Hello all!

New to the forums. I'm Ryan from Oceanside, Long Island. 26 years old. Got more serious into biking last year out of necessity (long story for another time) and love it now. I was rolling around on a 2007 Diamondback Peak which I had gotten a few years prior as an around-town bike. Did my first 9-mile commute to work in about 55 minutes on knobbies. Eventually upgraded to wide road tires on that bike, then to a 2013 Raleigh Venture 3.0 with some awesome blue Kourier treads. 15 months and 40 pounds later and I've got that ride down to 31 minutes.

I went from around-the-block rider to doing my first charity ride: the 32-mile Cystic Fibrosis ride in Brooklyn- in 2 weeks. Looking to do the 5 Boro ride in the Spring and who knows- maybe go for a sprint tri next year. Likrly purchasing from the Specialized Sirrus line soon (not ready for full on road yet)

I got into the bike because I had to at a bad time and now I'm never looking back Looking forward to taking advantage of the wealth of great information on here!.