Just thought I'd introduce myself here. 40 years old and was just told by my doctor that I need to lose weight and get some exercise. So I started riding last week. I only have a Motobecane mountain bike, but I plan to get a real road bike within next couple of months. Rode three times last week, with my last ride being 7.55 miles at a pathetic 10 mph, so I'm in pretty bad shape. I've heard that I could probably ride 50% farther with a real road bike as opposed to a 40 pound mountain bike, so I'm looking forward to that.
I actually had been thinking about getting into cycling since the 2010 Tour de France. Oddly enough, I got into that because of soccer. I would get up early every day to watch the World Cup and eventually found out that the Tour de France was on at the same time. So I would watch the sprint finishes between soccer matches.
Crap. I introduced myself in the wrong place. My apologies.
Here is my intro!
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Hello Cyclists,
I'm here because I have a problem, and I cannot figure out how to solve it. I can get to that later, and in the appropriate thread.
I've always loved cycling. When I was a kid I wanted to join a team, but there were none around. I still was on my bike all the time. However, what I did do was swim. I got to be a pretty good swimmer. I would, of course, ride my bike to swim practice. What got me biking the most in the hills of the Adirondacks was my girlfriend. She lived near the Hudson, and I lived up on the hills. I would bike up and down those endless hills every day. I loved that ride almost more than her.
When I moved to Michigan, I more or less stopped. I tried mountain biking, but never loved it. I had a bike in college to go to classes, but that was quickly stolen, and I never got another one. What fitness I did do was playing water polo in college for a year. Then I stopped sports and got chubby. After that, when I got my first real job, I would commute for 2 miles, and instead of walking or cycling, I would drive and get tickets. Lots of tickets.
It took years to get back into fitness. I first started soccer since it was easier to start somewhere I had no ego attached to not being good. After a few years, it was back to swimming, and water polo. Then I started coaching masters.
Through there I met some triathletes, and they kept suggesting I try it. At the same time, my wife decided to do a charity ride from SF to LA. She got herself a nice (used) new bike. And I got a second hand bike for my tri. We started riding together. I found that my fastest friends commuted to work on bike. I now lived 20 miles from work... so I gave it a try.
After racing and commuting, I was hooked on biking again. I never really raced, but I LOVE racing in tris. I LOVE commuting. I love working on my bike on the weekend. I love working on my wife's bike too.
I upgraded my commuter last year. I got sold a hybrid when I first started, and boy was that a mistake. I had no fun on that bike, and thus hated riding. When I got my second hand try bike, I started loving cycling again. I love going fast. So I sold my $700 hybrid, and got a $300 Chrome Kilo/TT. I just switched out the back wheel for a Aerospoke build here in Michigan that someone was practically giving away. It is heavy, but I love it for commuting.
I just upgraded my triathlon bike. This is where I'm needing help. I got a lightly used Specialized S-Works Transition in the quickstep color line. http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...s%20Transition
However, a lot of the parts had been switched out, including the wheels. I purchased a set of 88mm deep carbon tubulars from China. I purchased some Vittoria Tubulars. I purchased a bit more too. It's running me so low on cash I will only be able to do one race this season... but I'll have nice stuff next time I do race.
I hope to find it nice here.
There's a lot more to me as well, but I figured I might as well give my cycling story here. The rest (parenting, jobs, politics, etc.) can come out later.
Just finished a 9.24 mile ride. Have ridden 32.31 miles this week. I know that's small for some of you guys, but I'm shocked at that myself. Might as well set a goal for myself. The Tour de Tucson is in November. Distances are 111, 85, 60, or 42. Doubt that I can do 111. But I would guess that if I get a decent bike and ride 5 times a week like I have been, 42 will be easy. Maybe I should shoot for 60.
Hey everyone, I'm new to the road (mountain biker for 10+ yrs, but not much last 12 mths). I really like the mountain bike on trails, etc., but it sucks riding it on the road, so I decided to take get an entry level road bike and see how it goes. I'm 52 but very active, still compete in tennis 3-4 days a week.
Anyway, here's a shot of the bike, a Diamond Back Podium 2....got it for $599 (good price???) It came with cheap clipless pedals so if anyone could suggest a decent set that would be helpful.
Hi I'm new to road bike review. I cycled in the 80's and got back into it in 2001. Now I ride centuries in the area and climb a lot of mountains. Thats good cause the area I live in has lots of them. I like bikes too much and am currently building up a 20 year old Colnago Master.
Hi all, greetings from Copenhagen Denmark. I am new here and new to road cycling. I am planning to compete in triathlons this year but first I have to know a lot more about road cycling and bikes. Thats why Im here :-)
Hi, my name's Mike and I'm new to these here parts. Been cycling since the sixties, competed in the 70s, and still have a vintage bike purchased with paper route money in '66, converted to competition use with Zeus components.
Got lots of questions if I can make the 5-post minimum to create a new thread, mostly about mounting Tufo tires.
Sounds great! Is the Diamond Back aluminum or steel? I suggest going to Bike Nashbar's website, they are having a huge sale and you should be able to pick up pedals and shoes very cheap!!
I got back on my road bike 3 years ago after a long hiatus!! I mostly ride with my wife, 23 to 100 miles at a pop!! I also play USTA Tennis!!
Greetings all!
So in the spirit of not just being a lurker I thought I would just give a quick hello. Formerly I used to race a bit, loved to ride a lot, but when I moved to Germany had to give up a few things (years of riding) till I got sorted. Right now I am just on a Cannondale Bad Boy that has Chris King hubs, X0 Crank set 2X9, and 23X700 Hutchinson Fusion 3 Rims. A good month I hit about 800K and will increase that.
Most of my riding is varied around here in Dresden, Germany on road surfaces. At this time though I been missing a road race bike and slowly looking through the various option on which road bike I will purchase or build. I know I like fast but I am also on a budget. Reliability also of course. Pretty sure I will stay tubeless and build from the ground up with Chris King R45. We will see what the rest is
In the past I have had custom made cyclops with campy setup, Vitus, Concorde, Cannondale as my road bikes.
Just dropping a line and saying hello. I came to the forums to ask the cyclists of SoCal some questions about riding and bike rentals, as I'll be out there next week, but it looks like I can't initiate a thread until I've posted 5 responses to existing threads, so here's to #1!
Well, once a Klutz, always a Klutz I guess. I don't seem to have the hang of this forum at all. I posted several hours ago to introduce myself, even got an e-mail response, and cannot seem to connect correctly with the forum. Can't seem to find my intro post either after doing a search.
Perhaps in a millennium or two I'll figure this out. Any suggestions?
Yeah, my wife suckered me into getting in the lottery for the Tour of NYC this May. We got picked, and now I'm freakin' out! She and I used to ride like fiends, and I used to cycle competitively, but the last few years have seen precious few miles on my 46-year-old bike. Needless to say, I've been hitting the road ever opportunity I get. Hopefully, the forty-mile trek will not be too hard on these old bones!
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