Newbie advice again please

Toe knee

Good morning all,

This is my second post on this great forum,anyway I would first like to explain my return to cycling after about 30 years. You see I live on the route of the Liverpool to Chester sportive and last year as I stood on my door step watching everyone go past ,I noticed that every shape and size of people were taking part,some on road bikes in complete Lycra rig out . Oh my god I thought what an inspiration these people are.So after this I did no more than stop smoking a few days later,asked about the bike scheme in work ,which was not due till the November . So in November I purchased a Claude butler hybrid,ai went out when I could over the winter months,on one occasion having a nasty ride involving very cold air blasting in my lungs,not very nice. At the moment I am doing about 8-10 miles every other day on the Wirral way cycle track , it just seems that I am dragging a big heavy lump around at the moment ( the bike I mean not me ) . In my first post I asked about which road bike to purchase, as I think it would increase my fitness and ride lentgth better.
Do you think I'm ready for this step up yet ?
My ultimate goal is to join a club and in the distant future do an end to end for Claire house, my local children's hospice. Sorry for the long post thanks all.

NITR8s

Your always ready for a new bike, go for it.

getprg

+1

Although if you are planning to buy new (or 2nd hand) some of the best bargains will be available late summer early autumn - or even next Spring for "previous year" models - so it might be worth waiting a little longer depending on your budget.

By the way - great to read the story of how you came back to cycling and your plans for the future - inspiring stuff.

slowbike

Toe knee wrote:

In my first post I asked about which road bike to purchase, as I think it would increase my fitness and ride lentgth better.

A new bike will make no difference to your fitness by itself - what it may do is give you a marginal increase in speed and hopefully the encouragement to push more.

What do I mean by this?
Well, on my commute home last night I came across a chap on a situp and beg bike - wearing t-shirt, jeans and standard flat pedals - oh and with a pannier on the back
He pulled out in front of me (a reasonable distance - no issues there!) and with me on my roadbike I thought I'd be quickly past him - after all, my bike doesn't weigh much, I'm wearing lycra top albeit with baggy shorts and I'm far better positioned aerodynamically than he is ...
Anyway - he was going at a fair lick ~18mph and I was only a couple of mph faster at that point so it wasn't the breeze I thought it would be to take him ... which made me think about kit ...

Kit looks good, feels good and can help a bit- but ultimately, if the engine is knackered you're not going anywhere - and the engine is you ... you can have a good engine on a knackered/heavy/rubbish bike and it'll still go well but it is so easy for a knackered engine to blame the bike they're riding ... :oops:

Redhog14

Get a new bike for sure, but do some research first.
My brother had this old steel bike which was never used, then his son gets a new MTB which gets him thinking, so he upgrades to a hybrid, suddenly he feels the difference, we start chatting more about bikes and he decided to get "proper" road bike. This year he bought a Moda Tempo, whether he is faster or not he doesn't care, he just feels the difference of riding a new and improved machine, gets out twice a week and made some new friends. So do look into a new bike as it can be the inspiration for you to get out more and that is more important than speed, cadence, distances etc.

jonny_trousers

Slowbike wrote:

Toe knee wrote:

In my first post I asked about which road bike to purchase, as I think it would increase my fitness and ride lentgth better.

A new bike will make no difference to your fitness by itself - what it may do is give you a marginal increase in speed and hopefully the encouragement to push more.

What do I mean by this?
Well, on my commute home last night I came across a chap on a situp and beg bike - wearing t-shirt, jeans and standard flat pedals - oh and with a pannier on the back
He pulled out in front of me (a reasonable distance - no issues there!) and with me on my roadbike I thought I'd be quickly past him - after all, my bike doesn't weigh much, I'm wearing lycra top albeit with baggy shorts and I'm far better positioned aerodynamically than he is ...
Anyway - he was going at a fair lick ~18mph and I was only a couple of mph faster at that point so it wasn't the breeze I thought it would be to take him ... which made me think about kit ...

Kit looks good, feels good and can help a bit- but ultimately, if the engine is knackered you're not going anywhere - and the engine is you ... you can have a good engine on a knackered/heavy/rubbish bike and it'll still go well but it is so easy for a knackered engine to blame the bike they're riding ... :oops:

This is true, but there is another factor well worth considering too: comfort. A bike designed to be ridden at the speeds you wish to go, on the terrain you wish to ride on, and for the length of time you wish to be on out there will be far more comfortable, and therefore less dispiriting to train on, than a more general, multi-purpose machine. I know this from personal experience when making my own move from hybrid to road bike over two years ago. The pain I was suffering in my shoulders and wrists from using a flat bar (even with bar ends) disappeared as soon as I moved over to drops, and I immediately felt as though the effort I was putting in was being rewarded by the responsiveness of the bike.

Beyond that there is the feeling-as-though-you-are-part-of-a-community thing that most of us experience. We have goals and we want to feel as though we are using the same gear, and have the same mindset, as others who share those goals. Often that rationale is flawed and people go and buy themselves expensive and highly unsuitable bikes for what they really need, but with a certain degree of perspective, it is possible to select something that will inspire you, will be comfortable (an extremely important factor when riding any kind of distance) and won't break the bank.

Toe knee! If you think you are ready to try a road bike then you are most definitely ready, and you will love it! If you are the chap who was asking about a bike with a £500 budget then I would agree with those who advised you to go second-hand. You will get way more for your money that way and providing you choose carefully, there is no reason why you won't find something that functions just as well as a brand new bike. You will have to think about your needs carefully, however, measure yourself up to make sure you buy the right size, and do a little research into what will most suit you, but this place is great for receiving advice.

Best wishes, congratulations on turning your life around and good luck hitting those goals!

Toe knee

Thanks for all the replies much appreciated.

Ringo 68

I live in the same area as you and a couple of years ago my wife decide she wanted a bike to help her get fitter. I bought her a Carrera Hybrid from Halfords for her birthday and while I was at it I thought it would be rude not to get one myself so bought two.

We started on the Wirral Way and it wasn't long before I was getting out at every possible opportunity I could and loving every minute of it.

On one ride I was heading towards Willaston and a group of road bike riders went past me at what seemed to me to be warp factor 5. At that moment I decided that "I have got to get me one of those bikes"

I ended up getting a Boardman (which are a great first road bike IMHO) and it was one of the best decissions I have ever made.

Go for it, you will certainly not regret it.