Well, at the age of 44 I decided I wanted to learn to ride a bicycle. Yes its true, I never learned to ride as a child or even as a teenager. So, a few weekends ago I rented a mountain bike from one of the local bike shops and taught myself to ride in a parking lot. It was a bit harder than I thought it would be, but I could tell it would be so much fun as soon as I could stay upright for any extended period of time. The weekend after that, I bought two new bikes (with the help of a friend who rides). I've been riding a few times a week (short rides), and had a great day yesterday riding my mountain bike around that big parking lot. Excited and thoroughly psyched, I thought I'd try out my beautiful, sleek, sexy road bike today. In hindsight, I suppose I probably should have waited until I could actually ride the mountain bike without almost eating it every ten minutes, but I couldn't help myself. I have been dreaming of riding my road bike since I brought it home. Well, things started out a bit shaky, but I quickly got up and pedaling and all of a sudden it was the coolest thing on earth. That bike feels like a Ferrari, and as I pedaled faster, it responded beautifully. I was in heaven...pure bliss...for about ninety seconds...and then I ate it...HARD. I derailed the chain and cheese-gratered almost all of the tape off the left handlebar. Not to mention leaving a large quantity of skin on the asphalt.

So my question(s) is/are as follows; does anyone have any tips or tricks or advice on what would make it easier to ride that sexy beast? (I realize now that I should get better on my mountain bike before taking another run at the road bike....I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes.) And if I'm going to take a digger - which I know I will again - how to avoid major damage to myself and my bike. As for how I fell, I know it sounds ridiculous, I think I went down because I was coming up on a turn and I just freaked out. I guess I manhandled the front end of the bike (i.e. turned the handlebars like a trucker steering a big rig) and took myself down.

Help, tips, feedback and comments will be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much.