We've been stopping by Bike World and talking to Tom almost weekly. Tom has measured me for a bike and says the 47 cm bike is right for me. Because I've never ridden a road bike before, I don't know what the right fit feels like. I don't know what to tell him feels wrong for adjustments either. All I can do is rely on his training, knowledge and experience to look at the geometry of how I sit on the bike to determine that it's a scientifically right fit. But, some people find little adjustment from that geometry are more comfortable and work better for them. I don't know how to do this and I don't know that it's something that can be taught to you.
I've sat on a number of bikes and taken three of four out for a test drive. These test drives are just a quick four blocks out and four blocks back ride through a neighborhood behind the store. I don't know the neighborhood, so I don't wander far. I don't know the bike, so I'm careful where and how far I go. I don't know the traffic, so I'm nervous as I ride.
I have researched a number of brands of bikes and seem to keep coming back to the Trek bikes. On my last test ride, I rode an aluminum bike and one of the newer carbon fiber bikes. I quickly noticed a difference (which means I'm sold on the upgrade) between the two frames. Now I have to decide between different model numbers within the Madone series. In talking to Cindy last week, we learned that they have a demo version of one of the models in my size. She offered to let me ride it for my Thursday night ride this week. This means I'll be riding it for a route that I know and getting closer to the distance I would normally ride.
In preparation for this ride on the demo bike, I need to learn how to shift on these new shifters. The shifters are built into the brake handles, so you need to know what you're doing. You can shift both directions. There are no number indicators to tell you what gear you're in. You can even shift multiple gears at once. So, in an effort to learn, Pete volunteered to teach me on his bike.
Tonight he put his silver bike on the trainer. He put on his bike clothes and jumped on the bike. I held a GPS so I could see his speed and cadence and he showed me how he shifted. I watched how his cadence remained the same, but his speed changed. It sounds like a simple concept, but know which lever to push to get the gears you want took a little while to sink in. I finally decided on:
The longer lever,
puts you in a lower gear,
to go a lower speed,
up the long hills.
We'll see if that works for me on Thursday. For now, it's going to have to do. For tonight, Pete got a little bit of a workout just so I could play with the shifting on his bike. He sat there pedaling away as I shifted and moved gears back and forth multiple times.
Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 350.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: +0.8
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