Quote Originally Posted by tiva View Post
After 2 weeks with my first real road bike (Cannondale synapse feminine five compact double), I feel like I'm finally making progress. Today, I:
1. made it up a 7 mile long hill without stopping (that hill had been freaking me out, but it turned out not to be hard at all)
2. drank from my water bottle without stopping
3. went down into the drops and pedaled on the 7 mile hill back down!
4. learned how to stand and pedal up hill, even though I actually didn't need to on the hill
5. and most importantly, had a blast

Most of my earlier pains have gone away, except for numbness in one foot, so I need to work on that.

And someday, maybe I'll get up my nerve to learn how to draft.
Congratulations! Those are al very big accomplishments

Drafting: It can be intimidating to ride very close to the wheel in front of you. I learned out of necessity. Ride with people faster than you and if you don't want to get dropped, you quickly learn to draft :-)
Also, you don't have to sit directly behind the wheel in front of you. Instead you can sit a little to the left or a little to the right (but don't cross wheels) and still get the benefit of the draft. Drafting is a good skill to have and necessary if you ever want to do group rides (or racing).