'm speaking from experience). It is a heck of a lot of fun once your comfort level rises (and if you keep riding, it will rise!).

Getting used to a road bike will take a little time and experience. Just find a low traffic, safe place to ride and practice starting and stopping to unclip. I used to be scared also, but I hadn't ridden in about 25 years and back then I wasn't scared of anything. I would ride wheelies on my ten-speed for 10 blocks in small town Iowa and never think about having to stop. Yes, I ruined a few back rims, but there were so many junked bikes back then, we just swapped out for a different one and through the frames away.

It probably took at least 100 miles before I felt comfortable on the bike, and now I ride on the shoulder of the highway and feel pretty safe.

Good luck and keep having fun.

ok, here are pics of my bike... it is a little too large for me so that makes it tough as well... I love the bike though
http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq146/bmaxwell1/bikes001.jpg?t=1222189095

Beautiful bike, take your time and get comfortable on it... From there the possibilities are endless