Newbie: from cocky to petrified..

[omachine]

A few months ago, a friend gave me an AMF bike he found in the boiler room at his job. She is old, rusty and reliable. I call her Josephine. For a novice rider like myself, Josephine has been an unexpected joy, to the point where I decided to invest in a road bike. Well, I got fitted for a '08 Trek 1.2 on Saturday and purchased her on Monday. Her name is Nina. Unfortunately, I am finding that the level of confidence I experienced with Josephine is no where to be found with Nina. My taste for a rough, fast ride into center city and back has suddenly turned into a lump of panic everytime I look at Nina. What is going on??? I really wanted this bike, talked about it incessantly and I had hopes of building up to long distant riding. Did I upgrade too soon? Or am I simply intimidated by prospect of riding a real road bike and all that it entails?

o.

[redrhodie]

You gotta get to know her. Don't expect her to feel like Josephine.

I feel like my bikes are part of me. I have a great deal of confidence on both of them. A few weeks ago, I went with my friend to test ride some bikes. You would think I'd never been on a bike before. I totally lost all my cool. I'm really used to clipless pedals, so the flat pedals totally threw me off.

[MartianDestiny]

My "Vendetta" scared me until I finally got to racing a friend and let him go only to realize he indeed hadn't killed me by the bottom of the canyon Now I'm running him out of gears and pushing him to go faster even in mild crosswinds (we where hitting 36-37mph in the rollers yesterday. SOOO much fun).

You just have to "get on the horse" and get used to the new bike's personality. Wearing some of the "new" off doesn't hurt either; at least with me some of the timidness comes from not wanting to "put a scratch on the new baby".

Have fun with the new ride

[Possegal]

Could part of the problem be going from a freebie bike to one you paid good money for? Maybe a little afraid to have anything happen to the lovely new bike? Just thinking out loud.

[tulip]

When I got my Luna, I just stared at it for weeks, thinking, "this bike is way too good for me." I finally rode it around the block, and then around the neighborhood. Eventually I took it on a group ride. And then another, and another.

Keep at it and Nina will become your new friend. It does take time. It's like having the most pretty and popular girl in high school wanting to be your friend. For me, that just didn't make sense, so I was suspicious. Then I finally accepted that yeah, I am good enough for this bike.

[lph]

Just had to smile. You know - nonbikers would read this and think us totally insane...

[MDladybug]

It's like having the most pretty and popular girl in high school wanting to be your friend. For me, that just didn't make sense, so I was suspicious.

Too funny ... I just brought home a new LeMond (that sat in the store for almost a year and a half waiting for me to find her) and I feel the same way!