Just a useless observation about my unfitness as I'm getting back into cycling.
I have two bikes, one being a $400 Hybrid and the other a $2,400 custom built Surly Crosscheck. So the Surly is not terribly expensive and it's a tourer, not a road/racing bike at all. However, it is *completely* different experiences riding on the two bikes.
I loaned the Hybrid to a colleague to do Loop The Lake on earlier in the year and he he refused to ride it, saying there's something wrong with it
When I started riding again a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd start with the hybrid and wait till I achieve something before spoiling myself to the Surly. Movng forward on the hybrid is a pain. It's difficult to explain, there isn't anything wrong with the bike, it just doesn't roll very well. Last weekend I did a 65km ride on the hybrid and thought I was going to die. However, I was happy with my progress so I thought I'd spoil myself to the Surly. Rode it again for the first time last week. This past weekend I did a 95km ride on the Surly and it seemed like less effort than the 65km on the hybrid a week earlier.
Sorry, I'm blabbering along, but the point I wanted to get to is that on the Hybrid I cruise along at 18-20km/h, on the Surly I do the same route but often find myself at 28-30km/h on the same flat sections. I picked up a lot of weight in the time that I wasn't riding a lost a lot of my fitness, so I get out of breath very quickly. The interesting thing for me is that I seem to get more tired on the Surly than on the hybrid. Even though the Surly rolls much easier and the hybrid is generally a pain to ride, I tend to be out of breath and generally feel more tired after riding the same route to/from work on the Surly than on the hybrid. My guess is that it's just because I'm enjoying the ride more that I push a little harder.
Anyhow, bit of useless info.
Dirk
