New rider here...I need advice.

[alpinerabbit]

Instead of a frame pump I go for CO2 cartridges and a little adapter that goes with them. I'd never patch tubes. Too lazy. I just carry a spare. Then again in 2x4 yrs cycling we have had a collective 1 flat.

There are niftier sports glasses with Rx inserts, that's what I'd go for.

Make absolutely sure the frame is the right size for you. Err on the side of small. Triple or at least compact gearing.

[Owlie]

I've been talking to the people that I'll be riding with, and their advice is basically "get a road bike." This makes sense, as both of them will be riding road bikes and I don't think I want to completely wear myself out trying to keep up with them. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to sink that kind of money into it just yet. (I don't know what I mean by "that kind of money", to be honest. Just that the low-end road bikes cost more than the FCR3.) That, and I have a feeling that the posture that road bikes put you in would kill my back and shoulders.
Thoughts?

[seychelle]

Total newbie here, so for what it's worth I'm in the same predicament as you are. The person I will be riding with most of the time has a road bike. I also don't want to sink "that kind of money" into a road bike, but also don't want to stay behind. I ended up buying a hybrid. If it turns out that I really like cycling and stick with it, then I'll 'graduate' to a road bike. I suppose I can always sell the current bike or maybe they do trade-ins? I've no clue about that.

Anyway, yesterday I rode with my friend and I can see he is not going to stick with my slowness eventhough he was very accommodating. He is training for a tri so I understand. We've decided that we'll go out for X amount of time, he'll be ahead, and at a predetermined time we will both head back (our rides are all out and back at this point). I think that should work. I'm used to running alone, so I've no problem with riding alone. I just better learn to change my tires and patch a flat!

As a newbie, water bottle and sunscreen seem of upmost importance to me. Sunglasses are a given as I live in Florida.

[Owlie]

Total newbie here, so for what it's worth I'm in the same predicament as you are. The person I will be riding with most of the time has a road bike. I also don't want to sink "that kind of money" into a road bike, but also don't want to stay behind. I ended up buying a hybrid. If it turns out that I really like cycling and stick with it, then I'll 'graduate' to a road bike. I suppose I can always sell the current bike or maybe they do trade-ins? I've no clue about that.

Water bottle, of course.

What did you end up getting, out of curiosity? As it looks right now, I'll be borrowing a friend's mountain bike for a little while...

[Skierchickie]

IMHO:
1) Helmet
1.1) Pump
1.25) Tire levers
1.255) Patch kit
1.256) Spare tube
1.28) small multitool (hex wrenches, etc)
2.) Sunglasses (you may be able to find a shield-type that would fit over your glasses, and there are some that accept prescription inserts)
3.) Water bottle

The bottle is only 3rd, because every bike I've ever bought (which is, let's see, 8) came with a free bottle.

Numbers 1-2 are all pretty important - difficult to rank (hence the decimal places)..

It looks like a lot of stuff, but not much of it is expensive.

[Fujichants]

Another useful thing to have is Road ID. Not necessary, but having it puts my mind at ease should something happen to me while out on my bike.

[Owlie]

Can anyone recommend a few decent "entry level" road bikes?

[elk]

a little notebook and pen/pencil for identifying scoundrels and promising cafes.

[Skierchickie]

Hee hee - identifying scoundrels! I like that!

[Zen]

What's your budget?

[Owlie]

I'm giving myself to $800-900, depending on how much of my stipend gets eaten up by taxes this summer.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've been talking to the people that I'll be riding with, and their advice is basically "get a road bike." This makes sense, as both of them will be riding road bikes and I don't think I want to completely wear myself out trying to keep up with them. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to sink that kind of money into it just yet. (I don't know what I mean by "that kind of money", to be honest. Just that the low-end road bikes cost more than the FCR3.) That, and I have a feeling that the posture that road bikes put you in would kill my back and shoulders.
Thoughts?

Sounds like you need to go to a couple of bikes shops and test ride different kinds of bikes so you can start getting a feel of the differences.

[Owlie]

Sounds like you need to go to a couple of bikes shops and test ride different kinds of bikes so you can start getting a feel of the differences.

This will occur, once finals are done.