Hi all, road bike newbie here

Hi everyone! I'm 28 years old and live in Maui, Hawaii. :cool: The last time I rode a bike before recently was in high school, before I got a driver's license. Back then I used to ride my best friend's brother's mountain bike.

The last few years I've been pretty sedentary. I'm pretty tired all the time and recently found out that I'm borderline diabetic. I'm 5'2" and on the smaller side, weighing about 110-115lbs, depending on the week. I'm all skin and fat, no muscle. :mad: I figure that I really need to do something physically active to improve my health and prevent diabetes.

My boyfriend literally just learned how to ride a bike this year because he's getting bored with marathons and wants to eventually do a triathlon. He bought himself a road bike and realized it wasn't too great for practicing on, so I started riding his bike and he rode my hybrid bike that I purchased so I could ride around a little with him and get some exercise. Well....it turns out that I got a little attached to his road bike (a Specialized Tarmac). I loved how light it felt and it was much more fun to ride than my bike! The only issue was that it wasn't a good fit for me since I'm smaller.

Sooo...my boyfriend is a bit of a bike geek. He can barely ride the thing, but he is obsessed with reading and researching about road bikes. He convinced me that I should buy one and he recommended the Specialized Ruby Elite Komen. I fell in love with the bike based on it's looks and wanted to buy one right away, but my boyfriend suggested that I not spend that much money without trying one out. Our local bike shop didn't have the Komen model, but they did have a few Ruby's so I got to test them out and find the right size. I immediately felt more comfortable with the size vs riding my boyfriend's bike.

The owner was able to order me the Ruby in the Komen black/pink and I was super excited. Only 3 were in stock at the time! We also decided to get me some clipless pedals (speedplay light action chrome-moly) and road shoes (specialized spirita). I was terrified at the idea of learning to clip in on the road so we purchased a trainer so I could practice. I must say I got the hang of it pretty quickly, but I did have one forgetting to unclip accident when I took it for a spin outside. Got a nicely scraped up knee from that, but I was more worried about hurting my pretty new bike...

I found this forum and I'm excited to learn more about road biking and read/share experiences!

Let's see if I can post a pic of the bike

Welcome to TE and welcome to the Ruby team here... There are quite a few of us that own Rubies and love them!

Enjoy your new bike!

Shannon

I'm new to the forum and to cycling. After reading the info on this forum I bought a Ruby Elite Komen edition. I am learning to love her. She was an instrument of torture until my LBS was able to get her fitted to me. Enjoy your Ruby.

Awesome, another Komen owner! What adjustments did you make? My LBS owner adjusted the seat height, but everything else felt fine at the time. Now I feel like I need to push my butt further back in the seat so I moved the seat back a little. Need to ride more to see if it feels better.

Sorry to hear about the diabetes, and I hope that exercise will help with that. Your story is inspiring, as you seemed to jump right in. Good for you. I'm new here too and I've found a ton of information already. Your new bike sounds great. I hope you have a great time riding it and "see" you on the boards.

Welcome! Pretty bike :)

Pretty bike! Sorry to hear about the borderline diabetes, but cycling will certainly help with that! That diagnosis is what got me on the bike, and while I did "cross over the line" into diabetes 2 before it was over, after almost a year of solid riding and strength training several times a week I managed to reverse the diabetes.

Of course it will always be a concern but am thankful to be able to manage things properly with intense exercise and diet.

As much as cycling started out as my "anti-diabetes campaign", it quickly became something much more. It gives me joy and I now ride to ride :)

I LOVE your bike! It's so gorgeous! I am sure you will get all the bugs worked out with the fit. It comes in time so don't get discouraged. It is excellent that you are proactive with you diabetes, so many people could learn a lot from you. Have a great cycling season!

Welcome to TE. I am still pretty new here, too. Everyone has been so helpful in answering questions, and the support here is wonderful. Congratulations on your new bike and your change to a more active lifesytle.

Congratulations Azurah on your new bike. :) Those special edition bikes are so sharp and so sexy looking, not to mention how fast they look. :cool: I hope you enjoy many miles together and please share beautiful, scenic photos of your rides. :cool:

Lovely bike and what a beautiful island to be able to ride all the time. ENJOY!!!

Welcome to TE. Beautiful bike!

I have diabetes on both sides of my family and was starting to push the limits myself, so I too, took up biking. I do an American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure ride each year.

Welcome to the TE and the Ruby club. You have found a wonderful forum. You will learn so many things from the ladies here about everything bikes and everything else as well! So supportive too.

Based on all the great things I have read here, I was definitely leaning toward a Ruby when I upgraded. So fun to teach my husband about bikes, cuz I read it here! I was so much more informed when I walked into the LBS.

Boy, if only everyone would be proactive about their diabetes the way you have been, I'm sure the world (especially this country) would be so much healthier. Good for you!

Enjoy.

COOL BIKE ! Congrats ! I'm jealous !! I am going to try one this weekend after seeing yours- fingers crossed the geometry will work. Seeing this bike( I know) just pushed me to get over my fear of clipless pedals, and get a road bike.
Thanks for the inspiration, and enjoy that bike !

I want one too! I looked at it when I bought my Dolce, but at the time, it was out of my price range. And what a great place to ride!!

Welcome to TE, Azurah! You have a lovely bike, a friendly bike shop (that's the South Maui shop, right? they are nice guys there), and beautiful roads to ride on!

My husband and I were just in Maui last month and thoroughly enjoyed riding the West Loop (on bikes rented from the South Maui Bike Shop). It's a long and hilly ride but I'm sure it will be accessible to you in no time. (And don't forget to stop at Lorraine for shave ice in Kahakuloa.)

Have fun and keep coming back to tell us about your rides!

That's a nice looking bike. Love how the pedals are pink as well.

Congrats on your new bike! Did you purchase the size 48? I'm curious as I'm 5'1.5", and presumably need a size 46/47, and figured the size 48 would be too big for me.

Do you know what your inseam is?

Thanks.

Welcome Azurah! I too love your bike. Bike riding will definitely help with the diabetes and hopefully the exercise will prevent you from having to take medication. I have the more severe (Type 1 diabetes) autoimmune diabetes, and cycling has helped me stay healthy with no complications. Best of luck with the new bike. This is a great forum, which helped me when I first started out.

I LOVE your bike!! I wish I'd been able to justify a Ruby when I bought last week but I just couldn't do it...we have so many bikes already! So I settled on a Dolce Sport and if the rain would ever stop, I'll let you know how my first real road ride is!

Azurah, that is one beautiful bike! It was the beauty of a Ruby that looked just like it that attracted me to road biking. I ended up with a Cannondale Synapse. 28 years old...ah, to be so young again! Will be looking for reports of your adventures in the islands. Enjoy!:cool:

Wow, been awhile since I've logged on! I haven't been on my bike (or doing much of anything else) lately. We're short-staffed at work right now and I've been putting in more hours than usual. I've been so tired that I often crash when I get home and sleep until the next morning. Seem to be coming down with a cold, too. :(

wineberry - I'm 5'2" and my bike is a 51. Sorry, I don't remember my inseam off-hand.

Grog - We go to Island Biker in Kahului. I know of the shop you went to, but haven't been inside. So you rode around the backside of Lahaina? That sounds like fun and I'll have to do that one day! I haven't even been that way in a car in years! I also want to ride to Lahaina. I see lots of bikers whenever we drive out there.

Thanks to everyone else welcoming me to the forums! It's also super awesome to see how many others have/are interested in the Ruby. Now...I just need to get back to riding it again and getting some mileage.

As for the borderline-diabetes, I do take a low dose of metformin daily. I'm going in for general bloodwork and the 2 1/2hr blood test next week to check on things and follow-up with the endo. I'm hoping I'm still in the border-line range! I know that biking will help, but my diet really needs work...

SOOOOO JEALOUS!! Your bike is beautiful. I was very close to buying that exact bike (my debit card was declined because I have a daily limit that it exceeded). I'm sort of glad I didn't because I'm 5' 2.5" and the 54 was just a tad too big. I was able to get an Orbea Onix Dama TLT in a 53 and the fit is perfect. I've only had my bike a few weeks and it's my first road bike ever.

I'm jealous because I can not imagine riding in Hawaii any time I wanted to. I live in south Louisiana and I'm a rare breed in these parts. There aren't many road bikers so there are very few safe places to ride. Also, it's incredibly hot with the humidity, but I'm trying to learn to deal with it.

Good luck riding in paradise and I really hope your Diabetes improves now that you're riding. Keep us posted.

I've been drooling over the Ruby Expert. It won't happen any time soon, but I can dream, can't I?

Lovely new bike. Enjoy!