First ride on a road bike...
Discussion
Ive been mountain biking alot so to mix the fitness side up abit i bought myself a Carrera Virtuosa from ebay, 1 year old, £150, just to see if i like it before i spend more cash...
Id never ridden a road bike before, never tried clip-ons so it was all new, even when i bought the bike the guy i bought it from had to explain the gears, moving the break levers about to change gear was all alien to me so i thought i would give it a go...
so my new enemy is ALTITUDE, holy s
t i wanted to cry at one point, ive have been down that road 100 times in the car and on my motorbike, never in a million years would i think that it was so up and down hil, but anyway, i muscled on and really enjoyed it, i know my time was not the quickest and distance was not as far as the hard core leg shavers but it was a trail and i really cant wait to get back out and get abit further or do the same run but up my average speed...
So if theres any advice for a newbie to the road im all ears, ive already found out that people towing caravans forget the caravan is wider than the car (very scary) that the bike is silent so pedestrians like to walk out infront of you, and i miss disc breaks!
Id never ridden a road bike before, never tried clip-ons so it was all new, even when i bought the bike the guy i bought it from had to explain the gears, moving the break levers about to change gear was all alien to me so i thought i would give it a go...
so my new enemy is ALTITUDE, holy s
t i wanted to cry at one point, ive have been down that road 100 times in the car and on my motorbike, never in a million years would i think that it was so up and down hil, but anyway, i muscled on and really enjoyed it, i know my time was not the quickest and distance was not as far as the hard core leg shavers but it was a trail and i really cant wait to get back out and get abit further or do the same run but up my average speed...So if theres any advice for a newbie to the road im all ears, ive already found out that people towing caravans forget the caravan is wider than the car (very scary) that the bike is silent so pedestrians like to walk out infront of you, and i miss disc breaks!
Good first effort, keep it up.
Dont be too hard on altiude, for whilst it slows you down when your heading up the speed you get heading down the other side quickly becomes very addictive!
50mph on skinny wheels feels a heck of a lot faster than 50mph cocooned in metal and airbags, the adrenalin kick you feel makes up for all the sweating involved in getting to the top.
Dont be too hard on altiude, for whilst it slows you down when your heading up the speed you get heading down the other side quickly becomes very addictive!
50mph on skinny wheels feels a heck of a lot faster than 50mph cocooned in metal and airbags, the adrenalin kick you feel makes up for all the sweating involved in getting to the top.
a boardman said:
tomorrow (subject to weather) will be the first time I try it with my cleats fitted, have done it before with no cleats or toe straps.
Depending on what your route's like, I do find the cleats a bit of a pain on the commute. My commute involves lots of stopping/starting, mainly because I use cycle paths and so i'm always off/on the bike. However, when I go out at the weekend and do a nice country route on the roads I often don't have cause (other than breaks) to get off at all.TonyHetherington said:
Depending on what your route's like, I do find the cleats a bit of a pain on the commute. My commute involves lots of stopping/starting, mainly because I use cycle paths and so i'm always off/on the bike. However, when I go out at the weekend and do a nice country route on the roads I often don't have cause (other than breaks) to get off at all.
about 6 miles (total) of the digagram above are town, the rest including the hills is open countryside (50mph speed limit)
Mr Gear said:
A lot of people new to road bikes don't believe the sorts of tyre pressures required.
I'd go for an absolute minimum of 80psi and ideally somewhere between 100 & 110psi
Looks like a sweet ride for the cash. Enjoy!
When I was riding with a friend the other night he was going on about tyre pressures etc. I didn't really think too much of it. I always thought the harder the tyre the less resistance and quicker and easier the ride would be. He said to me that he likes quite a flat tyre so it's a little easier on the bumps. I'd go for an absolute minimum of 80psi and ideally somewhere between 100 & 110psi
Looks like a sweet ride for the cash. Enjoy!
fatpasty said:
When I was riding with a friend the other night he was going on about tyre pressures etc. I didn't really think too much of it. I always thought the harder the tyre the less resistance and quicker and easier the ride would be. He said to me that he likes quite a flat tyre so it's a little easier on the bumps.
This is of course true, and the wider the tyre, the lower pressure you can run it. I run my mountain bike at 30psi or less. But a low pressure on a narrow tyre (such as that on a road bike) runs the risk of pinch-punctures and wheel damage. You're not too far from me (Urmston). I ride around there all the time. I suggest you ride down past Stretton and into Comerbach, then Great Budworth, head east and ride past Arley Hall, then over to Pickmere. You can go from there through Tatton Park if you like, or you could head north from Pickmere, go over the M6, keep heading north under the M56, and turn west to Warrington through Lymm.
There are absolutely loads of C-roads to bimble around on, and hardly any traffic.
There are absolutely loads of C-roads to bimble around on, and hardly any traffic.
okgo said:
they're little hills
well done on getting involved.
The app I used for this was mapymyride, not bad at all, the distance is miles not K, bit rubbish it doesn't say but still managed to track everywhere, even when there was no signal!
Edited by okgo on Tuesday 12th July 14:16
i feel sick just looking at them!! that looks a good app!a boardman said:
this is my complete into work and home route, the hills are a bit of a pain,
but it does get easier normally only cycle it once a week.
tomorrow (subject to weather) will be the first time I try it with my cleats fitted, have done it before with no cleats or toe straps.
Thats a serious effort.. i only work about 5 miles away so im going to do a few runs to work on the bike too, weve got showers there aswell so i can try and put the effort in.but it does get easier normally only cycle it once a week.
tomorrow (subject to weather) will be the first time I try it with my cleats fitted, have done it before with no cleats or toe straps.
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