new road rider here

acebobby

hi
I have just bought myself a Giant Defy 3.5 to get started in roadriding, I pick it up on wed and cannot wait. I began doing RPM (spinning) classes earlier this year just to get fit and enjoyed it that much that I could not get the idea of buying a roadbike out of my head, so thats what I have done. I am planning on starting out with 10-20 mile rides hopefully managing 50-70 miles per week to begin with. any tips on technique welcome and as much as I would love to blast the miles in I dont want to do myself in too soon, I have planned a few circuits from my house ranging from 10 miles to 38 miles, all with there fair share of hills! anyway just thought id say hi to the forum.
Cheers

danowat

Just get time in the saddle and enjoy it.

sundog

Try not to make every ride a 'training' ride

blackpoolkev

Pencil a comfortable sportive or fun ride into your diary,it will help motivate you a little more.I decided to do Manchester/Blackpool(60 miles,July) back in March while my bike was covered in dust.1500 miles on the odometer since.

johnnyL

blackpoolkev wrote:

Pencil a comfortable sportive or fun ride into your diary,it will help motivate you a little more.I decided to do Manchester/Blackpool(60 miles,July) back in March while my bike was covered in dust.1500 miles on the odometer since.

Definately. Giving yourself a goal really makes a difference. Enjoy

acebobby

Thanks for the replies guys,
first of all my main reason for getting into cycling is for enjoyment, and getting outside in the fresh air so its important for me to keep enjoying it.
Not make every ride a training ride, I like that thought, I guess you mean just cycle and enjoy your surroundings rather than focused effort all the time.
Find a sportive or fun ride, now the competitive part of me really likes the idea of this, so I am searching for events near me in the spring time to give me something to work towards, Im in the north east of Scotland if anyone can suggest any events!
Anyway get new bike this morning and the sun is out, cant wait!

acebobby

OK, so just had my first ride of my new bike and wow, bikes have sure moved on alot since I last had one about 20 years ago. Anyway this bike is only entry level and its mega, I think im going to enjoy this hobby.
I did a 15.4 mile ride today, I used the cyclemeter app on my iphone and that is ace giving lots of data
ride time 1.08.10
distance 15.38 miles
average 13.54 mph
fastest speed 27.41 mph
climb 545 feet
and loads of other data including my route on google maps!
So this app should keep me motivated to improve all the time!
I really wish I had more time to do a longer ride as I was really enjoying the peacefulness of the B roads, this is something new to me, I ride motorbikes and thought I see alot of the country that way but I think doing that your going too fast and making too much noise that you dont see the real countryside. Today on my bike I cycled past an eagle sitting on a fence post that appeared to be just watching me, it never even moved, really an amazing sight!
Apologies for rambling on, but I think Im hooked, still buzzing!
A couple of questions though, when I do my RPM (spin) classes I can easily do the stand up hill climb sections, I enjoy that but when I tried it on my real bike I couldn't do it, I was wobbling about and couldn't get the pedals to circle consistently, in the end I did my climbs by sitting back in the saddle and bracing my abs, do I need to build strength in my abs before I can successfully do the standup hill climb?

Cheers
Bobby

johnnyL

For hill cimbing you use different muscles when seated to when you are standing. Firstly, concentrate on a good technique and the strength will follow with training.

Take a look at this link. http://www.cptips.com/climb.htm

skyd0g

When you do the 'hill climb section' in spin classes, the bike is fixed solid to the gym floor. A road bike in the real world isn't fixed solid (and the steering is quite sensitive) - hence the wobbling.

In the gym, you'd be able to heave on the bars to balance yourself & get additional power with no penalty whatsoever - in the real world, it's somewhat different as you have noticed.