Orca

Enjoy the new bike OP and welcome to the club! Stay safe and have fun out there

banerjek

A visit to the 41 provides ample evidence to the contrary.


Not everyone is a wussy who lives in urban gridlock. You don't even have weather in SoCal, so I'm trying to imagine what conditions would keep you off the roads unless you go into the mountains. Rain, temps below freezing, and the like are no big deal for cycling. I haven't ever needed to drive anywhere to ride my bike, and I've switched residences a few times in the more than 30 years I've been cycling. Traffic and stoplights are also not an issue if you live within a few miles of some open road (which many people do). And while there are some roads that are suicidal, you can ride just about anywhere. "Bike friendly" roads are only needed if you're not used to traffic. Coasting is not necessary except when descending steep inclines through curves.

Fullforce

Great bike choice. Now get fitted and ride; after a couple of months get fine-tuned, ride some more, start accumulating accessories for all climates and situations, learn how to ride with groups (and about how slow you actually are, and how fast "old" people are!), ride some more, get fine-tuned again, learn proper technique, ride some more, dream about riding, live on your bike, drive everyone around you nuts talking about cycling, ride some more, etc...

Great sport, healthy addiction.

hhnngg1

Props to you for supporting the bikes though - we need more bike supporters in the world to make it safer for all.

And props to the OP - while running's great, cycling is awesome as well (and potentially moreso if you love it!)

Garfield Cat

The one thing: cycling is a more efficient mode of transportation than running.

hhnngg1

If you lived in downtown LA, I guarantee 100% that you would NOT want to ride your bike there in rush hour, or in fact, any time between 3PM and 7:30PM as well as 7AM-10AM. And there aren't that many easy rides within an easy ride (<15mins) if you're central downtown. Yes, you can ride anywhere, but you will be fighting cagers for huge sections of it. It'll suck the joy out of riding quick. I love riding, and tried this for a stretch and nearly quit riding altogether before I started meeting up with a bike club (that rode on the weekends, early), and started driving to my rides in the Santa Monica Mountains, which were epic, and made me love riding.

The WORST advice I could give a new budding roadie would be to 'ride anywhere', especially a new one. Nothing to turn them off faster to the sport than to get honked at multiple times on a short ride, and be forced into a nonexistent shoulder, with angry cagers buzzing.

If you're in a rural area, or even suburban area, it's much easier to just go. But don't assume it's that easy in an urban area. Having lived in NY, Chicago, LA, and south of SF, I can say with confidence that none of them are areas I'd want to ride near rush hour. Heck, I live now in bike-heaven USA (Norcal) and I STILL prefer to ride my trainer in the suburbs during rush hour even though there are plenty of bike lanes - just too many folks in a rush.

Commuting is slightly different in that you might have no choice but to brave the cars and suck it up. But even then, haven bike commuted in all of those cities, I made special efforts to leave super early (<7AM) or take a very long circuitous route to avoid major roads and it was still painful more often than not (and I love the idea of bike commuting.)

JonnyV

Hate to tell ya kid but you're in the wrong place. Nobody here actually rides, we just talk about riding and come up with different scenerios and try to figure out such things as what color is fastest, where is umd (I'm not actually asking this question, don't ban me!), and whats the best way to fend off a pack of angry motorists?

hyhuu

Agree. While it's possible to ride anywhere, it's nearly impossible to get quality mileages in cities and some urban areas. Other cost of riding is the clothing, part replacements, tools, etc. They can add up quickly.

dahut

That is true. Due to the mechanical advantages afforded by the wheels, it is reported to be even more efficient than running:



From the "Science of Cycling"... https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html

But I dont think the true road cyclist cares about that... or at least he better not admit it............

Rule #4It’s all about the bike.

It is, absolutely, without question, unequivocally, about the bike. Anyone who says otherwise is obviously a twatwaffle.

idc

stolen from dahut

Is a road bike worth getting for the "recreational rider"? Yes.
How much do I need to ride it to make it worth it? Anything from a few miles to hundreds.
How much faster and efficient is a road bike over a hybrid bicycle? Depends on the hybrid but... (see next answer)
What brand/type of road bike should I get? I'm working with no bills to pay, so I'm looking to spend in the 1000-1700 range. if you have that much to spend you will definitely notice the difference.

I'm not a pro or a big boy, but I love riding my road bike.

banerjek

Agreed. Heavy traffic is not for the faint of heart and requires good skills to do safely.

This all depends on the roads in question. Sometimes, rush hour is much safer than the other times simply because the cars move so slowly. The last time I rode my bike from Portland, even on the interstate I was blowing by everyone for quite a few miles -- I recognized vehicles passing me that I'd overtaken 20 miles earlier. That's quite a bit of fun. Fast moving cars traveling bumper to bumper is an entirely different matter.

Most people are afraid of major roads, but my experience is that they're actually pretty good because the drivers actually pay attention to what they're doing. If the drivers are actually engaged, it's safe enough so long as you don't have to squeeze through bumper to bumper traffic moving at high speed (e.g. entrance and exit ramps). In practice, I find that this means I feel safer on routes that most people think are nuts than I do on winding rural roads where people drive around blind corners like Mario Andretti.

hhnngg1

That's true - agree with that. Blind roads where cyclists are unexpected are the absolute most dangerous.

Super heavy traffic is actually good as well, but even in LA, car speeds will range from dead zero, to 35-40mph for a few blocks when the lights change and the cars take off. If I could ride my bike on the LA 405 in rush hour for some stretches, that would actually work great, since it's <20mph for miles. Unfortunately, on local roads, with the lights, it's still dicey enough that it's definitely not safe in big stretches in LA.

In retrospect, I actually chose a few commute roads in LA at peak hour around UCLA specifically because it was less dangerous with 0mph car traffic at the Wilshire/WEstwood area.

patentcad

'Ride anywhere'? Whoever offers that 'advice' is clueless. One of the major reasons I'm not DEAD after 150K+ road cycling and 20K motorcycling miles is because I PICK MY SPOTS to ride JUDICIOUSLY. That means time of day, weather, types of roads, their traffic patterns and loads, etc. There are many roads that are EXPONENTIALLY MORE HAZARDOUS, particularly for bicyclists (also true but to a lesser extent for motorcyclists who have the power to deal with more traffic and higher speed road situations safely).

If I think a road isn't safe or has bad traffic or no shoulder I AVOID IT. Another example: I won't take my motorcycle out @ Happy Hour because that's when the drunken unguided missiles are on the road in the twilight. Much safer @ different times of day. You can't eliminate risk, you can only reduce it by using common sense.

'Ride anywhere'. Good grief I read some dumb shlit on these boards, but that goes into the friggin 41 Hall of Dumb Fame.

RubeRad

Dude, you really need to ditch the hybrid and get a road bike.

And good news for you, I'd say $1000 is way more than you need to spend. If you're already achieving avg 18mph on the hybrid, you're working really hard, and an entry-level road bike will be an easy-riding dream. I would say watch CL and look to spend about $500. At worst, you'll get a decent bike from a cyclist who rode and maintained it well (so it's a good solid bike) -- if you get lucky you can pick up a virtually new castoff from some fat slob whose wallet is bigger than his legs. Look for reputable brands like Trek, Cannondale, GT, etc, probably aluminum frame, shimano components at about the tiagra/sora level. Or, you could go vintage, there are plenty of advocates around here that will give you advice; look for high quality steel frames (keyword: 531 double-butted) and you'll probably be able to count on the rest of the components being decent.

Save the rest of your money for college or travel or whatever. When you graduate hopefully you'll get a job and you can use real income to indulge in higher-end bike-pr0n (like this).

banerjek

Plus, it's just fun leaving all the suckers behind.

My regular commute takes me along a 19 mile stretch of highway where most cars drive 65. But there are times of the year when farm machinery moves along it which causes huge tailbacks. Traffic is heavy enough that passing is often impossible, so drivers can be stuck moving at a crawl for 10 miles or more.

There are few things more fun than passing lines of cars that go as far as the eye can see, overtaking the farm rigs, and enjoying open road for the rest of the ride. Cycling during football events is also fun as traffic gets mucked up bad enough that I know I can cover the full distance faster than they can. Gotta be careful with sports fans though as alcohol fueled idiots stuck going nowhere are more prone to mess with cyclists.

dahut

You mean you dont ride on rush hour freeways? You should - Seriously. YOU really should.

ParkingTheBus

I think cycling in my city is the worst. Drivers act like they have never seen a cyclist on the road before and although they do give me extreme priority, it feels akward. Sidewalk cyclists and pedestrians look at me like I have crabs coming out of my ears while riding. Good thing I live on the outskirts, right next to beautiful country roads.

I used to run as I was a soccer player, however I got lazy and out of shape... I started off with 28 km today with an average speed of 33km/h. I hope to increase in the future, but this bike is AMAZING. Although I wiped out today (cornered to fast on wet pavement) my bike was perfect and I continued to ride. I now have the urge to ride all day, everyday however I have work

dahut

Where do you folks live? What you describe is pretty much the norm for many, many cyclists. People look at you weird and motorists have to react to you. This is not news. It handily describes any day of riding for me. At least they give you priority, eh?
Dang, I thought you were going to tell us something really horrible....

You used kilometers - yes!

ParkingTheBus

hehe. Well I live in Brampton, Ontario, Canada (hence why I used km). It's a suburb northwest of Toronto. I guess it isn't news, but I haven't really cycled along the major roads before until recently. I would feel a lot more comfortable if more people cycled on the road, but literally 98% of people here own mountain bikes and bike on the sidewalk, even the police! It seems to be the norm around the burbs here..

dahut

Riding on the sidewalks is verboten, and carries its own set of hazards. I like to get in the right third to middle of the lane and just ride. That really pisses em off. Oh, I move over once I know they see me, but rarely into the very edge of the pavement - that, too, is a bad spot to be forced into. Then, once everyone is set, I just wave and ting-a-ling my bell.

I don't know much about Canada's laws as regards bicycles on the roads.... alright, nothing. But, if they are anything like here, you are given rights of usage the same as motor vehicles. Dedicated, cycling friendly infrastructure is lacking or spotty on this side of the Atlantic, but you can't expect that overnight (if at all).

So get this. I live just across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia, in South Carolina. Both of these states have garnered attention lately for their new, progressive cycling laws. Local, district level politicians are even using bike friendliness as tenets of their campaigns.

Well, recent survey was conducted in Georgia, the results of which were reported in Augusta's newspaper, 'The Chronicle.' According to the survey, it turns out that about 90% of surveyed drivers were aware of bicyclists rights to the road. Meanwhile, about 10% of THOSE knowledgeable drivers admitted to hating the cyclist for being there.

This means that about 20% of drivers are either enraged by your presence or clueless about your rights - and their obligation - to share the road. This is probably a pretty good representative number most anywhere.

So yeah, it is a challenge every time you get on the road. You have to know this, and the implications it presents.
Hell, if it were easy, everyone would do it.

banerjek

You can train motorists. People are creatures of habit meaning that they tend to show up in the same places about the same times. When I start a new route, I always have to be extra careful for the first couple months until they get used to seeing me. Once they know you're out there, they look for you and the ride gets way easier even on very busy roads.

I live in a "bicycle friendly" state, and Portland, Corvallis, and Eugene are theoretically the friendliest places to ride. Curiously, those are my least favorite places to ride. My experience in all three of those towns is that while they have great bike lanes and whatnot, too many cyclists antagonize the motorists by being totally clueless or acting like jackasses. I encounter much less of the "us vs. them" dynamic in hick towns and on the busy roads, so the riding experience is superior.