Originally Posted by webist
I agree. I'll go all out on a 30+ mile ride and promise myself the next day that I'm doing a recovery ride. It's really hard to keep the pace down and the gears low. I have done it and it does work. It's just rare for me to stick with the plan.
I've started to use a heart rate monitor to help pace the rides. I too was guilty of barely getting warmed up and then riding as hard as I could... al without thinking about it. Now, I use the heart rate monitor to pace different kinds of rides. I can tell you that last summer I got fit quicker that I thought possible using this approach.
Now in terms of which bike... I say both! Ride where you can when you can!