Reading this post really gave me good perspective and a better way to approach a second ride on Rosey the Road Bike.

I'm on vacation and our local university and schools are closed for spring break, so this was a good week to get out. However, it was incredibly windy much of the week.

I finally got out today around 1:30 (waiting for lunch hour traffic to die off).

To leave my apt complex, have to either cross or ride on a highway. I rode on it. I also had to cross a set of reasonably smooth railroad tracks and was able to do so. Feeling reasonable, I took went through some residential areas and again was on a busy street before hitting country roads. I returned on the same really busy road and decided I wanted to challenge myself, so I took a different route back wherein I had to cross another set of much rougher train tracks (was going to have to cross eventually anyway) and was pleased to have done so while getting buzzed by a jerk in a Jeep. I finished my ride by again riding down the 4 lane highway.

My Garmin showed 11.9 miles, but that is false cuz I forgot to turn it on. (oops!) It showed I went about 13 mph, which is better than I expected given the wind and given I was working on a variety of skills (like just riding the bike, clipping in, not crashing, etc).

Am I comfortable on Rosey? Not yet. But am I in a better place than after the first ride? Hell yes! I actually smiled for a little during the ride. I still need to get used to the body position (my arms/wrists/hands are stiff) and the responsiveness, but I feel like I can actually do it.

Thank you again for this thread....it made a world of difference for me.