Need advice....Please help me
 

Hello,

I am new to cycling. I recently purchased a new bike. I would like to know if it would be good to do a 50 mile bikeride? (http://www.rosaritoensenada.com) Anyways, I am really new(like 1 month) and just need some advice. Here is a pic of the bike I just recently purchased.

http://www.giant-bicycle.com/images/...-CYPRESSMB.jpg

You can certainly ride 50 miles on that bike, no problem.

If I were you I'd do the following...

a) get rid of that freakin' seat post! On a long ride, you really want your post and seat height to be fixed... Maybe you can find a Carbon Fiber post that will fit a Giant bike... Shouldn't be that difficult, Giant makes compact frames with long carbon seat posts. (I am not the expert in this regard)

b) get rid of the pedals... Get some Crank Brothers Candy C's, and a decent pair of shoes and learn how to ride with them... It will enhance the riding experience fer sure!

c) ask some knowledgeable bike guy to help you set up the bike... seat height, seat fore-and-aft position, handle bar height, etc... Trust me, you will trash your knees if the bike ain't right.

d) be able to mount the tires best suited for the ride... I recommend Continental Gatorskins. Pump them up to 100 lbs, and you will smoke all the other Cypress DX machines out there!

e) change that torture chamber of a saddle... Get used to riding with funny-looking bike shorts and a real 'firm' saddle... I recommend Terry Fly, Sella San Marco, or some other good/reputable brand (Sella Italia, etc...)

Finally, make sure you check all bolts, nuts and screws for tightness... ASK your bike guy which to check yourself... Some (trust me on this) you do not want to screw around with (no pun is intended)...

BTW... Your bike is the first one I ever purchased three years ago... I'm on my 4th bike (a LeMond Zurich), and still have my 3rd, a Fuji Marseille... I am now a dedicated roadie, and I hope you are lucky enough to get the same bug!

Seeya!

The bike certainly looks like it might be better than my first bike (Trek Navigator 100 comfort bike). I did a century on mine. I did add clipless pedals and had switched my tires from 1.95" to 1,25". Other than that, it was stock, including the suspension seat post and big seat. I also wore normal clothes.

I really don't recall what was especially hard about the ride. I know the legs sure got tired and I know my arms and hands were sore (I leaned too much on my hands and was too rigid in general).

I do not recall how much problem I may have had with things irritating my butt, etc, but if I could survive 100, certainly 50 would be much easier, regardless.

My ride did cover a LOT of time though. I did about 67 miles to start, but then had a 90 minute rest while I had lunch. Then after another 17 miles, I ran into rain so I took a bus away from that area before finishing. That killed about another 45 minutes on the bus. The last 16 miles were murder. My legs had stiffened up and the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I didn't want to start over again on another day! I had another, longer, stop when I put the bike on the bus again to get back home. I still had a mile to go, but if I didn't stop then, I'd have to wait another hour for the next bus! So I did the last mile after getting home, going around a circle in a parking lot.

Total trip time was nearly 13 hours! Riding time was a bit under 8.5 hours.

thanks for the advice......ummm, Rick O'Getti, I think I need to learn some terms before I can understand what you are talking about...lol....I'm trying to learn though! Oh, and TheRCF, I'm hoping this 50 mile will be a piece of cake! lol

How many miles a week do you ride now ?

If your only been riding a month then i'm not sure about a 50 miler.

50 miles is a lot for a first ride.
I definitely agree that you should get clipless pedals for that kind of riding, you'l get better performance, otherwise your feet will hate you. If the saddle is comfortable for you then keep it, if not then definitely upgrade.

Please, please, please, please... find a good guy/gal who knows about bikes, and who can fit you to your bike and vice-versa! It's that important. You will then be able to complete a century with a modest amount of training.... If the bike does not fit, you WILL develop aches and pains - some of which can end your bicycling altogether. The clipless pedals will allow you to ride with upwards of 20% more efficiency, and you will feel as one with your bike... These zen things are good.

Okay, good luck... you can do 50 easily.

1 month of riding, BIG event, 50 miler! :eek:
I hope you Chi is very strong! :D

???

I ride a lot, but I don't really know sometimes if I'm doing things right. I have clipless pedals (didn't start with them, but switched before too long). Would a 20% greater efficiency translate into a 20% increase in speed? If so, I sure never saw anything like that.

Just take it easy on them $1 margaritas the night before.... otherwise you'll pay for it when you reach that BIG HILL..... It's ok to walk up that hill with 3000 other not so sober riders... Don't worry, you'll have plenty of fun either way...

George

Heya Dominicolom,

I've never done the Rosarito-Ensenada ride, but I've heard it is a lot of fun... Don;t worry about yer bike, as long as it is comfortable for you, you should have no problems... From what I've been told there are 1000's of people on that ride... many with beater bikes and beer coolers attached to trailers behind them... Have fun with it, and let us know how it went... your bike is pretty good to cruise in on!

jeff

just carry enough water and enough sugary foods to keep you going. 50 miles after a month of riding is going to be tough. It took me nearly 3 months to do my first 50-miler...and it left me a bit winded to say the least.

As far as bike stuff, good quality slicks, gatorskins get good words here. Get a solid seatpost, even a ritchey alloy will do better over distance than a suspension post will.

seat...I got by fine on a serfas RX, basically jsut make sure it doesnt put pressure on the soft sposts down below if you know what I mean...otherwise you could get numbness and other bad things.

Pedals...something with good smooth bearings will suffice. Stay away from VP, I've had two pairs, and one the bearings weren't smooth enough to my liking, and the other is heck to lock into (i use clipless pedals).

You might want to look at grips, but only if you are having troubles with teh current ones. Since you sue revoshioft you need short grips if you do choose to mess with them.

Oh, and get some water bottle cages if you dont already ;)

That's a far nicer bike than the one I used for my first 50-miler. and I switched out all of the above. The pedals i used was the Wellgo "lightweight alloy" pedals, about $25/pr. they have some pretty smooth bearings in them, and have nice grip, and are toe clip compatible, if toe clips are your thing.

You should be able to do the 50 miler with the proper gear. I would agree with the clothing thing too...

I ride 25 to 40 miles a day at work and I have never tried a 50 miler, time to start...

Well let's see: I rode 41.5 miles this past Sunday on my 'bent with 2 bowls of ice cream and a sports drink. I probably could have done 50 with another bowl of ice cream and another jug of sports drink. My 'bent is probably heavier than your bike so....yeah, you can do it. Stay fed and well hydrated.

bent Brian

Thank you all for the advice. I will let you all know how it goes for me......i've been hitting the gym like crazy working my legs. I've also been riding my bike. Thanks again.

I did the Rosarito - Ensenada ride last year on my 03 Trek 7300. It was the longest ride I had done up to that point. Your bike looks similar. The bike shouldn't be a problem.

My main recommendation is to not start out too fast. There will be a lot of fast riders at the ride. If you go out too fast you will be very tired when you reach "the hill".

That would be same distance with 20% less exertion, I guess... I think the point is, more of the energy input to your pedals goes toward making forward progress. Don't know if you've ever experimented, but your pedaling efficiency - for example, your ability to turn the cranks with an even power input will enable you to go farther and faster with less perceived energy. This is why Lance still practices pedaling circles even while he is arguably the best stage rider ever.

When you don't have clips, you will tend to mash the pedals downward... that's sort of the natural motion. With clips you should try to pedal in a controlled circular motion with as much of an even power input all the way around as possible. Evidently MTN bike riders do this well, because they sometimes need to keep control of their drive while - meaning an uneven, or choppy input of power to the cranks can cause the wheel to spin and lose traction.

I actually do find myself going faster with less perceived energy when I pay attention to my pedaling...

/rs

BTW... Going faster is not a linear thing... You may gain 20% in efficiency and only go 10% faster... depending upon your beginning speed. This is why you can drive 50 mph with a 50 HP car, but may need 200 HP to go 100 mph.

I'm sure there is a closet Einstein fluid dynamicist on the board who can give formulas that will make our heads spin.

Speaking of spin, ride on, dude!

/rs

Cool... Remember, the best way to improve your riding muscles is to ride... Can you join a club? I rode for two years solo - now I ride with a club and I couldn't be happier, or more improved.

This week I will do a century tomorrow and 85 miles on Sunday (w/ 6,000' of climbing)... This will be my 3rd century in three weeks. Yes, I am a nut, but a happy one. I've decided I love hills (big ones) because I love careening down the other side!

/rs