Originally Posted by Pancake Face

hey... I'm new to the board, well, i've been reading a lot of posts recently about roadbikes, etc while i've been at work, so I'll just introduce myself and my problem.

I'm a 20 year old college student and basically I want to buy a road bike to ride. However, I'm faced with the problem that I am a decent runner and could possibly walk on to a team for the indoor track season if i peak correctly (and i've talked to the coach, etc.). This summer though my friend studied abroad for the summer and left me borrow his road bike to ride occasionally for cross training while i built up basework for running and I've found riding to be really fun and relaxing, esp. some group rides. This summer i've done a routine where I'd wake up an hour to an hour and half before work (i'm a financial intern) and do close to 30-50 minutes of running and then go to work, and then right after work run anywhere between 7-10 miles. My mileage has been around 70 miles a week so far this summer. Additionally, I'll bike 3 or 4 times a week after that with my friends, or I'll bike first and then go on a run when it's much cooler at night.

However, my friend returns from Spain in the next week and I am unsure of how much of a commitment I can make to road-biking. I really do enjoy the sport, and I already know I have decent legs and lungs for the sport. I have looked at some bikes and I am making plenty of money to purchase a bike, I am just unsure of how much of a commitment I can make to the sport. What would you do? How many of you are college students that do other sports besides just cycling? What kind of time do you put into biking during the school year? I am willing to spend up to 1000 dollars on a bike, I just don't know if it's the most beneficial way to spend a couple weeks worth of my paycheck if I am unsure of the commitment I can make... (see the dilemma? it's a struggle between want/fun and commitment/time...)

any input would be nice?