First Road Ride
 

I've posted on here before, regarding good Ultegra rigs and the like. Never had the good fortune to go on a road ride before finally taking delivery on my Cannondale R1000 today.

I paid $2000 for it, but it was the best riding and fitting bike I tried, and I liked it better than any other bike I've seen. I know, a little steep for a newbie, but I plan on making cycling my life outside of work, friends and school. Got nice shoes and pedals for cheap off Supergo.

I ran a year of D1 track (1500m mainly) before getting injured and frustrated with how things were going there. I wasn't making any progress under the coach and his program. So, due to both of those, I quit and ran on my own in order to maintain, and actually improved. However, I had nagging injuries that made me look for something else to do. This summer I've run a 4:24 (full mile) solo time trial and have hit about 70 miles per week on the run. I'm 5'6" and 137; better suited for cycling than dropping serious times on the track.

I have always wanted to get into road riding, ever since I was 12 and saw my first Saeco-Cannondale R5000 or whatever in the local bike shop with a Mario Cipolini (sp?) poster next to it. Unfortunately, due to athletic and academic concerns (and a rather modest upbringing) during high school, never had time to work and make money to buy a decent let alone nice bike.

Well, today I went for my first ride on my own road bike, solo, at the age of 20. I went for an hour and a half, hitting 33.4 miles in an hour and a half on the dot. So 22mph+ on the first go at it. I warmed up before that and cooled down as well, for like 10 minutes each, but did not count that in my time totals. It took me a while to get acclimated to the clipless pedals. A completely new type of pedal motion from my old 1997 Diamondback Sorrento mtb, which weighs in at around 40lbs.

So, riddle me this: given my starting point and aerobic background, do I have any chance to make it to Cat1/2 eventually? I get off work at 3 every day this summer, and want to ride 3+ hours a day to build a base. Can I get to where I want to be?

you have a chance if you give yourself one. Everyone starts off asking themselves the same questions...do i have a chance? truth is, yes. Everyone has a chance...but there are factors involved:
- drive
- attitude
- disipline
- i'm sure you can think of more


just take it a season at a time...work hard through the winter...and in the end you will be what determines how far you get. Given your background I think you already know what it means to work hard...so go out there and kick some ass.

good luck and ride safe.

- gordo23

The wierd thing about my first ride was that my speed decreased very minimally on the uphills and didn't increase that much after the summit. I was generally in the 53-15 or 16 for most of them; long gradual increases every time.

Also, should I start some sort of weights program for my legs? I had no problem keeping a higher cadence in the 53-14/15/16 range but I think I either need to be able to drop down a couple gears or spin faster. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

The Duke

Went on my second ride on the new bike today. Went out for 3 hours, basically just rode around a large square twice and then some smaller loops to get in some more time on the bike. Averaged 21.something mph. Still figuring out how to eat and hydrate on the bike, or rather, when I should be doing it. I know that when I "bonk" it's already too late, so, when do you know when it's time to eat/drink without having that tell-tale sign?

Also, I went to meet up with a group outside the rec center at my school; the group was supposed to meet up at 10 but no one came. I'm in a town of about 40,000 people, in the middle of Nowhere, USA. How can I find people to ride with? Or am I just screwed until school starts back up?

So you either think my average speed is BS because I am a newbie, or you think I know too much about bikes to be a newbie. So, you need to make up your mind and then crawl back into whatever hole came out of. Buddy I've been riding MTB moderately seriously since I was 12, road 60 miles a day a couple times during the summer when I was 8. I just said first road ride, not my first time on a bike. 16mph is a joke, sorry. I hit that on my crappy mountain bike. I can RUN at 10mph for an hour or more. Sorry, but I'm not in this for leisure rides.

No I believe him. The guy can do a 4:24 mile. Do you know how fast that is? The best guy on my varsity track runs 4:27. He probably has enough leg muscles and endurance to do that.

I'm thinking the same. Someone coming from this kind of running shouldn't have much problem performing well in a short period of time on a bike.


Dude, WTF? Either you're trolling or you have some personal issues. I didn't sense any arrogance in his posts at all. I think you'll find that the vast majority of posters on this forum aren't into your type of cheap attacks toward other members.

That's a decent baseline to start out from Duke. I do some lower body weights in the winter when I can't get as much bike time, but I think you'll get more benefit from being on the bike when the weather is good.

In general, I try to drink about 1 liter per 10-20 miles (temp dependant) and have something to eat every 30-45 minutes while I'm on the bike. I also load up on carbs in my regular diet.

Where in the US are you?

reported.

I live in the midwest, specifically IL. Thanks for being supportive. I was just trying to get some sort of advice for a beginner "roadie" based off of my current fitness. To be honest I have no clue how fast is "fast" or "slow" so the speeds I listed are just what they are, what I've done up to this point. I DO however know that that 16mph on a road bike is pretty slow though. Thats barely cracking 4:00 a mile, and on a bike that isn't exactly impressive.

In the winter, do any of you guys cross country ski, do cyclocross or take spinning classes? (I work on a research farm here, have the ability to make my own hours once school starts, and might be able to figure out a way to groom the snow for skiing on basically a grass 3k rectangle, should the opportunity present itself. So just looking for options.)

Well, the best thing to do is get a cyclocross or mountain bike and some warm weather gear. I road bike but I'm usually in a better climate..

Any good climbing spots near where you are? That's going to help you a great deal.. I spend my year in NC, MA, and South Africa and the mountains make a huge difference in my training.

If you keep at it hard enough, it is entirely possible to make it to Cat 1/2, the biggest test is to initally find out where you stand in a race. Please keep us updated on your progress.


BTW, if toomyus posts more of that stuff, report it ASAP.

It would be impressive to me -- up some of the hills I ride here in Colorado.

Oh man the closest hill of any sort of length and decent rate of increase is like 20-25 miles away on the interstate. And I don't have a car so that would be hard to get to and then do a quality workout. Honestly, the only real "hill" anywhere near me is a rather large parking garage. I've run that before, it's about 1:30 to the top, and taken the elevator back down as the rest interval, great workout. That might not be long enough for a bike workout though, methinks.

Or, maybe I could convince a friend to let me into the exercise phys lab late at night??? Hell, maybe just sign up for some crazy ex. phys. tests with that sort of thing in mind?

I don't think you mentioned you're giving up running and I hope you won't. I think running translates well to road biking, and you're fitness level definitely seems in line with competitive racing. The best way, I think, of maintaining your cycling form through the winters is using indoor trainers, computrainers or rollers.

I thought it was rather entertaining considering this guy is making us old people feel older LOL!!!!
At first it really sounded like a bragging thread and as I read more I couldn't figure out if he was serious about needing help or not. I'm still not sure if he realizes that making 21mph avg. sound like spreading butter on bread may make some folks rather red in the face LOL! I know today I got passed in the in the first 1/3 of my metric by a guy at about 25mph. I shouldn't have did it, but testoerone kicked in and I had to take the lead back. I did drop him, it wasn't easy, when he caught me at the next stop sign he didn't look pleased LOL! Maybe it was this toomyus guy and he came here to vent? LOL!


So duke what toomyus should have said was your times are faster than average, just keep doing what your doing and it will all fall into place for you. Just remember not to laugh as you pass people that are older and have been trying to get that kind of average for a year or two, not a day or 3 LOL............

Finally, Yes keep us posted on your progress.

Hell.. I'm only 30 and it made me feel kind of old. I wish I had Cat 1/2 aspirations. I decided to post only after reading previous posts of Duke of Kent and toomyus. It didn't take much to convince me who was fos.

I love running and plan on doing about 20 miles a week still. But I've realized that my body would be better off cycling than running, and love riding as well. The thing about my mile time now is that while I may be in great shape now, I keep getting a recurring ankle pain that keeps me from running, especially in the mornings. The mile was a good time but I was training very hard to get that and don't think I would gain much more. D1 guys are gonna be 25 seconds faster than me, easy.

Duke...Keep riding with a goal and train with a focus(TT, climbing, whatever you are feel like(or you are lacking)..). Join a club team.. With your speeds, I dont think anybody will have a problem taking you in.. Soon you will be where you want to be.. With power improvements, coaching and luck you could even make pro...

I aim high... Aim for the stars.. you may land on the moon...

Duke, we do a flat 30k time trial monthly with my local group.. and the Cat 1's among us usually run 26-29 MPH.

Feltdude --That is hauling. Like frighteningly fast to me. That definitely puts things in perspective.

Skinnyone -- I want to join a club team here but no one showed up for their scheduled club ride today. I'm going to email the club pres and see if anything has been changed from the posted times. Saw an older guy on a BEAUTIFUL Colnago (is there any other kind, though?) on my way out and he told me about a race that's coming up, and I'll probably try to get into that.

I know the USCF sells 1-day or 1-race Cat. 5 permits to people, and also their $50 1-year passes, obviously. Would it be a waste of money this late in the year to buy a permit for only a race, or possibly a few?

Its my understanding that the 1yr licesnses are valid only for the current calendar year, 12 races. I think one day licenses are 10 bucks a pop. You would be better off getting one day licenses if you are only doing 4-5 races..

It's $60 for a USCF license, so if you won't get in a bunch of races you're better off with one-day passes.

DoK, that's good riding for a start. Maybe check around online and see if you can find any training programs to follow. Getting into the exercise physiology lab to do cold weather training isn't a bad idea. You can also get a trainer and use it with a DVD/TV to train indoors during the winter. The reason you're starting out so well is the running. Your cardio system has been worked well.
That climbing 22 miles from you is a good bike ride away for someone that wants to race. Warm up getting there and cool down coming back.