SkepTeach

Thank you all for the welcomes, and the wealth of information! I'm going to level the seat this afternoon before my ride and do the typical 15 mi trip and see how that affects the experience. My local bike shop did have me get on the bike and checked the seat height. Interestingly, after riding a few days and one especially grueling 34 mi trip, I realized my seat was too low. I have since raised it and it has vastly improved the experience. I'm not meaning to imply that my local shop is incompetent or anything, but I didn't really spend a lot of time with them when I took delivery and I was dressed in my normal school attire, so it probably threw off their recommendations.

To relate a brief anecdote: I consider myself to be a pretty healthy individual and I have been working at remaining that way for several years. I just turned 36 and I'm all too aware that metabolic rates change with age. I refuse to allow myself the midlife expansion of my waist line. Warring with that is my predilection for good food, and I love to cook. I'm also a bit of an admitted chocoholic. To that end, I have been doing a 30-40 min bout on an elliptical just about daily for around 3 years so that I can continue an enjoyable diet but not balloon out. I used to maintain a weight at around 160 lbs, which wasn't obese on my 5'9" frame by any means, but maybe a little more than I preferred. Using the elliptical, I brought that average down to just under 150 lbs. I have been consistently biking now for right around 4 weeks, and am currently averaging the lowest I ever have in my adult life at around 142 lbs. I just find an hour to an hour and a half bike ride to be much more endurable and enjoyable than even half the time on the elliptical, even with a fan and my current Netflix binge on in front of me.

I really appreciate the immense amount of information contained here. I've already learned a lot and feel like I've barely broken the surface of the bike world culture.