Quote Originally Posted by DarcyInOregon View Post
I agree with everyone who suggests starting with the hybrid bike. That is what I did. I want to mention some additional benefits and that is you will build muscle density faster on a hybrid because it is heavier than a road bike. My LBS told me that the 20 miles I pedal on my Trek Navigator 300 is equivalent to pedaling 40-50 miles on a road bike.


Darcy
This seems to be a bit extreme to me as well. My Raleigh c700 is an aluminum hybrid and although i can't sustain high speeds as well or climb quite as fast while riding it, i wouldn't say that i was working more than 2x as hard while riding it. Maybe 20% more; so 50 miles on the road bike would be equivalent to 40 on the hybrid. And that might even be a stretch!