new rider

[beeba]

i'm making the commitment! i have decided to get serious about my riding. i'm new to this forum - any forum actually - and from what i have read so far my story is pretty similar. my husband used to ride/race and after we dated for a while i bought a road bike and started joining him on rides - mainly 20-30 miles 2x per week. i have now decided to prepare for races next year! my husband is now my coach and we are adding on the miles each week. i expect it to be a lot of work!! any advice for me?? i'll take any tips, tricks, winter workout info, your own 1st time race stories! thanks!!!

carrie from medina, ohio.

[CorsairMac]

first - welcome to the wonderful world of cycling!.....I only hope you develop the love for it that most of us here have!.....I have no training tips etc - I live in the desert SW where it rarely gets winter cold and I'm a bike commuter that is lucky enough to have bike trails to ride on to get to and fro! I am envious tho that you have a husband that rides with you - *sigh*....maybe I'll get me one of them some day too!....Anyway - have fun and keep the rubber on the road!
Oh and by the way - the people here are AWESOME!...I've had more fun reading the boards and Reaping the TONS of advice!...Hope you find it as friendly and useful as I have!

[KkAllez]

Here's my advice and this comes from someone who rides with men and just DREAMS that other women in her area would ride: INSIST, and I mean INSIST that at least once every two weeks, okay in all honestly, once a month, that when you go out and ride that there is no goal for MPH or cadence and NO racing, and you just go out and have fun.

The reason I say this is because FOREVER I seemed to ride when the goal was not to go under 15 MPH average or under a cadence of 80, this when the wind was howling and hills like Mount Everest. When there was not a ride that it wasn't an all out race for 30 miles or more. Finally, one day I put my foot down, "We are riding out to Palava and we are having FUN on this ride and no one is racing and no one will even dare look at their cyclometer! Okay?!" but don't ever add "or else" or "or I ain't going"

In other words, sometimes just have fun and not have a goal. Especially when you ride with guys. I haven't burned out yet and I believe that is because some days I just pretty much state, "today we are observing the botany as we ride" days.

No matter, you'll have fun. It is addicting ya know.

[CorsairMac]

ROFL.....Love that advice Kim! Thanks for the smile