Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Tonka
Without ever riding road bikes, it's difficult to look at a road bike and think it'll ever be comfortable. I went into t wanting the most comfortable road bike i could get.
Maybe the shop will take your relatively new bike in on trade? Lots of trek dealers do that. If not, maybe consignment? Much easier for them to sell it than you.
75-80 cadence isn't bad. No specific cadence is bad really. But in theory, training your body to run a higher cadence usually pays dividends down the road and on longer rides.
Speaking of, have you considered making 2 of the 4-5 rides every week a bit longer? Maybe 20 miles? With that frequency, a couple of longer days will do a lot for your endurance. Our bodies respond well to mixing things up too. I know a couple of riders who consistently ride 25miles just about every time they ride. Then they go out on a 50mile ride and really struggle. Even if they did the same mileage and varied the distances they would have a more well rounded fitness range.
I'm guessing you're doing those 12 mile runs in about 45-50min depending on elevation.?.? When i say more miles i really mean more time. So instead of doing 20 miles, maybe just ride for 1h 15m two days a week with a goal of holding your normal pace.
Either way, glad your digging it.  |
The main thing limiting my riding time now is pain. My butt and hands/wrists are catching hell. After an hour of riding, my hands are numb and my butt is killing me. I'm hoping the narrower saddle on the Crossrip will be more to my liking.
I have a 4 mile loop that I've been riding. I run it 3 times in an hour, so about 12 MPH. I'm hoping the Crossrip, with its narrower tires and different gearing, will allow me to up that to 15 MPH. And I'd like to start doing 20 miles at a time and extend out beyond my loop, which is mostly flat. I've done some 10 and 12 mile rides that include some short but very steep (10%) hills, but the hills take a lot out of me. The other factor on long rides here is the wind. A couple weeks ago I went on a 12 mile ride with a 20 MPH steady wind from the SW that had gusts to 30. And most of my (poorly planned) ride was west and then south, so I fought that wind for the first half of the ride. At one point I had to be in a very low gear just to make headway on flat ground. Once I turned east, I was able to do 8 MPH on flat ground without pedaling at all. Just letting the wind push me.
The LBS is going to keep my bike there and create a Craig's List ad for it. The LBS owner said he's confident it will sell quickly. It was only $550 new, so $350-$400 will do nicely and give someone a nearly new bike at a big discount.