Hubby and I just picked up road bikes a few weeks ago to help cross train for mountain biking, and to commute to work a few days a week. He spotted a good national forest road close to home, so we rode out there. Great day. It was really warm, but for most of the ride there were very few cars, which was nice. 60 miles, 5100ft of climbing. Took about 4 hours and 45 minutes of ride time. That beats the 9 hours of ride time it takes for me to do 49 miles on the mountain bike, though ;)

A bit of rolling hills

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride09.jpg

Hmm, at least I *look* fast!

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride12.jpg

Climbing up toward some towers

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride13.jpg

No martini's on national forest land!

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride20.jpg

The OHV area (thankfully a group there was awesome and gave us 5 ice cold bottles of water since the well was nasty dirty and we were almost out)

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride21.jpg

Still not to the top yet

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride23.jpg

Self portrait

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride24.jpg

Looking back

http://mann.rcpics.net/roadbikeride/roadbikeride26.jpg

Glendora Ridge?

Love those skies, I do miss that about the west. Still trees are nice too......

That looks like awesome riding out there Allison. How's the bike treating you? Great pics and I love roads like that.

Wow, I love those clouds! Post more pics of that area any time. :thumbsup:

Thanks, all!

It was a gorgeous day out!

It's a bit south of Highway 74 (Ortega Highway) southeast of Orange County. We start out on the Riverside County side and ride up. I imagine we'll be going back there fairly often :thumbsup:

Bike is great. I was in a lot of pain near the end of the ride, but I think (er, hope) my body will adapt to road riding over time as well. The position is a bit less relaxed on road than on mountain bikes. Not to mention this was my first 60 mile ride, so naturally it should hurt a little, right?

Bike is great. I was in a lot of pain near the end of the ride, but I think (er, hope) my body will adapt to road riding over time as well. The position is a bit less relaxed on road than on mountain bikes. Not to mention this was my first 60 mile ride, so naturally it should hurt a little, right?

Great pics.

Over time the road bike should cause no more pain than the mtb. Given the exertion of a moderately difficult mtb trail, the road ride should be more "comfortable" for a ride of equal time. If your position on the road bike gives any pain then you should make minor adjustments until the feel is better. There are 100s of posts about how to get a better fit.

How about a few words about the new ride? It looks like a Specialized. Roubaix? Tarmac?

I am loving that warm looking weather. Nice pictures. Please do post some more.

Our toughest road ride where I live is 51 miles with over 5000 feet of climbing. There is nothing long just a bunch of rolling hills that beat you up.

How about a few words about the new ride? It looks like a Specialized. Roubaix? Tarmac?

It's the Specialized Roubaix Expert with Rival components. Great so far. I'm always hesitant to overly praise a brand new bike. Cause usually if it's new everything is working great and you've got the excitement factor of a new bike. Once I get more used to it and have a bunch more miles I'll probably do a review.

But, so far so good. I had a great time. Did have some pain, but I would've had some pain after a 60 mile mountain bike ride as well. I did have neck pain that I'm not used to on the mountain bike, but I believe that's the road bike geometry and something I'll get accustomed to in the (hopefully near) future.

The bike does have a similar frame to the Tarmac and Pro/S-Works models. It was a great ride. Hubby mentioned once the road was beating him up, but I had no complaints. So far the Rival stuff has been great. I think I've had some cable expansion, so a quick turn of the knob and all is well again.

It seems to climb and descend really well. I just need to get myself a stronger motor :) There has only been once or twice maybe that I thought it may have been nice to have a small chain ring. But, I'm trying to stand on climbs more to hold speed, and hopefully gain strength.