I am completely new to cycling and looking for as much advice I can get. I have been a road runner for years and an ankle injury has forced me to limit my running to short distances so I can't get the endurance training I am used to. So I have decided to take up cycling as a way to fill the void.

I do have a bike that I bought 5 years ago. It is a very nice Gary Fisher mountain bike which is geared more toward road riding as I was living in the city and wasn't going to be doing much trail riding.

I guess my first question is this...would this bike be OK for me to use to start out with? Since I am just getting my feet wet and not looking to do 30 miles at a clip, I don't want to invest in a $1500 road bike if I am not going to like it.

Second question, are there any good websites that I can to go to read up on cycling and get some good training information? I would like to start cycling a few times a week. My main goal is to drop some added weight and potentially work my way up to doing some local tours or races.

I know that the best thing to do would be to hook up with a local bike group, but I am not at that stage yet. I want to get started on my own, see how I like cycling and then get involved with a group.

Thanks in advance for any advice and help you can provide.