I am the proud owner of a 2011 Specialized Dolce Elite with the SRAM Apex gear group!

Been riding a Specialized hybrid for the past 9 years or so, and this summer began putting a lot of miles on it, ON THE ROAD. Consistently doing 25-30 miles rides, about 3 times a week on the fat knobby tires. Replaced my seat but still wasn't real comfortable. Hubby ordered my new bike for my birthday, and it came in a couple weeks ago.


Here she is, in her bedroom.

I've taken Carmelita (her name! ) on 3-4 rides so far, and my avg speed has gone from 12-13 mph to 14-16 mph but I really thought I would be going faster on her. My cardio is great, my endurance is pretty good I think for what I've been riding, but my speed is disappointing to me. My longest ride ever was last Thursday; I rode 45 miles and it took me 3 hours. I wanted to do a Century ride this season, but it's just not going to happen yet. When I finished my 45 mile ride, I thought to myself, "If I was doing 100 miles, I wouldn't even be half done yet." And I was D-E-A-D, dead. REALLY fatigued. I had that ride on Thursday, worked on my feet all day Friday, rode a 26-mile route with my husband on Saturday that was very hilly and in 20-30 mph winds - tough!, and then Sunday walked on my job all day again. Today is the first day in four that my legs haven't been fatigued, and have finally fully recuperated from Thursday's 45 miles.

When you are riding by yourself, not in a group or drafting anyone, what sort of speeds do you average? Just curious...it's not going to kill me to not be any faster, but I feel like I have very strong legs and feel like i should be averaging higher speeds than I am.

I feel like I need a PLAN. A training and development plan, and I don't know where to get it. I haven't ever heard of personal trainers for bikes. LOL

I feel like a big girl bike rider now, with a real fast road bike!