Anubus12

Hello All - Just got my Roubaix Expert! So I have some questions.

I am 38 yrs old and broke my arm late spring so I had to find some way of keeping in shape. So I thought I'd try road cycling for the first time. I took my Canondale Killer V and put road tires on it. Road it lots, but it sucked. I've been riding about 2-3 times a week for the past 3 months and average around 1:20 for a 21mile ride at avg speed of about 16.2mph. Rode that distance about 5 times and didn't really get any faster. I ride distances of about 10-21miles each ride. I live in Michigan and the routes around here are relatively flat with some small elevations. No real big hills.

So I decided to get a road bike. My primary goal is to go as fast and as far as I can. My first two 21 mile rides average time at 1:09 and average speed of 18.3mph.

Here are my questions:

- With the Roubaix, are these speeds too slow? I feel it is.
- How do I train to get faster?
- I noticed that on the mountain bike, I was always on the highest 3 gears at all times. With the road bike, i'm in the middle gears. 3 more gears to the highest. Is this wrong? Am I riding wrong?
- I noticed that I can and want to ride in the drops alot. It feels faster. Is this wrong? Maybe this is the wrong bike for me?

Perhaps my approach on how to ride is all wrong. So any help and guidance would be appreciated. Hopefully I will like this sport enough to enter some races eventually :-)

TIA

10 Wheels

Join a local club and try to keep up with them.

ptle

I'm not sure what you mean if those speeds are too slow. It's impossible for us to tell... It could take someone 1 hour to do 20 miles on a flat road, or take someone 1 hour to do 10 miles if it's a climb.

If you want to get faster, lose weight and train. There are some interval workouts you can try in the road racing forum. Get a heart rate monitor and learn how to use if. If you can afford it get something to measure your power output and train with that. Riding longer rides will make you fast, but in my experience you'll just hit a wall and won't get much faster unless you actually train a little.

No, the mountain bike has different gearing than the road bike.

There's nothing wrong with riding in the drops, it makes you more aerodynamic and allows you put out more power. However, for some it's hard to stay in the drops for more than a few minutes. You may want to try lower your stem.

ErichM

1. As said, they have different gear ratios. One common mistake of new riders (which I can speak to as a new rider working on increasing my cadence) is to pedal too slowly. When I first started on my first road bike (only a few weeks ago) I felt comfortable at around 70 rpm. Now I feel fine at 85-100 RPM. You might try buying a cadence sensor and bike computer. They will be helpful in this regard.

2. If you're flexible the drops might be comfortable for you. I don't experience any pain riding in them but I usually only ride in them for 5-10 minutes at a time before I feel the desire to go back up on the hoods. I'm not the most flexible guy though (working on it). If you are in good shape and the drops aren't uncomfortable you can lower your stem as ptle suggested and keep going lower until it is uncomfortable. This will give you the most aero position.