Just bought my first road bike
ineedalager
Posts: 374
I have been cycling to lose weight for about 4 yeras now. I was almost 17 stone and started on a cheap mountain bike 5 mile rides then 8 then 10 biult up as I got fitter. I lost 3 stone covered 12 thousand miles in 4 yearss on a Carrea mountain bike and a Boardman Hybrid. My Hybrid is just coming upto 6,000 miles soon.
My fitness has improved alot and the hills I started off walking up 4 years ago I can now cycle up and on the top ring on most of them. Not ready for any mountains just yet! But I was cycling up one of my local hills on the hybrid when I herd a road bike coming to overtake me. It turned out to be 3 guys I increased my pace slightly to keep up and statyed with them almost to the top. When I just started to lose touch and then let hem go. I thought I.m not that far off the pace of thes guys manybe if I kept a higher pace lower down I could of stayed with them as it's hard to up your pace half way up a hill.
I decided it was time for a road bike. I went to all my LBS and tried a few bikes and took in the advice and decided it was between a Giant Defy 4 and a Specialised Aleez 16 2011 models as my budget was £500. I rode them both and like the Allez better and bought that. £429.99
It has 52/39 and 13/26 crank and cassette. I rode one of my 20 mile regular routes and it was ok up the hills but was a bit tougher than my hybrid which has a 50/36 and an 11/32. so I Ihad the cassette changed to to a 11/28 and have the opton if I want to change the to a compact if I plan to tackle any steeper climbs. But as It stands there are no steeper climbs close to me that I havn't already done so hopefully I will get fitter and drop another stone and breeze up the hills.
I decided to tackle my 20 mile route and see if I could beat my best time on the Boardman Hybrid using my new Specialised Aleez. It has 2 good hills in there just under a mile long not sure on the percentage as there's no signs on them. My best was 1 hour 16m 30s minutes on the hybird and I did that in 1 hour 10m 30s on the.Allez so I was pleased. Also I was shocked at how fast I was going. I have a cat eye wireless Velo and I was 2 to 3 mph faster almost everywhere on the ride.
So today I tought I would try and break 20miles in one hour. My best on the Hybrid was 18.8 average for 21miles. So I rode over to a strectch of duel carriageway about 5 miles away and average was 17mph when I got there went up and down a it 24 mph oneway and 21mph back the other watching the computer and the average was going up all the time until I hit 20.3 and knew I had only about 4 miles left to get home. I did 20 miles in 58m 58s and kept up the pace until I got home 23 something miles in 1h 9m average 20.3mph. I am over the moon I never thought I would crack 20mph average. My longest ride is 61 miles in 4 hours but my rear end went numb. I ride 20 -26 miles 4 to 5 times a week at the moment.
My nephew who is 20 years younger than me and has a full carbon bike and is 2 stone lighter and fitter told me his best time for 20 miles was 1h 2m so if I can keep up with him I must be doing ok for an old git and he rode Mount Blanc last year on his bike with a compact gear set!
I am 56 years old and cycling is my drug I love it I went on holiday to Myjorca recently and couldn't ride the bike for a week I got back and road 39 miles and tackled to steeper hills one of which defeated me last year. I saw loads of people cycling in Can Pic a for(speliing) and there a good bike shop there that hires quality bikes for 20 Euros a day if only I had brought my cycling gear with me!
I am thinking about joining a local bike club as I ride on my own.
My fitness has improved alot and the hills I started off walking up 4 years ago I can now cycle up and on the top ring on most of them. Not ready for any mountains just yet! But I was cycling up one of my local hills on the hybrid when I herd a road bike coming to overtake me. It turned out to be 3 guys I increased my pace slightly to keep up and statyed with them almost to the top. When I just started to lose touch and then let hem go. I thought I.m not that far off the pace of thes guys manybe if I kept a higher pace lower down I could of stayed with them as it's hard to up your pace half way up a hill.
I decided it was time for a road bike. I went to all my LBS and tried a few bikes and took in the advice and decided it was between a Giant Defy 4 and a Specialised Aleez 16 2011 models as my budget was £500. I rode them both and like the Allez better and bought that. £429.99
It has 52/39 and 13/26 crank and cassette. I rode one of my 20 mile regular routes and it was ok up the hills but was a bit tougher than my hybrid which has a 50/36 and an 11/32. so I Ihad the cassette changed to to a 11/28 and have the opton if I want to change the to a compact if I plan to tackle any steeper climbs. But as It stands there are no steeper climbs close to me that I havn't already done so hopefully I will get fitter and drop another stone and breeze up the hills.
I decided to tackle my 20 mile route and see if I could beat my best time on the Boardman Hybrid using my new Specialised Aleez. It has 2 good hills in there just under a mile long not sure on the percentage as there's no signs on them. My best was 1 hour 16m 30s minutes on the hybird and I did that in 1 hour 10m 30s on the.Allez so I was pleased. Also I was shocked at how fast I was going. I have a cat eye wireless Velo and I was 2 to 3 mph faster almost everywhere on the ride.
So today I tought I would try and break 20miles in one hour. My best on the Hybrid was 18.8 average for 21miles. So I rode over to a strectch of duel carriageway about 5 miles away and average was 17mph when I got there went up and down a it 24 mph oneway and 21mph back the other watching the computer and the average was going up all the time until I hit 20.3 and knew I had only about 4 miles left to get home. I did 20 miles in 58m 58s and kept up the pace until I got home 23 something miles in 1h 9m average 20.3mph. I am over the moon I never thought I would crack 20mph average. My longest ride is 61 miles in 4 hours but my rear end went numb. I ride 20 -26 miles 4 to 5 times a week at the moment.
My nephew who is 20 years younger than me and has a full carbon bike and is 2 stone lighter and fitter told me his best time for 20 miles was 1h 2m so if I can keep up with him I must be doing ok for an old git and he rode Mount Blanc last year on his bike with a compact gear set!
I am 56 years old and cycling is my drug I love it I went on holiday to Myjorca recently and couldn't ride the bike for a week I got back and road 39 miles and tackled to steeper hills one of which defeated me last year. I saw loads of people cycling in Can Pic a for(speliing) and there a good bike shop there that hires quality bikes for 20 Euros a day if only I had brought my cycling gear with me!
I am thinking about joining a local bike club as I ride on my own.
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Comments
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Nice to hear you are enjoying your cycling and well done on losing weight and hitting your speed targets. When you join a local club why not look into time trialling next season? Gives you something to aim at and most club TT's have various age groups to test yourself against as well as the challenge of beating your PB time.
Good story and should encourage others to get out there and have a go.Trek Madone 5.9
Kinesis Crosslight T40 -
Well done! I think I can see how you chose your forum name...
You do realise that the spending only just starts now? You'll be needing all the kit - clothes, shoes & cleats. As ALaPlage says, your post can only encourage others who're prevaricating. Club riding seems a good move.Location: ciderspace0 -
DrLex wrote:Well done! I think I can see how you chose your forum name...
You do realise that the spending only just starts now? You'll be needing all the kit - clothes, shoes & cleats. As ALaPlage says, your post can only encourage others who're prevaricating. Club riding seems a good move.
Your right about the user name that's how I got to be almost 17 stone! 6 to 8 cans of lager a day!
I am not to bad on the gear I am riding with mountain bike shoes (helps when I used to walk up the hills!) with SPD cleats I had a new spare set of pedals which I put on the Allez. I have all the warm stuff as I ride all year round and water proof overshoes that keep my feet warm in winter.0 -
I need a new winter jersey as mine is hanging after all these miles. I wanted to buy the same one again but thet don't make it any more. It's a Polaris hi viz i think it's was called an altera or something. but it's been washed so many time I can't se what it's called.
Anyone have any recomendations for a long sleeved top. I wear a base layer in winter and have a wind proof jacket for when it's realy cold so something for when short sleeves are not enough now it's starting to get colder somrthng that will last.
Is there going to be any benifit for me to get road shoes as I've been using the shimano moutain bike shoes for about three years on my other 2 bikes mountain and hybrid and they feel fine on the road bike?0 -
Great inspiration this m8, just bought my first road baike for 27 years on Saturday & was very concious of being out of shape etc, also part of the aim was to lose weight.
Loving it already, off to buy a computer next so I can track my improvements0 -
puppiesdanglybits wrote:Great inspiration this m8, just bought my first road baike for 27 years on Saturday & was very concious of being out of shape etc, also part of the aim was to lose weight.
Loving it already, off to buy a computer next so I can track my improvements
Last time I had a racer was when I was 15 it was my older brothers bike with 10 speed. I bumped down a curb a bolt fell out of the deraileur and the mech went into the spokes. I cried my eyes out thinking it was my failt. I lost all my gears as the chain was shortened and the rear mech removed.
So first racer for 41 years!
I took my mountain bike out today and went 35 miles 10 miles of it along the Ridgeway. Dam that bike feels heavy and slow after the racer.0 -
great read mate!, keep at it!
i only have rode my bike now for just over a year and im amazed at the improvments i have made, i started doing races this year propley after doing one or two tt`s last year and iv taken a massive 5 MINUTES of my 10M TT time which is 23:42 not bad!best bike: raleigh avanti U6 carbon comp
10m tt pb:23:42.
25m tt pb: 1h 2min( only done 2)0 -
Get into some time trials as others have said, those speeds are very respectible.0
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Pross wrote:Get into some time trials as others have said, those speeds are very respectible.
Thanks for that, this is what has been holding me back from getting a racer is I thought I would be too slow on it and look a plonker as I am so much older than most guys I see out riding.
I suppose if started my ride at the duel carriageway I could push that up to 22mph average for 20 miles as I was consistant 24mph oneway and 21mph the other.
I just marvel when I see the speed the pros do and thought I would be much too slow to keep up with you club guys!0 -
I have been riding regularly on my MTB for the lady few months, doing longer rides and getting my times down. My last ride out was 29.25miles in 2h 02m on roads with some good climbs.
I get my new Specialized Allez 16 next Friday and anxious to see the improvement, I hope to be getting that 30 mile ride down to 1h 45m before Christmas.
This weekend I am planning an 18mile route as soon as the F1 has finished, this took me 1h 28m the last time I did it - semi hungover and I want to smash that this morning, 1h 15m is my target today. I am going to do an extended route based on the 29.25m one tomorrow, reckon it will be closer to 40m and hoping for 2h 30m.0 -
Why don't you do some interval training?
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really good read, well done. The spesh allez is a great starter bike, nice to hear someone on a bike having fun. good on ya.The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.0
