eh13380

I know this is copied (from another post of mine), but be aware I'm doing it only because it is a lot of words and fits in this forum perfectly.

Hi,
I'm a sophomore at TC Williams HS, and I've been mountain biking since I was a toddler... When I first learned to ride a bike, I could only ride offroad, not on asphalt (for some reason I would just loose balance on asphalt). Anyway, I really got into road biking and competitive cycling last summer, when I discovered some old road bikes at the house my family had rented in Kennebunk Port, Maine. I cleaned and tuned them, then took one out for a ride one afternoon, right after my dad and stepmother left to go have dinner somewhere. After about a block of riding, I found myself right behind them at a stoplight, and decided to basically tail them as long as I could. I took off from the light pulling 800W (I was logging it on a cycling app), and kept up with them all the way to the restaurant, 15 miles from the house, at 25- 35 mph the entire time. It was amazing. I had never ridden a road bike before that, but considered myself a biker (biked 10 miles a day on a mtb), and his just completely blew my mind. It was like going from driving a Fiat to driving a Maserati. For the rest of the trip, all I really did was bike. As soon as I got home, I made it my mission to buy a road bike, and settled on a Shogun 300 with touring mods that I found on Craigslist for $100. The following pics are of the transformation it took over the past year.
Click image for larger version.


^don't know why it's upside down but whatever. Anyway, that's what it looked like when I bought it.
Click image for larger version.


Upside down again! Oh well. I took off a bunch of the unnecessary stuff like the rear rack, bottle cage and cages, in addition to the stock seat.

Then I bought some blue tires, which I didn't photograph.
Click image for larger version.


Then I did a total renovation due to the cassette failing (caused me 3 serious crashes)-- got new bars and white tape, new seat, and most importantly, new deep- V rims with a flip- flop hub. Made a real difference. Main reason for switching over to single speed was that I found (when it was a 9- speed) that I only really used whatever gear it happened to be on... I never switched gear at all, even when going up an 11% grade hill that was on my route home. After this, I felt more confident about my biking abilities, and joined my first group ride-- the Tour de l'Alexandria, which basically went all around Alexandria and stopped at each library. It wasn't anything difficult, but it gave me my first taste of group riding. I liked it, but wasn't sure if I was ready for something serious. I joined a couple more throughout the year, but I haven't done any races yet... although I guess physically I'm ready for it. Anyway, that's pretty much my biking life summarized. Also, I really like doing maintenance, and consider myself good at it-- I've been taking things apart and putting them back together since I was a toddler, and just finished taking apart, cleaning and fixing, and putting back together a Cub Cadet 149 and a 1959 Cub Cadet/ IH Original tractor. I just got a job at a local bike shop as a bike builder, but their insurance didn't let them hire me, even with a certificate of employment... so now I don't really know what to do with myself.

Any feedback, tips, etc. are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

obed7

welcome to the forums