New to the road in Idaho

Hello!

I have been reading this forum for the last few months and decided to join up because everyone here seems so supportive and informative. I thought I would take a moment and introduce myself. I am a 32 year old gal living in Idaho. I have been riding bikes for most of my life; downhill mountain bikes, single speed mountain bikes, got into restoring old cruisers for a few years and for the last three or so years I have been commuting on a beautiful old steel lugged trek that I converted to a fixed gear. I play a lot of bike polo, commute to work and finally decided to take the leap and get a road bike. My hubby is bike wrench and I was able to order my first road bike through the LBS that he works for and I am really excited for it to get here! I am a little nervous about using gears and breaks again but I am looking forward to getting out on the road and having a new experience on a bike. Any advice is welcome...

No advice for you because I'm a relative newbie. In fact, it sounds like you have way more experience than I. I just wanted to say - Hi and welcome to the world of TE.:)

~Sg

What did you order? What did you test ride? What things did you like/dislike about each?


Barbara
(can you tell I'm looking to buy a new bike? Need to pick as many brains as possible!)

tink, with all riding experience you've got under your belt, how did you NOT find us sooner? I'm glad a few months of lurking finally got you to introduce yourself. I'd say you were in good company here and will find many like-minded people amongst us which I'm sure can be a blessing and a curse. ;) Don't let them talk you into a new bike . . . or two. :D

Hey welcome. Sounds like you have lots of neat experience to offer the boards! You probably know we will demand pictures of the new ride when it arrives! :D

hey! thanks for the welcoming messages!

I decided to go with the Cannondale Synapse (50 cm). I really wanted to go for a Cervelo, but i just could not afford it, even with my husbands discount. I spent a great deal of time with LBS shop manager trying to find a bike that was a good fit. He has traveled a great deal to many bike expos etc in the last year to really dial in on wether or not WSD is working... He is a small guy and he has found out some incredible information... it is too much to post in here but there is a great deal of info on Cervelo.com.

I went with the Cannondale because I am comfortable with their bikes as I have had a few of their mountain bikes and it was the most comfortable frame. I will be trading out a few parts on it as well... I have been waiting three weeks and the longer the days get and the nicer it is the more impatient I am becoming! ;) I rode Cervelos, Treks, Bianchis, and a Specialized. I also had to take into account what I could afford... this is my first road bike so I went with a lower end bike so that if I do not like road biking that I could sell the bike without too much invested in it.

I am off for a small ride today on the fixie... it is supposed to snow today... got to love Idaho weather!

Ride hard, take chances!