Introductions - Glad to be here

Hi all. My daughter just did Ironman Louisville and that has motivated me to get back on my bike after a few years away. I'm looking for a new road bike, and am hoping that Bike Forums will help me decide what bike will be best for me.

Welcome to BikeForums.
Kudos to your daughter ..... and to you for getting back on the bike.
You can get some good suggestions from the Road Cycling forum folks, but they can be a little ruthless :eek: so tread carefully. ;)
You can also get some good ideas from the General Cycling forum folks. They're much friendlier. :)
Or, since you're 55, you can ask the folks in the 50+ forum. They (I'm one of them) ride everything from hybrids to fixies to road bikes to mtn bikes to recumbents to tandems to whatever.

I've been to the Road Cycling forum, and they don't appear to be too intimidating - as long as you don't say something stupid, of course. There are some good threads there that are dealing with some of the questions I'm having in my bike search. I'm looking to upgrade from a 5 year old Schwinn Fastback steel road bike, so anything will be an improvement!

I just wanted to report that thanks in great part to the help I've received in Bike Forum (primarily the Road cyling thread), I bit the bullet and bought the new bike I've been looking for. I finally chose the Fuji Team bike (carbon frame, 105/Ultegra components), and was lucky enough to get an incredible price on it at Performance Bike (List $2499, purchase price with sale and 20% one day only coupon - $1190).

I've been out on the bike and it's amazing the difference between my old steel battle axe and the light carbon frame. It took a while to get used to the different gearing, but it's a joy to be out on the road.

Thanks to everyone for their help.