n00bie milestones

[DoogleDave]

I managed to fit in a few Noobie milestones this weekend.

- Collection of very first road bike from bike shop (Felt F75)...what a difference from the MTB I was riding!

- 1st clip-stack with new clipless SPD shoes/pedals...glad I did it in a secluded place. Gotta love it when your shoe re-clips into the pedal without you noticing...LOL

- 1st 50km ride...finally...(and 90km for the weekend).

- 1st time riding in pouring rain (last 7km of 50km ride)...arrived home sopping wet with my back covered in road grime (but it was so refreshing).

Now working towards a century ride, my next clip-stack and having more fun out on the bike...

Dave

[visrealm]

I managed to fit in a few Noobie milestones this weekend.

- Collection of very first road bike from bike shop (Felt F75)...what a difference from the MTB I was riding!

- 1st clip-stack with new clipless SPD shoes/pedals...glad I did it in a secluded place. Gotta love it when your shoe re-clips into the pedal without you noticing...LOL

Heh, I got my first one out of the way early too (2nd ride). Got to a nice spot to take a "been there" photo, got the shot, proceeded to mount the bike, clipped in with the right foot and fell over to the right (in the riding position as instructed by my LBS). Luckily I didn't have any witnesses either. Good news is I haven't had any since *touch carbon*.

[brades68]

was it, your ability outweighs your talent ? (Casey Stoner told Valentino Rossi) sorry to hear of your crash nothing worse when it wasn't from something that your did wrong , hope you heal fast

Um, he crashed (no mech failure), must have done something wrong.

I think the fictional Rick Disneck summed it up best ( http://www.urbandictionary.com/products ... id=2488978 ) so yeah, i did something wrong. Turned out i have a cracked rib, lucky enough to live and learn i guess. Thanks for the empathy, i'll be back on the saddle soon (a grand total of 30km since the bingle but still acknowledge it could have been worse)

Cheers
Mick

[Ken Ho]

Not lacking empathy. I was just responding to the comment, not made by you, that you did nothing wrong, when clearly, rider error was the cause of your accident. Typed word makes that sound a bit cold, I know. Don't mean to be.
Hope your injuries heal quickly and you have no more crashes. I'm a notoriously gutless descender for the reason, I don't want to crash. An off at 80kph could certainly end in a lot of tears and I'm not keen to find out how much bark I could lose, or how hard a tree is at that speed.
Total lack of suspension on a road bike gives me the heebie jeebies, and a lot of roads around here are tight and slippery.

[Mrfenejeans]

Happened a few weeks ago but, reached a top Speed of 70km/h, Getting much more confidence at descending at 50+km/h.

[CAAK]

Knocked out my first 70km ride yesterday. Averaged 20.7km/ph. 38 years old and 128kg, down from 140. Type2 diabetic. Have been doing 2-4 rides per week, averaging 100-140km p/week for two months. What advice to improve can you give me?


CAAK..

[brades68]

What advice to improve can you give me?

Ride more
Seriously, the more time in the saddle doing kms and mixing it up with hills, the stronger you'll become. The stronger you become, the easier and faster the rides become.

An if you ever get the chance to ride a track bike at a velodrome........ Do it! highly addictive

Cheers
Mick

ps and make sure you have been fitted to your bike!

[Mrfenejeans]

What advice to improve can you give me?

Just keep up with your riding, setting goals for your self which can be something simple like taking that 70km ride and doing it 1or2km/h faster, or trying to do a higher X amount of Km's a week for just a month.

And make sure you enjoy it.


Also for the colder wetter months I'd get a bike trainer (and just push yourself to hop on for half an hour a day(it gets boring after a while)).

[BrisVegas]

Knocked out my first 70km ride yesterday. Averaged 20.7km/ph. 38 years old and 128kg, down from 140. Type2 diabetic. Have been doing 2-4 rides per week, averaging 100-140km p/week for two months. What advice to improve can you give me?


CAAK..

Keep up the good work mate! I'm your age and only a little lighter. If you're in Brissie, you're welcome to come ride with my little group any time. We're all shapes and sizes!

[oldnewby]

clicked over 3000km on the road bike last week, a great feeling! The riding has been in (far too) small doses the last couple weeks, thanks to weather, work, and a bucks weekend.
After getting on the road in Nov last year, for the first time in nearly 20 years, I can vouch for its addictiveness, and enjoyment. Hope this weather eases a bit, as 40km in 7 days is not at all desirable!

[marinmomma]

Tomorrow marks another milestone for me....2 years since I went out on the mtb for a 30k ride around the river here in Brisbane, that's when I considered myself 'converted' to cycling

Love cycling

Keep at it if you're starting out

[ChainBreak]

n00bie milestone for me...

with me only being 13 it is quite scary riding on the big road with cars and even trucks! So of course my milestone is that i comfortably did my whole ride on the busy roads in the suburbs that surround my house. I was proud of myself

I know it isn't anything but I just thought i would share

[bollo]

pretty chuffed today went for a quick 30k ride this afternoon after work & i have been testing myself each time i do the same ride & today i hot my first 31klm average 31.4klm to be exact

[nickdos]

pretty chuffed today went for a quick 30k ride this afternoon after work & i have been testing myself each time i do the same ride & today i hot my first 31klm average 31.4klm to be exact

Yep, its a great feeling... I'm a road newbie, only had a road bike since beginning of the year (MTBer before that) and did a 42.4 km ride on Sunday with average speed of 30.8 kmh. Was really pumped at getting average over 30 kmh considering there were quite a few hills (400m of climbs), a dirt road with cattle grates and some wind as well.

[Xplora]

Couple of good ones for the X. My speedo ticked over 1000 today, only had it on the bike for 4 weeks

Also checked my week's distance and average. 255?kms at 28.1kmh average. Couple of slow rides in there as well Put in around 80kms today and I added an extra kmh to the average, despite being ruined on the ride home LOL VERY quick run today with the "fast" guys...

[baghwan]

Did my 2nd metric century ride today up at the USM's Noosa Century event, was such a lovely day for riding, no clouds, no wind.

Was going for over a 30km/h average speed, was really disappointed when the finish line appeared at the 93km mark with lots of gas still in tank. Group I was with were really pulling as well 40+km/h for the last 10km, lucky no one crashed as we kept going though the finish line at speed expecting another 7km.

In the end I had to settle with 29.7km/h, so close, just another few more km would have done it, finished off the 100km riding around Noosa.

Going to see how much I can improve for the Bris->GC 100km ride now.

[Ken Ho]

I don't think I'm a noob any more, os it's been a year or so since I got my roadie, and I'm getting worse, not better.
I hit most of the good milestones on Comedians list, but dodged most of the crappy ones, like clip-stacks and crashes etc.
I have had to fix one roadside flat only, thanks to hogan thrown glass.
I'm still having a great time and like everyone else, am still grateful for my bike.

[bollo]

did my first 80k ride today & loved it although my wife wasn't to happy i was gone for over 3 hours oh well if she knew what a great feeling you get when you ride i am sure she would be more understanding

[Spork!]

My wife loved it when I went on long rides. The longer I was gone for the better!
Are you newlyweds?

[oxonabike]

I'm fortunate that I can commute fairly regularly to work , so can generally rack up 100 - 150 km per week. An experienced rider there has been nagging me to have a go at a 100 km in a day ride and so yesterday I was determined to make it so. And succeeded!

Was a great ride too - Lots of harvesting action happening in the cane fields up here and perfect weather - until I hit the home straight - 25 km of head winds. Still, was able to grimly hang onto a >30 kph average (was 34 at the 80 km mark)

With the big ride came a 250 km total for the week - another record and somehow clocked up an eighth overall on a stava segment.

Best part was the legs were well enough to ride into work today... albeit rather slowly!

[nickdos]

... Still, was able to grimly hang onto a >30 kph average (was 34 at the 80 km mark)

That is pretty huge, well done. I'm only at the point of being able to average >30 kph up to 60km rides (but last one included over 450m of climbing:). I'm yet to try a metric century, think it will have to wait for spring as the cold/wet/windy weather (Canberra) and illness has resulted in a drop in my fitness

[ozstriker]

god i want to complete 100k's so bad.

I seem to get to the 70-80k mark and slam the wall HARD where i get terrible pain in my thighs???, i dont eat much on the bike and also always have hills somewhere in my attempt, so i dont know whether its that or lactic acid or too many hills or all of the above.

i hope i get there one day

[marinmomma]

god i want to complete 100k's so bad.

I seem to get to the 70-80k mark and slam the wall HARD where i get terrible pain in my thighs???, i dont eat much on the bike and also always have hills somewhere in my attempt, so i dont know whether its that or lactic acid or too many hills or all of the above.

i hope i get there one day

You need to eat, small amounts and often.
On my last big ride, I had a couple of small nut bars that had honey and seeds mixed through it and would take bits of one every 30 mins or so...doing that plus drinking frequently got me though most of the 136ks....I had a banana and a mini milky way bar and a couple of sports tablets and that was it.
I can do 40-50 k's without too much fuel, after that I need to eat and keep the fuel levels up....I recently did 90 without too much apart from a gel before a big climb, nibbling on a muesli bar and one coffee....was nearing the wall by the time I rolled in the front gate won't do that again!

Take care of the nutrition and you'll get that century some enough.

[marinmomma]

Go to page 9 in this thread and there is a good reply to a similar question...hth

[bjohnson]

6 months into owning my first road bike and I had my first clipless stack last week
Just like missing a step, nothing worse than getting caught off guard..

It wasn't my day, pouring rain, puncture & stack within 5 minutes.