Road biking newbie

Ifstar
Ifstar Posts: 10
edited June 2011 in Road beginners
Have recently purchased a Specialized Allez Comp (vanilla i know but I love it) and want to say as I'm new to the road bike world it is bleedin' amazing. Makes my hybrid (specialized cross trail) feel like a dog , accelerates like a bat out of hell and climbs in away I never dreamed climbing could be done. On an evening ride in richmond park yesterday I was pushing my mate up a hill I use to chug like a dying whale on. Whole ride was insane 35miles fresh as a daisy. Slow hybrids and Road bikes are literally like light and day.

Second and effectively third I have decided to do a 100 mile event at the turn of the year and will be racking up the miles in preparation. So firstly anyone got ideas on what event/sportive to go for, nothing to difficult still a beginner. Second was looking to add to my riding cadre, I live in south London and am looking to do mainly sunday big rides but smaller ones throughout the week, any one interested company would be great. I'm 25 if it makes any difference.

Comments

  • Peddle Up!
    Peddle Up! Posts: 2,040
    It's a great feeling. You're hooked, I guess so prepare to dig deep in your pocket! Don't dive into the 100 miler, but get some sensible training under your belt first. That said, you're 25 so you're on the inside track. :D
    Purveyor of "up" :)
  • gavbarron
    gavbarron Posts: 824
    You could do the London to Brighton ride and back, off the top of my head it's 54 miles there so would be 108 round trip with a cake stop in Brighton.

    Keep an eye on the cycling mags, they quite often review sportives so you can get an idea of what they involve

    List of 2011 sportives here :

    http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... endar.html

    They'll be at similar times next year and there are links to the sites
  • Rich Hcp
    Rich Hcp Posts: 1,355
    I did the London "Do it for charity" 100- last year, you've just missed this years.

    But I'm sure it'll be on again in 2012, it starts & finishes in Richmond Park, which sounds convenient for you.

    I'm considering doing the 2012 run myself
    Richard

    Giving it Large
  • CRAIGO5000
    CRAIGO5000 Posts: 697
    Manchester to Blackpool is 2 weeks away?

    It's 62 miles and Im doing it with 9 other mates. I've been commuting to and from work 14 miles a day and doing weekend rides in prep. The last weekend ride was 66.5 miles on a Trek fast hybrid but my new 2008 Allez is night and day above the hybrid. I did a 45 mile ride on it last week and I felt perfectly fine afterwards and wanted to go on!

    I'm still working on the bike fit too. (new stem is in the post)
    Ribble Stealth/SRAM Force
    2007 Specialized Allez (Double) FCN - 3

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