Newbie~ feel free to pick on me!

[BellaBeauty]

Hey everyone! My name is Erin, Im 21 and I am a mother of a 3 month old princess, and wife-to-be to a wonderful cycling enthusiast! He has riden for a while now, both road and mountain. He prefers road, and I think is starting to get into cyclocross. We live in beautiful Chattanooga, Tennessee, and both work at a mortgage company owned by his mother.

I am just starting to get into this sport. It started when we went to the Tour de Georgia. We went to 3 stages including the final stage in Atlanta. I had a blast! I couldnt begin to describe how excited I was to be there and to meet the cyclists!

We went to a local bike shop yesterday and I found my shoes for my future road bike ( yep, this is my first cycling purchase! ). They are Shimano's. They priced for $ 140.00, but were on sale for $ 10.00, because they are such a small size, ( 4.5) Im so thrilled! Now I just need to take the plunge and purchase my bike! Im secretly hoping for one for Mother's Day!

My dream bike would be a LiteSpeed " Bella " only beause my daughters name is Bella, and my fiance rides Litespeeds!

Here are a few pics from The Tour de Georgia!

My fiance and myself



Random pics from the final stage, downtown Atlanta























Lookout Mtn. stage:















Chattanooga Stage:










cant wait to get to know you all!

[uforgot]

Hi and welcome to TE! We are going to have a Tour of Missouri this summer/fall. I hope I can get some great pics like you did!

Congrats on Bella and I hope you get a bike for mother's day, too.

[maillotpois]

Welcome - thanks for sharing the great pictures!

[Zen]

This has to be the first time I've ever heard of someone buying the shoes then the bike.

Don't make that decision based on a name or color, though. Take your time. Hang out here. There is no such thing as a stupid question.

Wait. Maybe there is, I just haven't thought of it yet.

[FreshNewbie]

Welcome to TE Erin, also to the wonderful sport of biking. These are some awsome pictures and I would love to go see one of the big tours. Maybe next year. TE is full of women who love the sport and know a LOT about it, so ask away. Congruts on your baby , you and your fiance look very happy together.

Marina (FN)

[Kitsune06]

*poke! poke! poke!*
Just hazing the newbie.
Welcome to the fold!

[sgtiger]

Ooh! Well, since you brought such great pics with you, I think we could let you into our club. Welcome! If you haven't done so already, I would recommend that you try out the bike to see if it's a good fit before you lay down any $$.

[BellaBeauty]

Well, since Im just learning about the sport, I know I wont be spending any serious money on a bike I know nothing about. I hope and pray my fiance looks into buying me one. I want something fairly simple to start, bbut not too simple or complicated, because I dont want to get too discouraged. Kwim? We went to one of the bike shops last weekend to get spokes on his wheel tightened, and I was supposed to get fitted, but they couldnt do it. Anyone in here around the 5 foot mark? What size road bike are you riding?

[JenLeath]

Welcome, I am a fellow newbie (3 years this Mother's Day) as well. Even if you aren't spending much $$ on a bike, you still need to try it out first. Every brand has entry level bikes, and they aren't all the same. I saw the Bianchi it was so pretty and a great price, but then I road it and found that it didn't fit my mechanics at all. I tried out 7 different bikes, and took home a Giant OCR 3. Bike shops are great with letting you ride the bikes in their parking lots. Even if you don't know anything yet, your body will tell you alot pretty fast.

Good luck and happy cycling.

Jen L

[Jiffer]

Hey Bella Beauty,

I'm a newbie too. My husband is a serious cyclist and convinced me to try tandem cycling with him last year, so that's where I started. We tried a friend's tandem first, with them riding singles along side us to give us pointers. You have to have a lot of team work to ride a tandem and the stoker (the chick in the back!) has to have a LOT of trust in her driver! Especially when he gets you going 40 mph down a hill and there's not much you can do about it! I told you he was a serious cyclist.

Now I'm awaiting my new single to come in any day now! I was hoping for Mother's Day, but that's not looking very likely. We're going to take the kids to a bike trail and I really wanted to ride my very own single that day, but I'll have fun on the tandem too.

By the way, I have Shimano cycling shoes, too. It's pretty much because they were the only one's in the store that fit me decently! I have long (size 10), but very narrow feet.

I can't wait to get my new bike! I can't wait to get my new bike! I hope you get your's soon too. Good luck with your cycling and thanks for posting the great pictures.

Jiffer