First Ride in 25yrs

feno46

Hello All,

(old newbie / new oldie 60yr)

Got new bike on Friday,Tifosi CK3, (had Viking in the 60s and Falcon in 80s or vice versa), wind and rain Sat, Sunday still the same but could wait no longer.

Really enjoyed it but could only manage 4mls/ 30mins, today 6mls/30mns.easy route though, flat cycle path all the way along promanade except for the ending no matter which route I take allways have to end up on a killer hill to my house. Had to walk the last 50yds,wife was nearly calling the paramedics. :oops: My legs just turned to jelly and kept giving way as I walked (crawled) into the house.

From studying the forum I think I need a compact instead of the 53/39, for now anyway,
will get me up the hills a bit better.

Does the saddle get any easier ?. Sella Italia kevlar... Going clipless next week despite reading all the falling down posts.

Plan now is to do loads of miles between now and next summer before I venture down to local club,(all the gear no idea etc)...if I could find another oldie to do some training with that would be ideal

Regards , Pete.

Monty Dog

Welcome back!

if you haven't done so already, invest in some proper bike shorts before you start swapping saddles around. Contrary to popular perceptions, soft saddles can be as uncomfortable as hard ones as you sink into the saddle and the soft padding still puts pressure on your 'soft' bits.

thebikeliker

Monty is dead right about the saddle. My better half bought me a soft gel saddle because the female version had made her cycling so much more comfortable.

I persevered with it because it had been a present but in the end I had to get rid of it. It was agony. I went back to my old hard saddle and it was bliss.

As for the legs. They will get better. I remember the day when my legs felt tired as usual but it wasn't a bad tiredness just something I knew would pass. Difficult to explain but it didn't bother me, and it hasn't bothered me since.

Just persevere.

snakehips

Hi feno , good to hear you are back on the road.
Why did you chose Tifosi? I have the CK7.
Where are you located?
Stick with it , it gets easier , I am the same age as yourself btw.

Snake

robbie the roadie

Deffinately stick with and you from personal experince you will amazed how quickly it will come back to you. Just remeber to start nice and steady and just build it up.

feno46

Thanks for the replys guys.

Monty..........yes i've got the shorts etc.thanks, just got to work out what I need for the winter now.

Snakehips........60 is the new 40 (they say). Why Tifosi.....I read all the posts on bike choice and could not make up my mind, Trek, Specialized, then I read a few reviews and the Tifosi seemed to come out tops,....... Italian, Campag, carbon forks.10 speed, the triples got a bit of a bad press as regards dodgy shifting. seems ok so far, cant really compare it with anything as I havent ridden anything for 25yrs, it just scares the hell out of me at the moment, keep making little ajustments till it feels right. How do you rate yours ?.

Was ajusting the seat height tonight and as I was tightning up the bracket, it slipped off the tube and took a chunk of paint with it, is the exposed alloy now vunerable to corrosion.

My location is Wirral Merseyside. Have been going to edit my profile but for the love me I can't see were to do it.l :roll:

Pete.

acorn_user

The alloy will be fine
Did you get a triple or traditional double? Before you spring for a compact, you might try a Campag 13-29 cassette.

Good luck!

BigLee1

Good on ya Pete! Pop a bit of clear varnish over the paint chip if you don`t have the proper colour but it should be ok .
You`ve probably only got new cyclist sore bum syndrome! Keep with your current saddle for a while until you get used to it.

Good luck & enjoy it!

Lee

feno46

acorn_user wrote:

The alloy will be fine
Did you get a triple or traditional double? Before you spring for a compact, you might try a Campag 13-29 cassette.

Good luck!

I have the standard double, 53-39.
A 13-29 cassette seems a good option, and is a lot cheaper than a new compact, (to many expensive hobies I'v been told by her who must be obeyed). At the moment I have a 12-23 cassette and have not even used the big front ring. :!:

rdaviesb

Well done that man! I'd go slightly against the flow - a 53/39 is always likely to generate too long a set of ratios, and I'd downsize the chainset. No point in making life any harder than you need to, and what you should be focussing on is leg speed. Learn to spin and you'll get up any hill.