Hello Nick, Well I would like to say that it's absolutely fantastic that you ride to work. I to rode to work for a bit myself and I to had a hill to climb. But it was coming back home that I would have to climb it. after an 8-10 hour day, being on your feet for a while, it tended to not inspire me to climb that tourturing hill. But I LOVE to climb climb climb. So no matter how much the mind spoke to me about going around the big hill, I challenged myself every day to get my ass up that hill faster and faster each day until it was not even a bother anymore. So now when I see hills, I attack, attack, attack, The end result? I can sit in the saddle and work my way up a hill no problem.
Hope this gives you a little encouragement from a fellow rider like yourself.
Ride to live, Live to Ride.
Lynx.
Originally Posted by nickeax
Hello,
My name is Nick, I live in Geelong, Australia. I have been riding to work regularly for the past few weeks, but have always enjoyed riding. Work is 13km each way, and I'm using that as my 'recovery ride'.
As I work nights, I am starting to go for a longer, harder ride on the way to work, and then use the nice 12km(7.5ml) ride to recover on the way home (yawn). Also, I am going for brisk 20(12.3ml) - 40km(24.9ml) rides each weekday. The only trouble with my 'recovery ride' is that there's a sizeable hill at the very end of it!(I'll have to figure a work around for that one...)
My bike is a suitable one for a cycling newby like myself, a 2004 Giant OCR3. I really like my bike, and I can only imagine what the better bikes must be like! I plan to keep the OCR3, even after I get a good bike.
My main goal is to get good at hill climbing and increase my cruising speed. I think that is how I will get the most enjoyment out of riding, besides the obvious joy of fresh air and scenery.
The only gripe I have so far is that my rear derailleur seems to have a mind of it's own in gears above 5th. It may not even be the derailleur, and I have read some good information already, so I guess I should just tinker with it until it works.
Thanks for everything I've learnt so far from this forum!
Nick.