Hello all, I was just curious if this was odd or relatively normal. I had my mountain bike stolen last week so I decided to pick up a decent road bike. I got it last Thursday and took it for a 6 mile ride to get everything settled and what not. From the following Friday until today I've gone 157 miles and chomping at the bit to go more. I had really never done any cycling before and am loving every second of it. I wasn't even really all that active for the past 6 months, and suddenly I'm aboslutely addicted to riding my bike.

So just a few questions if anyone could lend some insight, I've no one in my social network that rides that I can ask and get good answers from.

1. Should I take days off or is it fine to keep riding pretty hard day in and day out?
2. Are the clipless pedals a significant improvement over regular pedals?
3. I checked my cadence today after reading up on it, and it was 80 pretty steadily, should I push hard to get that higher?
4. About how long before I can enter events of any time and not get blown out of the water?
5. Is there anything I should attempt to work on right away as I'm just beginning so it doesn't become habit?

Thanks for the help!
Joe