Cycling?

Cycling is relatively new to me and I bought my bike so I could ride down to the beach and never really thought it would be my primary form of exercise but every since I started getting really into riding I have lost about 20 pounds.

I bought a hybrid bike (Trek 7.2 fx) about a year ago. It was my first bike since I was a kid and I love it. I have already put a little under 1000 miles on it and commute (10 miles round trip) to work 2 to 3 times a week and go on longer rides on the weekends. My longest ride was 35 miles and I do 20 mile rides regularly.I am planing on doing a metric century (62 miles) soon.

Anyone into cycling and what kind of bike do you ride?

I started cycling about a year ago on a Trek 7.2 FX as well...lol. Now I ride a Giant Propel Advanced.

There are some groups on here for cycling as well as a Strava group. Check them out. Lots of cyclists on this board.... It is after all the best form of cardio

I started seriously cycling in 2008, when I decided I was going to start biking to work. I dug my 15 year old Huffy mountain bike out of my mom's basement, took it in for a major tune up, and rode it to work (18 miles round trip) 3-4 times a week from the end of May through early Sept. I promised myself that if I stuck with it, I'd get myself a "real" bike. Which I did.

In 2009, I got myself a Marin Larkspur hybrid commuter bike. Tricked her out with fenders, a rack, clipless pedals, headlight, taillight, mirror and a computer. I commuted to work nearly every day from mid-April through mid-October. I also heard about the Iron Girl triathlon, that was being held for the first time in my area that summer....it definitely peaked my interest, but alas, I found out about it too late to even consider it for that year.

In 2010, we bought a house, and moved a bit further from work (now about 25 miles round trip), AND I had signed up for the second year of the Iron Girl, so that summer, I didn't commute as often (the local tri club holds tri practice every wednesday evening in the summer) because of training and weather.

In 2011, life got crazy, and I was only able to bike to work once a week, if that. Did the Iron Girl again, still trained and raced on my Larkspur.

We won't talk about 2012...that was my "bad year"...I literally took my bike out of the garage for the first (and only time) that summer to bring it to bike racking for my 3rd IG tri.

In 2013, I buckled down and got super serious with tri's. I was back to training properly. Also our office was moving...not overly far (would be about 30 miles round trip for the most direct route)....but to a part of town that is really not safe for cycling (no matter which route I took). So, I decided to have my Larkspur upgraded to be "race ready" (particularly important, since I was not only doing the Iron Girl again, but I had also signed up for a second, slightly longer tri that summer) - had the rack and fenders stripped, upgraded my saddle, got bar ends (for a second hand position), and had an actual bike fit done. It made a world of difference. But toward the end of the season (after both of my tris were over), I started thinking that maybe I might want to attempt the local Ironman 70.3 before I turn 40.....but I would need to upgrade - my Larkspur doesn't have the gearing to handle that course.

Fast-forward to this year....started training for this season (currently signed up for 3 tris...considering one more, plus a century ride). Took a bunch of "race" bikes for test rides. Decided on a Specialized Ruby Sport...first ride out with her was a full 3mph faster than I was on the exact same course the week before with my Larkspur. I've had my Ruby for almost 3 weeks now, and I LURVE her! I've gone from being dead last on my Monday night group ride 5 weeks ago to leading the pack this week. I am SO excited to see how she does in my races this year. :bigsmile: I've also decided that I am DEFINITELY signing up for the 70.3 next June.



TL:DR - Started on a Huffy Mountain Bike and commuted to work for a year, upgraded to a Marin Larkspur hybrid commuter and commuted to work for 2-3 years while also transitioning to racing in triathlons...then upgraded 3 weeks ago to a Specialized Ruby Sport for racing in triathlons

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I started bike commuting last year. When I take the long route to work, it's 30 miles round trip. Short route is 14, medium route is 20. Been working on taking the long route recently. My commuting bike is an old schwinn mountain bike that I've got fenders and a bike rack on. I've gone 55 miles on my clunker, but wouldn't want to go much further than that.

For my weekend/longer rides, I just got a Giant OCR 3. I'm planning on doing the multi day, several hundred mile Great Annual Bicycle Adventure Along the Wisconsin River next summer with my dad. Definitely needed the lighter road bike to prep for that