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United States4024 Posts
So recently I bought a 940$ road bike cannondale caad8 7 sora
+ Show Spoiler +. With accessories such as pedals, cycling shoes, jerseys, cycling shorts, gloves, bike lock, water bottle rack...etc.. ended up being like 1200-1300$ total. Seems like a lot all for a bike and it is, but i totally think its worth it.
I've had it for a few days now and for the past few days that i went on it, i felt great. The first time i brought it home i rode for about 15 miles, with headphones. The next 2 days I went out and rode one time for like 20 miles the other day for 27miles. Those last 2 times i didn't wear any headphones and listened to my pedaling and nature. It felt amazing listening to nature, my breathing, other runner's footsteps and my own breathing. The sheer speed that I went on it was addictive. Too bad tho that sometimes when the roads are crappy, and the ride is really rocky which makes it difficult to go fast. Also, there are a lot of pedestrians as well in bike routes which prevents me from speeding.
I've been thinking of getting a road bike for a while now, even though this bike was one of the cheaper ones in my cycling store i think it'll last me from now till 5 or so years when i can get a job and get an more serious bike hopefully.
As a runner i found the transition from running to cycling rather easy. It's just that my muscles in my legs can't keep up with my heart as in no matter how hard i try to go on the bike i can't because my legs wear out before my heart rate gets up. But I'm sure with practice i'll be able to get the two in sync.
I've always wanted to compete in triathlons but never had a decent bike to ride for long miles, now i hope this one can carry me through for the most part. I wish to eventually compete in an half ironman with this bike after i get aerobars on it and configure it to more like a tri-bike.
Anyways, the bad part is that as a new rider it feels like i get raped in the ass after every cycling sesison. my groin literrally burns after each ride even with the chamois (Padding on the shorts to lessen the pain). I'm not sure if it'll get better with time. Anyone have experience with cycling know if the groin pain from your ass sitting on the saddle gets better as you ride more?
 
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Uhm I only get saddle sores if I ride more than 4hours in rain with new bibshorts. I hope you dont do the newbie mistake wearing underware, then you deserve to get sores. Also I think you should stick to doing sprint or whatever is the shortest distance in triathlon on that bike. I'm pretty clueless about triathlon as I look down on them unless they are girls and dont get dropped in the fastest bunch in our club rides. Anyways get at TT bike if you want to do anything triathlonrelated where you are not allowed to pace. Pretty sure you can pace in that short thingy.
Talking about clubrides, you should try riding in a group, its so increadibly awesome that you have to try it to understand how great it really is. Just trust me on that one.
On other cycling related stuff I really should have raced more this season and I have no excuse not doing so. My bike is probably worth five times as much as yours so I'm wasting it only doing like two races so far this season.
Meh I should post less when I'm drunk but this topic was too tempting.
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Cool bike!
Cycling is awesome. I love it, but with privileges comes responsibility. It's so easy to love going fast but remember safety comes first. Be patient in crowded and shopping areas, especially with smaller sidewalks and roads because it's better to be safe than sorry. As a fan of cycling, be cautious of your surroundings  . There are countless times where I avoided accidents because I decided to ride slowly in parking lots, in sidewalks, and on roads. In the end, it'll all be worthwhile :D. If you're cautious, speed shouldn't be a problem. As for riding for the speed, bike paths and big streets are your best friends for speed. Watch out for car lights to see if someone is driving off a curb. But patience is key.
As for your muscles, it takes time and an effort to get out and ride often for the sheer enjoyment! I remember when I first started riding my road bike, the bike was poorly adjusted and I got tired really quick. But eventually, biking up the hills in my university at least once every week got me so used to it that it was more enjoyable than tiring. I still found myself exhausted after riding back to my dorm, but the best part was that I wasn't as tired as I was before. So definitely, give it time but remember to enjoy the ride, the view, the birds chirping, and the wind 
As for Groin pain.... you'll get the hang of it. I still get my groin squeeze from time to time because my bike seat is really high (the legs need full extension as the pedal rotates towards the lowest part or your legs will tire out more easily). My bike seat is a Vitnesse but it's not as soft as memory foam.....at least it's better than the bike seats on cheap mountain bikes. After riding my bike for almost half a year now and before, groin pains don't bother me.... but if it bothers you in the future, consider a better seat.
Hope this helps! And as deadhaji said.... don't wear earphones on both ears because at times, your ears are all you have to detect the presence of cars or other cyclists behind you. Cheers to your biking adventures! Be safe.
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As a runner i found the transition from running to cycling rather easy. It's just that my muscles in my legs can't keep up with my heart as in no matter how hard i try to go on the bike i can't because my legs wear out before my heart rate gets up. But I'm sure with practice i'll be able to get the two in sync.
Yep, this is definitely how biking feels for me. I feel like I am dying at like a 140 HR, which while running is a nice light jog. I couldn't even imagine trying to hold a "tempo" type effort on the bike at a HR 40-45 bpm higher than that. I assume this would figure itself out if I biked alot more.
Out of curiosity how much faster do you find you can cruise on a road bike on the roads. I have like a cheap WalMart mountain bike and find I usually average 18-20mph if I go cruisin on roads for an hour or two. Does a road bike, pedal clips, etc. make it possible to go significantly faster?
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United States4024 Posts
On July 15 2012 12:52 L_Master wrote:Show nested quote +As a runner i found the transition from running to cycling rather easy. It's just that my muscles in my legs can't keep up with my heart as in no matter how hard i try to go on the bike i can't because my legs wear out before my heart rate gets up. But I'm sure with practice i'll be able to get the two in sync. Yep, this is definitely how biking feels for me. I feel like I am dying at like a 140 HR, which while running is a nice light jog. I couldn't even imagine trying to hold a "tempo" type effort on the bike at a HR 40-45 bpm higher than that. I assume this would figure itself out if I biked alot more. Out of curiosity how much faster do you find you can cruise on a road bike on the roads. I have like a cheap WalMart mountain bike and find I usually average 18-20mph if I go cruisin on roads for an hour or two. Does a road bike, pedal clips, etc. make it possible to go significantly faster?
I would say that it can definitly go faster than 20mph, maybe even 30mph for my bike if i try hard. The clips makes riding a completely different world. I acctually need to try to focus to pull instead of just push with my quads, that way i can benefits fully from the clips cuz then hamstring muscles because a much greater part of the equation.
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Your heart rate is very specific to whatever sport you are doing. When you do lactate testing and similar things you you have to do it on the sport in question to get that right.
I remember 6 years ago when I was in perfect road shape. Like top 3 ever in my life and wet to do a orienteering relay that was really specific on running. I'm usually a pretty good runner but now I had not ran in over two months. But no problem I'm in super shape right. Oh god how painfull that was, I managed to do a quite decent leg but I had to push it extremely hard.
It's the same thing (or even worse) when you go running for the first time after the XC-skiing season and you are in pretty awesome shape and get confused to why you are hardly moving forward. It happends to me every year too.
As for pace I average 18-19mph when I'm riding alone on a normal 2-4hour ride. That usualy means that I'm around fatmax in HR I guess. But speed really comes down to terrain and wind when you are alone. In groups it's easy to go much faster unless you get sidewind. Once we had nice winds and hit over 31 for quite a long time on a normal club ride not sprinting. But usually I start to hurt around 25 in normal races. Especially crits since I just suck at them, I only ride local crits for fun. Not that I'm any good at normal road races but it's like playing your offrace and I'm silver with my main to use sc2 lingo.
Fun that there are other people here who like cycling. 
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Nice job! You bought a good bike.
Your saddle sores most likely have to do with the positioning of the saddle. Experiment a bit with moving it forward or backward, tilting the nose up or down (ideally, you want it pretty much flat). Also check your knee angle while pedaling (your legs shouldn't be too bent or straight at the bottom of the stroke). You can adjust this by moving the saddle up or down (where the seatpost meets the frame).
Make sure to check group rides in your area, as they can make cycling even more fun.
If you have any money left over, I also recommend getting a Garmin device with GPS and registering at Strava.com. A very addictive training/social network for cyclists where you can log rides and see what others are up to.
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Cycling is badass. I'm lucky to not only live in a cyclefriendly city, but also have a bike nut neighbour who's managed his own bike store, worked on olympic tier bikes and is a general badass.
Protip: Always clean and fix your bike, esp the wheels. For extra badass points, figure out how to do it via the internet without relying on a store. I'm lucky to have a professional as a neighbour who's willing to help me out, but bike shops will overcharge.
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On July 16 2012 02:25 YPang wrote:Show nested quote +On July 15 2012 12:52 L_Master wrote:As a runner i found the transition from running to cycling rather easy. It's just that my muscles in my legs can't keep up with my heart as in no matter how hard i try to go on the bike i can't because my legs wear out before my heart rate gets up. But I'm sure with practice i'll be able to get the two in sync. Yep, this is definitely how biking feels for me. I feel like I am dying at like a 140 HR, which while running is a nice light jog. I couldn't even imagine trying to hold a "tempo" type effort on the bike at a HR 40-45 bpm higher than that. I assume this would figure itself out if I biked alot more. Out of curiosity how much faster do you find you can cruise on a road bike on the roads. I have like a cheap WalMart mountain bike and find I usually average 18-20mph if I go cruisin on roads for an hour or two. Does a road bike, pedal clips, etc. make it possible to go significantly faster? I would say that it can definitly go faster than 20mph, maybe even 30mph for my bike if i try hard. The clips makes riding a completely different world. I acctually need to try to focus to pull instead of just push with my quads, that way i can benefits fully from the clips cuz then hamstring muscles because a much greater part of the equation.
I didn't mean max speed perse, but more like to what degree (if any) would my average speed change? In other words on a proper road bike with pedal clips and everything would I be able to do a faster pace at a similar effort?
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I went mountain biking and cross country biking recently. Biking in the city no longer has the thrills. Sure there's the danger of traffic, but I don't get to swerve around cars like I do with trees.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://img1.findthebest.com/sites/default/files/975/media/images/2012_Cannondale_CAAD8_7_Sora.png)
