new to cycling

welcome to the wonderful world of cycling. Be care, you just might get addicted to it like many of us. Two things come to mind in answer to your question. First, just get out there. there is no substitute for time in the saddle. Start with a distance and pace that is comfortable and build from there. Second, you mentioned that you want to join a club to find others to ride with. I would highly recommend this. Finding fun people to ride with makes the experience that much better. Contact your LBS (local bike shop) they should have some ideas of ways to getconnected in your area.

Have fun. Before long you will be riding centuries like many of us.

When I was a kid I lived out in the country and I rode my bike every day in the summer but it was just kid stuff. A 10K ride with a few hills was an adventure.

I rode a little (very little) after college and then almost not at all for the next 20 years. A few years ago I got back on the bike and I've been riding 4000 miles a year ever since.

When I (re)started riding I was tired after a 10K ride with only 200-300 feet of elevation change. After a few months I found that I could easily double or triple my ride if it was mostly flat. There are plenty of 20 mile flat loops in San Francisco, but adding distance (even with head winds) was doing little to improve my riding. I guess that riding those loops at higher speeds would have helped but it's not real rewarding to me to push myself on the flats. It's kind of fun at first but it gets dull.

I was always attracted to climbing when I was 'hiking'. Somehow going up things is more interesting to me than tearing along the flats. As I started adding more climbs to my rides I noticed that I was improving much faster than before.

Riding hills made a big difference in my overall riding ability. I laugh now but I can clearly remember when I'd look at the hills across the golden gate and think, nope, those are for the lycra crowd. At first the climbs were hard but they soon got easier. After a couple of months it was no big deal to do a 1000' of climbing per ride. Then I started adding loops around the head lands and that added another 1000' per loop. It's funny how quickly you can go from 300' per ride to 3000' per ride.

I've plateaued at 3000'-4000' per ride and I've been known to do 6000' on good days. But two 6000' days back-to-back is still a chore -- and my average speed is around 10 MPH. Dead slow but I'm having lots of fun and I don't mind getting dropped by the youngsters.

About bikes. I got my first decent bike when left college. It was a Univega 'SportTour'. A decent mid-range road bike in its time. I rode that into the ground. My next bike was a second hand, mid-range, Lemond. It still has the original Shimano 105 brakes but the drive train is Dura Ace. I think that the DA does shift a lot better than the 105 series stuff. It's not a hugely expensive upgrade if you shop around and have a good LBS to do the work. OTOH, I've riden other people's bikes with Ultegra drive trains and they're good. There's not much difference that I can feel between DA and Ultegra.

The best upgrade was replacing the original Mavic rims with a set of Bontrager Race Lites. That was a HUGE upgrade. For about a month I kept saying, I can't believe how big an improvement this is.

There are a lot of people who say that you shouldn't ride these kinds of wheels on your every-day machine. I think that's silly. Good wheels help to make the ride a lot more fun. Anything that keeps me out on my bike helps keep me alive. I figure getting exercise every day and staying healthy is worth the cost.

FWIW, I'm a good sized rider, 6'2", 185 lbs. I've broken one spoke on these wheels in 4000 miles. I can live with that. I don't know if it's a coincidence but my friend boke a spoke on here Brontrager Race Lites at almost the same distance. Both of us broke a rear (non drive-side) spoke. Both of us broke the spoke on a corner in a steep descent. I don't know the mechanics of it, but she's 6' tall and a lot lighter than I am.

Congratulations on embarking on what hopefully will be a life changing adventure. I am still very new to this myself. It has begun to change my life, but the cold weathere here in Canada has severly restricted my time on the bike the last few months.

GreenLizard said:

I need to get a decent bike because the one I got is a cheap crappy one.

Although I can hardly speak from experience in my humble opinion it dosen't matter so much what you ride just as long as you ride. Providing that the bike fits you properly and is mechanically sound. I would caution you on spending lots of money on a new bike until you are sure you know you want to spend the time in the saddle and once you have you will have a clearer idea of just what you need out of your bike.

[quote="GreenLizard"]Also I still need to find a cycling club or group to join so I have someone to ride with.[.QUOTE]Although I have yet to do this myself, I think it is a very good idea and as jandbzpapa recomended in his post try the LBS.

GreenLizard said:

And I need to train more so I can go longer distances, faster, and do hills. So how long has everyone been riding and how did you start? Also does anyone have any suggestions to help me get started?😕 😕 😕

If you want to go on some fun tours, check out the state by state tour guide at America's Best Cycling Tours. It has tours for serious cyclist and the partying cyclist.

State by State Tour Guide

GreenLizard said:

Hi, this is my first post so it is kind of a test. I've been doing a little cycling on my own and would like to get into cycling as a serious hobby. Probably road cycling. I need to get a decent bike because the one I got is a cheap crappy one. Also I still need to find a cycling club or group to join so I have someone to ride with. And I need to train more so I can go longer distances, faster, and do hills. So how long has everyone been riding and how did you start? Also does anyone have any suggestions to help me get started?😕 😕 😕

I'm getting into the sport this year as well. The Internet is a wonderful thing, Both of us have found this great resource. The bike you want to get should be one that you will ride. You can spend $10,000 but it doesn't do any good gathering dust.

Many people posted going to your local bike shop to find groups and clubs (maybe even the shop itself will have a club). You can also look on the Internet for advocacy groups. They frequently sponsor rides and have sponsors of other bicycling clubs. You can do a search on the LAB here: bikeleague.orgindex.cfmOpen ↗

Take care and maybe we'll see each other on the road.

-Fitz