Cycling Forum: Newbie Introduction / Getting Started

Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to the site and to cycling (as a sport) and I have some questions. First, some context....

I'm part of a relay team for an upcoming triathlon, and I'll be tackling the 18-mile bike ride. I have a Trek 920 Singletrack mountain bike (from around 1998) that I bought new but I've only put about 30 miles on it (of those 30, probably only 10 on trail riding). The bike has stock equipment on it, and was basically in storage for the past 10 years. I know it's not ideal for this kind of event, but I'm doing the best with what I've got for now.

Since I started training a month ago, I've really taken a liking to it, and I've started thinking about taking up cycling as a long-term hobby (is that offensive, to call cycling a hobby?!).

So what I'm really wondering is this: If I'm going to use cycling as my main source of exercise, should I consider investing in a road bike? Or something else that isn't a mountain bike? It just seems like there's a LOT of upfront costs in this sport, and I don't have a lot of disposable income.

From what I've gathered, to get a decent used road bike I'll be looking at spending at least $500, which isn't a very realistic possibility for me right now. Is there an entry-level bike I should consider that won't break the bank? Or should I just stick with the Trek until I can justify spending that kind of cash (and also save up)?

Sorry for all the questions, but I figure this is the best place to get them answered!

I don't see any reason to upgrade your bike at this early stage of your cycling 'career'. MTB's are fine unless you just want to go fast on the road. Sure they are a bit slower, but they are a lot tougher and more versatile if you want to ride off road from time to time.

I ride an MTB for commuting and love that I can hop kerbs, detour off the track a bit etc. I have two sets of tyres, off road and slicks, no reason to get another set of rims if you are strapped for cash. Occasionally I get caught out with the wrong tyres (mostly off road tyres on pavements) but i can live with that. I changed my tyres this morning in 12min so it's no big deal if you can plan a bit.

 If your bikes been in storage for a while definately give it a bit of a workout before taking it in a race event, make sure everything is working properly and give it a tuneup.

Unless you have to have the latest and gretest stick with what you have, upgrade bits from time to time and eventually aim for the best frame you can afford. I started with a basic MTB, got into it spent 3 times as much and got a better one, got into it more and spent 3 times as much again over 5 years. I've had my current bike for over 10years now and it's still great, only replaced the wearing parts as they wore out and upgraded other bits when I had the ready cash.

 Enjoy the riding.

I started with the mountain bike building up some stamina on short 15 mile routes, and finding places that I felt safe to ride without worrying about the road being too secluded or too busy with some of the crazies in cars.

 I found for me to get a decent road bike from a bike shop I really wanted to buy the Tiagra level rear deraileur. Reviews said the 2200 and Sora would be OK for entry level but it was the 3rd tier price of the Tiagra that consistently shifted smoothly. I found Fuji was the most reasonable price for a decent road bike, but after 2 years found my Trek 1000 with rapid fire shifters on craigslist (hard to find 54 cm, way to popular) and it still cost $500 so I could join with some road biking friends who are a bit more serious riders. It doesn't pay to jump into buying a road bike too fast unless you can afford one that shifts fairly consistently (i.e not grip shifters)

I also talked a few guys into doing a half hour of trail riding at the local state park twice a week just for fun and exercise. . I'm hoping to keep building up my hill stamina and join up with a biking group and perhaps meet a nice woman around 40 as a social thing :)

 I almost quit road biking as I did have crazy people run me off the road on my mountain bike (thank god it was a mountain bike since I was forced of road) but I decided I can't quit because of that, just find a new route on this site and start again. So if you're already in a Tri-athalon that's great - stick with it!

Dear Friends,

I am just starting with Map My Ride and cannot figure out how to record a ride.  The problem is that the online maps are so out-of-date that I cannot get the thing to acurrately reflect my 23 mile ride.  Is there any way to record a ride without getting bogged down with the tedium and inaccuracies involved in trying to use this stupid mapping program?

Dear rsj4me;

 If a GPS isn't in your budget, yu can do a couple of things with the mapping program.

 Take the time to build a couple of set routes.  Adjust them so the distance is accurate.  When you reuse the route you won't have to take the time to plot it all out.

I can't see where the mapping computer (if you count calories), takes into accoutn the different calories burned when climbing/coasting down hill etc.  So, you can just enter your ride distance and time and not even bother with the mapping.

For the streets that don't show up, select the satellite view to see if they can be seen in the image and then plot witheh follow roads feature off.  I do this for one golf course community that doesn't show up on any mapping program.

As for me, I'm saving up for a GPS.