I am a newbie that just learned about bike gears 6 mo ago and went clipless/bought my first road bike 3 months ago. I just learned to sort of drink from my water bottle and sort of signal other riders (I'm still VERY wobbly) while riding my bike 1 month ago.

In my area, there is only one bike club that is within 10 miles of me. There are a ton of bike clubs within 20 miles of me. So rather than try out the bike clubs far away, I stuck with the group that is closest to me (they have 3 levels...recreation 14-18mph, intermediate 17-20mph, racers 20+mph. We all ride over 34 miles including hills ranging from 2% to 6% grades, with the recreation group starting the earliest).

One of the retired men organizes group rides daily outside of the club's weekly rides. Because of all the encouragement of the club riders, I actually rode up the mountain last week (on a day when the back mountain road was closed to cars) up 5000 feet (45miles round trip). I would have NEVER have thought that I could do that route. I still have not ridden more than 55miles. I'm looking forward to eventually doing a century.

Riding with my bike club members have definitely stretched what I thought that I could do. I would never have done any of it, nor even dared to ride on the road, without them. Thank you Team Velocity in Fullerton, CA!
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2012 Specialized Amira Elite, upgraded carbon handle bars, Jett saddle 143mm switched to 145mm 2012 Selle Italia Max SLR Gel Flow saddle

2011 Specialized Ariel Sport,suspension post,Serfas Rx Women's Microfiber saddle
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