Wine Country Century 5/6/2006

[kjay]

I'm a sometimes rider (a frequent spinner, tho) and am wondering if you think it's okay to ride a new road bike in the Wine Country metric. I will have had the bike for about six days prior. Do you think that's enough time to get used to a new bike? I would ride it about 2 hours a day prior to the Santa Rosa ride. Thanks in advance.

[jobob]

What kind of bike have you been riding before this? Are you going, say, from an upright hybrid to a road bike?

How fit are you? Have you ever ridden a metric century before? What distance are you comfortable riding right now?

Do you have every reason to believe that this bike is going to fit you reasonably well from the onset, so that only minimal adjustments will be necessary to dial in the fit? Did you have someone who really knows what they are doing set up your bike for you? Do you know your body well enough to know what kind of adjustments you will need to make it work for you over a 62 mile distance? Have you ever ridden on the saddle that is coming with this new bike?

In a word, there's no simple answer.

A lot of it hinges on how well the bike fits you, how comfortable the saddle is for you, and how comfortable you are with riding and handling the bike. If all those factors are OK, then you probably could do the metric just fine on the new bike.

[kjay]

Jobob, I must say you have simplified my decision-making process, and I thank you! One read-through of your questions and comments confirmed my hunch that I had better ride my current upright hybrid. The most I've ridden is 40 miles, and I currently am comfortable with 20. You have helped me so much, and I thank you for your thoughtful response. I will now concentrate on getting the 'perfect' bike in time for a week-long ride in early August (CANDISC). I LOVE this board!

[jobob]

No prob. When I first got my road bike after riding a hybrid, it took me a while to get used to it - the brakes weren't where I was used to having them, the shifting was completely different, and the position felt very odd and insecure to me at first.

I was recounting today on our ride on the Alameda Creek trail about how I was so unsteady when I first started riding a road bike that one time I was riding along that trail and got too close to the edge of the pavement, froze up, and rolled down the side of the levee, and there was nothing I could do about it besides let out an ear-piercing shreek. Luckily I didn't run into anything and I managed to slow down before crashing into a fence. Back then I was terrified and sooo embarassed, but it's pretty funny now.

Hopefully you're not as klutzy as I am, but still, it might take you a bit to get used to handling the bike, and in a large ride like the Wine Country you'll need good control.

You'll get the hang of it, I promise. Probably quicker than I did.

[snapdragen]

sheesh. I'm still feeling beat up after the little adveture we had Saturday. A good kind of beat up, but beat up none the less! I'm seriously thinking I'm only going to do the 35 mile option. Baby steps.....

[SadieKate]

OK, I've got my cheering section going. Let's start one for snap. Take it easy this week. Rest up them legs and go for it. You've done some longer rides than 35 this year, right? Slow and easy and scenic. From the description, the climbing on the 65 route sounds about like the Cindy but far prettier.

[maillotpois]

And drink a ton of water. It is finally starting to get warm, so give your legs and bod some water to hydrate from your ride this weekend.

Good news about WCC is all the routes seem like they're pretty and you may well be able to start the metric and then do a bail out and make a shorter route - probably Deanna would know better, since she's "connected" and I don't know the 35/metric routes too well. But Iknow the 200k can easily be cut shorter, so I imagine the same is true for the others.

Go for it!! We finally have NICE weather so you will want to take advantage of it!!!

[snapdragen]

You've done some longer rides than 35 this year, right?

Not much more.......:o

I'll drag my trusty Krebs map with me...... **runs off to see if she's got a map to cover this route**