First ride

I hit the roads this morning on my new bike, finally!

Before I set off I did a quick route plan, as I knew I wanted to go further than I had managed in my brisk 1 hour hacks on the road on my mountain bike. I also wanted to cover part of those routes, to get a feel for the difference the road bike would make.

Firstly, a road bike is going to take some getting used to! I think the position is spot on but it feels very stretched compared to my mountain bike. But then that is to be expected. The campag shifters are quickly becoming second nature, though I think the biggest difference is the harsher ride. Being used to big squashy 2" MTB tyres, I sould noticed the rough surface of the roads!

Saying all that, I did love it. I even attacked a few hills, dancing on the pedals, so I must have been having fun!

I ended up doing a 21.5 mile route according to Runkeeper (tracked using the Runkeeper app on my iPhone). The elapsed time of 1hr 40mins did included a stop for a breather after one big hill and traffic hold ups in Henley. I was expecting a slightly faster average speed, but then I did spend a lot of time playing with the gears and getting used to the brakes.