Originally Posted by
retnav94
Do what ever you think is correct, it will be. It does not matter what anyone else thinks you should do, it obviously matters what you think you should do. If you just don't like the road bike sell it. If you take a small loss, so be it. Only you know what your finances are like. Three bikes is unpractical. I own three and I am getting another tomorrow. However, I have a method to my madness. It works for me. I like the opinions of the folks in this forum but ultimately it is my choice. If you don't like the road bike after umpteen attempts then get rid of it. Ride it until you sell it and get the hybrid. What ever bike makes you excited about riding it is the one you need to own. If it is not the specialized then let it make someone else happy. I have suspected all along that you know what you want to do, you just don't want to take a loss on the bike and/or consider it a failure. A failure it is not, life is always trial and error. Get the damn hybrid already
we all know you want to.
Mindreader. I don't mind taking the loss - I already know what I would ask for the bike should I sell it, and it's a pretty hefty loss - but what's keeping me hanging on right now is the sense that I haven't really given it my best shot yet. The only thing that bugs me about holding on to it longer is maybe now would be a good time to sell a bike, with Christmas coming up. I dunno. Or maybe spring would be better because people can actually ride the damn things. (And no bragging here about how you ride your bike in -10 temps, don't wanna know).
But I can't shake the fact, like I said, that I haven't tried as hard as I should. Now I've got the handlebars up as much as I can get them, for now, and it's more like a touring bike instead of a "regular" road bike. So it should be easier on my back.
And I've been doing my core exercises every other day, even though I can't do some of them, like the Boat or the Hip Extension. I have improved in the ones I can do. Improving my core would make things easier on my back.
I still have the goal of doing half-centuries and centuries. I asked the repair guy who's been helping me with the stem (real genius of bike repair, super-nice guy to boot, you can tell he honestly cares about my troubles and wants to help) if I should ditch the bike, and he asked what my goals were. I told him half-centuries and centuries, and he said "try sticking with the road bike."
I know people do centuries on hybrids and commuters and whatever all time, so I know it's possible. But I still feel like I haven't given the road bike half of a chance - haven't even been on a group ride yet, which is one of the things that I wanted to try to get into.
But yeah, I want a hybrid. I want that odd mix between road and commuter. I'd really like a Trek 7.7 FX. A 105 set with a triple? Heck yeah. I love, love, love the 105s on my road bike. I'd dig 105 stuff with a triple for climbing and a much more upright position. Truthfully, if I'd researched it better, I'd have bought the Trek off the bat. But I didn't, so I'm trying to make the best of what I got myself into.
Originally Posted by
DX-MAN
No one else can tell you WHERE your "niche of joy" is, you have to find that yourself. If something isn't working, you try something else. Only a nut or a fool tries to get a different result from doing the same thing over and over.
I think I know where it is, but I gotta do some more research first. I haven't really done road biking over and over and over to the point where I can make a 100 percent informed decision about throwing it away and moving on to something else.