I've spent the last many years riding a hybrid. I got my 1st road bike last month. It took about 7 hours of actual riding time for me to get to the point where I wasn't constantly thinking about how different the road bike felt, reminding myself that that the steering was more responsive, figuring out how to shift & brake, etc. I still have some work to do on holding my line, being able to look back without ending up in the other lane, and so on. But the road bike is feeling much more like second nature now.

About riding a bike as a bigger woman, I see people of all different sizes on bikes when I ride. I aspire to be like the very fit riders, and privately cheer the folks who are obviously just beginning their fitness journey. In reality, we're all on a journey; we're just starting from different places.

The very few people who might be judgmental about a large woman on a bike probably aren't the kind of people whose opinions you should care about anyway. Just remember that the majority of riders are like me ~ nonjudgmental and privately cheering you on your own journey. Go Zenn!