New Bike - First Ride
Steve_b77
Posts: 1,680
I headed out on my first proper road ride on Saturday with a mate who's also doing the London to Paris in July.
When getting ready the weather looked clear and bright if a little on the chilly side, just as we were about to leave it started raining - cue change of jacket, then we had all weathers over the proceeding 2.5 hours, although it did stop raining at the cafe stop.
We rode off from mine towards Tarporley then through the back lanes of Cheshire heading into Chester and down by the river for a hot choccy, out of Chester through Vicars Cross, past Tarvin and off through Ashton, Mouldsworth, Hatchmere, Delamere and back home.
A nice route and some varied terrain (well form me on my first road outting anyway)
The bike itself (Raleigh Airlite U6 Race) was superb, very comfortable - the carbon rear end takes away so much road buzz - and the road round here aren't great.
It accelerates nicely and cruises along with great ease, had an average speed of 16 for the day and was maintaining 19mph on the flatter bits of the ride. Despite the slippery (lots of mud/cow muck on the most country of lanes) I never felt unstable or at risk of loosing traction despite the silly thin 23mm tyres (normally ride MTB's and even my commuter has 28mm tyres).
The gear shift was superbly smooth and very accurate, near silent to be honest (Ultegra 6600). Brakes nice and powerful too (Ultegra 6600 again)
Bar the saddle, which felt a little firm - I have Charge Spoons on all my other bieks so may get one of them or even a knife
I'm very impressed with the bike and can't wait to get more miles in, I can see the mountain bikes getting a bit of a winter sabatical over the next few months.
When getting ready the weather looked clear and bright if a little on the chilly side, just as we were about to leave it started raining - cue change of jacket, then we had all weathers over the proceeding 2.5 hours, although it did stop raining at the cafe stop.
We rode off from mine towards Tarporley then through the back lanes of Cheshire heading into Chester and down by the river for a hot choccy, out of Chester through Vicars Cross, past Tarvin and off through Ashton, Mouldsworth, Hatchmere, Delamere and back home.
A nice route and some varied terrain (well form me on my first road outting anyway)
The bike itself (Raleigh Airlite U6 Race) was superb, very comfortable - the carbon rear end takes away so much road buzz - and the road round here aren't great.
It accelerates nicely and cruises along with great ease, had an average speed of 16 for the day and was maintaining 19mph on the flatter bits of the ride. Despite the slippery (lots of mud/cow muck on the most country of lanes) I never felt unstable or at risk of loosing traction despite the silly thin 23mm tyres (normally ride MTB's and even my commuter has 28mm tyres).
The gear shift was superbly smooth and very accurate, near silent to be honest (Ultegra 6600). Brakes nice and powerful too (Ultegra 6600 again)
Bar the saddle, which felt a little firm - I have Charge Spoons on all my other bieks so may get one of them or even a knife
I'm very impressed with the bike and can't wait to get more miles in, I can see the mountain bikes getting a bit of a winter sabatical over the next few months. 0
Comments
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Sounds like a nice bike and glad you had a good first ride. Hope you gave the bike a good clean when you got home in view of wet roads with mud/cow muck as you describe - to keep it in pristine condition and well lubed etc.. I have a light tourer and I know how manky it gets - even with mudguards - in this weather.0
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It certainly got a good clean.
I'm that used to cleaning 4 hours worth of ingraned mud out of drive trains and brakes road bikes are easy0 -
Nice one Steve.
There's some nice rides around that neck of the woods - did you pass by Oulton Park? You'll have to post a pic of your new steed. Cycling weakly0 -
Steve_b77
If you don't mind me asking where are you from? If you are from the North Cheshire area and you want to join a friendly club then the North Cheshire Clarion is the club for you or anyone else in the region looking for a club. Give them a try they are a friendly bunch
http://www.northcheshireclarion.co.uk/0 -
Remember our mantra - "We never leave a rider behind!"
Sounds like a good club to start off with!
Remember that all clubs are different and some will be very receptive towards a complete beginner. Other people, as I wrote on this post:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12651956
expect all newbies who join to have developed a good level of speed and endurance, because as I said in this post, many people think they can be fast enough right away because they've been inspired by the likes of Cavendish and co. on the TV. Thankfully you're already plenty quick enough and fit enough by the sounds of things, so join up and enjoy your riding even more!0 -
Marko1962 wrote:Steve_b77
If you don't mind me asking where are you from? If you are from the North Cheshire area and you want to join a friendly club then the North Cheshire Clarion is the club for you or anyone else in the region looking for a club. Give them a try they are a friendly bunch
http://www.northcheshireclarion.co.uk/
Marko,
I'm from near Northwich so it's a possible for me, however I'm only back up North on weekends as I work in London so may look at joining something down here too.
Thanks for the info though 0
