got my bike, let the training begin!
neep
Posts: 2
Hey folks, I was in the pub a few months ago. Needless to say I was a bit tipsy and a drunk challenge took place. Its a long story but in the end I agreed to do a 500 mile charity ride over a week next year in June :shock: Im used to mountainbiking and thrashing my trek 4100 over the hills, but Im new to road bikes.
Anyhoo, I've gone a bought myself a giant 3.5 defy on the advice of a guy in a bike shop and a few reviews on the net. They fitted a pannier rack and threw in a pair of padded pants and a good discount on a helmet. It arrived today and I've been tinkering with it this afternoon.
First impressions: Its light, really light! :shock: considering Im used to a fairly heavy mountainbike. The gears are a bit clunky and there is a fair amount of noise from the gears, but maybe this is something that needs further tinkering with to get set up perfectly. Its really quick! The brakes are quite spongy, but solid enough I suppose. Im struggling to get used to the rounded handlebars and having the brakes in a weird place, but Im thinking about changing the handlebars.
Over the next week or so I'll try ang get out as much as possible and I'll post some thoughts on the bike as I get more used to it. Im hoping to train about 60 miles aweek until winter, when I'll incorporate spinning and excercise bike into my normal gym training routine.
Cheers dudes
Neep
Anyhoo, I've gone a bought myself a giant 3.5 defy on the advice of a guy in a bike shop and a few reviews on the net. They fitted a pannier rack and threw in a pair of padded pants and a good discount on a helmet. It arrived today and I've been tinkering with it this afternoon.
First impressions: Its light, really light! :shock: considering Im used to a fairly heavy mountainbike. The gears are a bit clunky and there is a fair amount of noise from the gears, but maybe this is something that needs further tinkering with to get set up perfectly. Its really quick! The brakes are quite spongy, but solid enough I suppose. Im struggling to get used to the rounded handlebars and having the brakes in a weird place, but Im thinking about changing the handlebars.
Over the next week or so I'll try ang get out as much as possible and I'll post some thoughts on the bike as I get more used to it. Im hoping to train about 60 miles aweek until winter, when I'll incorporate spinning and excercise bike into my normal gym training routine.
Cheers dudes
Neep
0
Comments
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Welcome to the forums! I know exactly where you're coming from as I had a very similar journey into cycling myself. Look forward to hearing how your training progresses!
When you say change the bars do you mean to flats, or just to a different style?0 -
Give the drop bars a go, it takes a while to adapt to the riding position, took me about 200 miles riding plus some core exercise/stretching to get used to drops again after riding flat-barred mtb's for years, plus the frame dimensions and geometry on your bike will be set up for them.
The variety of hand positions with drops is great on a longer ride, plus you can get low comfortably when riding into a headwind.
I didn't get on with the anatomic drop bars that came with my bike though, so changed them to standard curve shallow drops.
http://www.bicycle-touring-guide.com/bicycle-handlebars.html
http://ruedatropical.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/road-drop-bar-geometry/0
