From a Hybrid to a Road Bike - finally!

[radacrider]

Nice bike!

Have patience and definitely put a personal plan together. Also, if you can find a group to ride with, that helps push you more than riding by yourself.

More than bike weight it is the engine that makes the speed. < sigh, I know>

I have two bikes, light roadie at 19 lbs and a custom, roadified MTB (drop bars, road tires) at 29 lbs. I just did a few commutes to work (30 mile round trips) and was faster by 15 minutes each way on the heavier bike. Why? I haven't ridden but a few rides all year, so I was not in great shape for the hilly ride. The SUB (as I call her, my sport utility bike) has more lower gears so I wasn't running out of leg on the long climbs.

Have fun on the new bike, that in itself is a boost to the psychie.

[nikkoblu2]

Hi Blu- sounds like we have some similar issues. I've been riding a Trek hybrid for about 2 years averaging 13-14 mph and riding usually 30-45 miles at a time (with a coupla 50s). I only ride on the weekend and I haven't done any group rides.

A couple weeks ago I picked up my new Cannondale road bike. I haven't done as much riding on it as I'd like, but looks like the average is about 15mph. Same as you - good cardio, strong legs, although haven't gone clipless yet.

I think it will be key to get in some group rides. With my competitive nature riding with someone - even one person - who is a stronger rider than me would probably do me a lot of good.

Wish I could offer some advice...but, I'm trying to figure out the same thing myself right now.

[carinapir]

Wow! I have total bike envy.

I'm curious are we talking 12-13 mph avg over the course of the whole ride or when you looked at your speedometer you usually saw yourself going about 12-13mph on your hybrid? There's a huge difference and 14-16 mph average over a whole ride on your road bike would be pretty fast.

On my Giant FCR Hybrid, I generally ride at about 15-17 mph on flat road and my rides range from 30-50 miles. My over all average with hills, descents, and stops tends to end up in about the 12-13 mph range.

[featuretile]

I also wonder about the mileage per hour number - average on a bike computer or when you look at the speed. It seems that when I am riding on flats, it's usually between 13-14mph when I look down, sometimes can be more. Downhill can be 20-30mph. But there are so many steep hills where you see 5-6mph going up, that when I'm done, the average is usually 11mph and I can't seem to get above that.

I just finished a bike tour where I was the slowest one in the group and felt very frustrated and discouraged. The others either have been riding much longer than I or were much younger than I. I think it may be good to stretch yourself with someone who is slightly better than you, but being with a group that is too fast doesn't help.

I did learn that the mileage was not the key. I could feel good or bad after 30-40 miles depending on the speed of the ride and if there were any breaks. If we rode half way, had lunch and continued, I was fine. If the group rode straight thru, I barely made it back. I also just ordered a bunch of Nuun electrolyte tablets for my water because I sweat a lot when it's hot out and may have depleted my salt.

[chicagogal]

If you are serious about training to get stronger/faster, you need to remember that to get faster, you have to ride faster.

This means doing INTERVALS, where you ride fast/hard for a short distance, recover, and repeat. There are lots of different interval training plans out there. They are all hard, but they make a HUGE difference.

[marni]

I have been reading selena yeagers ride yourself lean from velo press and she has some good advice including some interval programs and some other training info. I also find the podrunner 5k,8k, and 10k interval podcasts, downloaded to my ipod/radio which plays loud enough to hear without earphones, have upped my speed from a low 15mph to a consistent low to mid 16 mph. Still kind of discouraging slow after 5 years of riding and weight loss, but I figure my age is a bit against me, that plus lack of frquency of rides since the FIL moved in with us and started taking up my two free days with his physical training and medical needs. Still I love the podrunner stuff for both bike and gym, and an overal speed for the duration of a ride, in spite of wind, highway overpasses (what passes for hills around here) and attitudinal texas drivers is perhaps not too shabby for an over 60 er.

marni

[Ritamarie]

A couple of miles an hour is a huge difference. If you are riding on relatively flat roads you won't see a whole lot of difference in a heavy bike vs a light bike. You will see the difference on a hilly ride. On my road bike, I'll range from 14 mph for a hilly ride by myself to 19+ if it's less hilly (we don't have anything flat here!) or I have someone pushing me. If I ride my fat tire bike, I can count on the average being about 2 MPH slower ... though I think I would top out at less than 16 mph. It's just not that kind of bike.