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Hey!  I am an RPM addict.  I use to run all the time, but my knees are loving me now.  I am ready to branch out and actually venture onto the road and ride.  Where to start on getting a road bike?  Plus I think this will help my RPM experience out to relate more with the riders in my class who ride outdoors all the time.

Hello Cookiepie. A roadie in the making. Fantastic!  Try and find a local Cycling club, Tri club. They will know who the best shops are in relation to road bikes. Do your homework and ask a heap of questions. It is very important to find a shop who can set you up in the right position. No good buying a road bike from a BMX shop. Sort out your budget, look on the net at brands and parts. get excited. Remember that it doesn't finish with the bike. If you can, get knix, helmet, shoes, good pedals, bottle, bottle cage, pump and a couple of tubes etc. It all adds up.

It will do so much to enhance your RPM riding, technique, feel, instruction, visualization, focus.

Once you know how it feels to get over your local 'heartbreak hill' you will take your track 7s' to a new level! Trust me :)

I'm come from 20 + years of racing and have owned a bicycle shop. If you need advice on brands, parts etc let me know. I would be happy to help if I can.

good luck.  Lee (Australia)

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No Fluff! Food is Fuel.

Perhaps you can speak to anyone you know(preferable a close friend) with a road bike, & can lend it to you for riding sessions. Hopefully that person has another bike too so you can familiarize yourself with a road bike & get the assistance(advice/recommendation) you need for him/her before really investing in one. Get the feel, then act on what you feel is right for your body/level. Bike parts are expensive. You'll probably need to do quite alot of research before getting a bike.

Riding outdoors will definitely improve in visualisation & feel of the ride!

Ride Strong, Live Strong!

Perhaps you can speak to anyone you know(preferable a close friend) with a road bike, & can lend it to you for riding sessions. Hopefully that person has another bike too so you can familiarize yourself with a road bike & get the assistance(advice/recommendation) you need for him/her before really investing in one. Get the feel, then act on what you feel is right for your body/level. Bike parts are expensive. You'll probably need to do quite alot of research before getting a bike.

Riding outdoors will definitely improve in visualisation & feel of the ride!

Ride Strong, Live Strong!

Thanks for the responses.  My friend who is a triathelete is trying to find me a used bike to buy and get use to that first before I spend the big bucks on a new bike.  I'm very excited by this.  Scared, but excited!

Heeeey

Taking it to the road has really fired up our RPM classes. November 07 we had a group of guys (including our gym owner & RPM instructor) do a 160k ride around Lake Taupo we have had another group just finish the 100k Flyer

5 of our 7 RPM instructors have signed on to do the Lake Taupo ride this year. Of the other 2, 1 has made the New Zealand Triathlon team and the other one is having a baby. Training has started already with a fairly easy ride on Saturday mornings. We have 2 options, 35k & 70k with a hill. The big ride is still a long way off but the momentum is being provided by the members.

The gym has come to the party by offering huge discount RPM passes to members to enable them to ride as many times as they like between now and November. As the winter months draw nearer we will be offering 2 back to back 1 hour classes on a Sunday.

Other options that we will be kicking in later include bike maintenance classes. We've been around the local cycle shops and they are offering discounts to members.

The other spinoff for me is that my teaching style is changing. I now feel "real" in front of the class, riding outdoors has added a new dimension to my teaching. Hill climbs & the mountains are now REAL mountains to me. Technique drills, single leg drills are for a reason now. They always were but I now have extra motivational cues in my "bag" to push members harder.

Would love to hear any suggestions, ideas that you may have

 

Start hitting the bike shops and find someone you like and trust.  I started out with a hybrid and put road wheels and tires on it-all for about $500.00.  Going straight to a road bike may or may not be a big jump for you-believe me the road bikes are very different than indoor cylcing bikes-you will never be able to get the handle bars low enough to resemble a road bike.  Th hybrid is a good in between as you can ride in a more up right position.

You can try and find a Tri or Cycling club-but a word of caution-make sure they have a beginner's ride-12-15mph.  The clubs in our area are not very patient with newbies and will drop you.   Talk with other instructors too.  I put the word out that I would show newbies how to ride and have a rag tag group of people wanting to learn and some who don't want to ride 20mph.  Also there may be someone in your area that can teach you how to ride on the road with other cyclists and traffic.  Google cycling coaching.  There's an orginization here in the States that does that.

RPM is a good class but it is different than outdoor riding.  We don't leave the saddle very often at all-breakaways and last ditch effort on a hill.  Believe me you're done if you come out of the saddle on a hill.  Instead you learn how to use your gearing and your legs a bit differently.

Lastly, find some sponsored rides in your area-they're a blast.  The MS rides are usually all over.  I don't ride those-way too many inexperienced riders-makes for a dangerous ride.  But there are other charities that put on rides.  I live in Texas and there's usually at least one every weekend.  They're nice because for $20-40 dollars you get a variety of routes (10-100 miles)-fully supported meaning rest stops (with food, water and bathrooms), mechanical support (you should be able to do basic repairs like flats) and SAG vans if you find you can't finish the route.  And sometimes they'll be a meal and music afterwards.

My first sponsored ride was 3 years ago-I did a 25 mile route-which is extremely doable if you teach RPM.  In a typical RPM class you cover around 15 miles-a little less if you slack and little more if you go all out.  I just completed a century this past weekend.  Most ride I do are between 50-70 miles on the weekends.  The experiences really do give RPM more meaning.  After riding out, then you'll understand the attacks and cresting a hill-chasing down a group.  For me it really helped my freestyle class-because I can add sound effects (like dogs) to my freestlye music to motivate people to sprint because there being chased by dogs (yes it does happen for real)

Good luck-you'll soon be addicted to riding out too.

Lots of good advice here. I echo the idea of borrowing or renting a bike a few times first to see if you're ready to make a commitment of buying your own bike. If you feel you are ready, then my $0.02 is...

1. Choose a shop you feel comfortable with and build repor. These are the guys that will be servicing your ride. Be nice and keep them happy. Buy locally when you can.

2. Parts can be temporary, but the frame is forever. Don't like the handlebars, they can be switched out. Need a smaller frame? You can't exactly cut out a section of the top tube! Get the frame size right the first time! See #1.

3. Post a pic of your new ride when you get it!!!!!

Hope this helps. Ride on...

Mark 

BTW, Trek is dropping the LeMond line so if you want to get a really good price-go to a dealer who carries LeMond and see what kind of deal you can make.  LeMond makes all price ranges of bikes but an example of what I saw was an all carbon model with upgraded components-this bike runs around $2700 and was on sale for $1700.  You might be able to pick up a beginning road bike fro 500-600.

Hey Roadies, need some help.   I have a road bike that is about 5+ years old.  I am considering buying a newer bike but not sure if it is worth it.  Mine is alluminum frame, tiagra derailer( sp?).  Would a newer bike be easier to ride?  Some of my friends said that they get up the really steep hills better with their new bikes.  Don't they all have the same gears?  Carbon is lighter but is that the reason it seems easier to them?

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jen

Hey Jen!

Although I am always in support of some new road bling, a new bike out of the box won't necessarily make climbing easier. Here's a few factors that affect your climbing...

1. Gearing. A triple (3 chain rings up front) or compact crankset and a bigger cassette on the back wheel (i.e. 12-27) will offer more climbing gears to lighten the load when things get steep.

2. Weight. Yes carbon is lighter than alu, but cost a lot more as well. Do you wanna spend hundreds of dollars to shed a few GRAMS off your bike or take the time to drop 5-10 POUNDS off your body?* Dragging less weight up a hill always makes life easier.

*DISCLAIMER : I am not calling you fat or think you need to lose weight. Hell, I've never even seen ya!!!

3. Fit. Good bike fit = comfortable position = efficient riding/climbing.

If your current bike is still in good condition, you could save some $ and upgrade the drivetrain. Otherwise, go get yourself that new ride you probably deserve and post a pic when you get it! Hope this helps...

-Mark

Thanks Mark, I think I'll keep the bike I have.  Nothing wrong with it.  I take good care of it.   There are two hills that have made me do the walk of shame.   One is fairly steep and VERY long.   It was at the end of a ride.  My muscles just seemed to give out.  I was on a slight downhill and in granny gear and feeling the gears in  my quads.  Maybe I rested too long and the fatigue caught up with me.  The other hill is about 6 continuous STEEP hills separated by hairpin turns.  I did not shift correctly and consequently did not make it up.    The weight issue is true. I could lose 10lbs.  I suspected that could be the real problem.  I have super strong legs from RPM so I was thinking weight was an issue.  A friend told me to get out on the flats for long rides to build endurance and short rides concentrate on hills.  Does that sound right?  Want to do my first century this fall.

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jen

Hey Jen,

I agree with what your friend says. To get better at climbing, you gotta climb! Try this...find yourself a decent grade hill you know you can climb. Do hill repeats on it with a short break in between. Over time, when climbing that hill in a certain gear becomes easy, drop down to the next rear cog and start doing repeats with that gear until it gets easy...rinse and repeat. When you start to feel stronger, maybe decrease the rest period between the repeats or find a steeper hill. Hill repeats suck, but they will definitely make you a stronger climber if ya stick with it!!!

 
-Mark
 

That is a great idea, thanks!  Will force me to get out there more often. 

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jen

Mark is right on.  I'll add this-pick out your Century now and study the terrain.  You need to get used to spending a lot of time in the saddle-so start ridding.  If the course is hilly-ride the hills as Mark said.  I live in Houston TX so we ride overpasses for hills-LOL.  It's flatter than a pancake here-so I head up just north of my house to get some hills-even then they're not biggies.  One makes riding here tough is the wind off the Gulf.  UGH-I'd rather climb hills than spend half a ride in a head wind.  Hills go down-wind never stops.  We had a MS150 ride a couple of weekends ago and the riders were riding into a stiff head wind for both days.  They came home exhausted. It's really important to find a group to ride with.  I did a Century the first part of April and I didn't see many single riders finish-most were in groups.  Nothing like latching on the back of a pack and getting pulled along-or taking turn pulling with a cycling buddy.

If you find a century you want to do-sometimes the web site will have course maps and if you're lucky some cyclist downloaded the terrain from his/her Garmin.  I remember my first major ride (50 plus) in hills I actually drove the course in the car to see where I'd have problems. 

Good Luck and best wishes on your first Centruy-it'll be the best of times and the worst of times