First Day on a Bike in Over Half a Dozen Years

[riverc0il]

Speaking of numbers... short of carrying a GPS with me... is there any mapping system out there that tracks vertical gain? Like Google maps directions but with elevation?

Seek and I shall find. Veloroutes.org gets the job done. Wish I didn't have to micro plot the route as it uses straight lines between points instead of following the logical road choice. 188 foot gain with only 1 foot difference between starting and ending location for 375 foot gain over the course of six miles.

 

[Marc]

Seek and I shall find. Veloroutes.org gets the job done. Wish I didn't have to micro plot the route as it uses straight lines between points instead of following the logical road choice. 188 foot gain with only 1 foot difference between starting and ending location for 375 foot gain over the course of six miles.

www.mapmyride.com has an elevation feature too, but it sucks for cycling because of its averaging. It will start grossly underestimating anything over maybe 15 miles. Same with its grade steepness. Good for running distances though. Mapmyride does have a snap to roads feature however.

 

[mondeo]

http://www.mapmyride.com/

Get a cyclometer. Decent ones are pretty easy to get at around $20-30, and really nice to have.

 

[mondeo]

Another one, not as tight as mapmyrides and meant for running:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

 

[riverc0il]

Quick 9.5 miles today. I say "quick" despite that being my longest ride so far. Took a horrible route. Learned just how bad Route 3 is between Ashland and Plymouth Probably some of the more dangerous cycling I have ever done and that coming from someone that used to ride through Haverill, Lawrence, Metheun, Lowell, etc. Surprised I didn't blow out a tire. No shoulder and frequent car passes. MTB'ers need to experience that before they judge road vs. MTB.

Any ways, the nice parts of the route were money. I still can't get over how sweet this bike handles compared to my last junker. Especially on the flats. Just eye opening and jaw dropping speed. Finally started remembering how to work hills, especially small bumps so I don't end up dropping many if any gears by bumping the cadence/effort just a touch. Front derailler is going to need a bit of adjusting when I bring it in for the first one month tune up as it doesn't want to go into the smallest ring (which is big problems when the grade gets steep!).

I think the trick around will be finding the side roads that go to the same places that the main roads go. So many of the main roads have no shoulder. But there are often round about routes that I would never have considered with a car that would be perfect on a road bike (more climbs that way too!).

 

[mondeo]

I think the trick around will be finding the side roads that go to the same places that the main roads go. So many of the main roads have no shoulder. But there are often round about routes that I would never have considered with a car that would be perfect on a road bike (more climbs that way too!).

Google maps are your friends. Just beware of dirt roads, I gotta figure that's a bigger risk up there.

 

[Greg]

No shoulder and frequent car passes. MTB'ers need to experience that before they judge road vs. MTB.

Precisely why I have no interest in road riding, at least not now. The forest seems safer.

 

[Marc]

Any ways, the nice parts of the route were money. I still can't get over how sweet this bike handles compared to my last junker. Especially on the flats. Just eye opening and jaw dropping speed. Finally started remembering how to work hills, especially small bumps so I don't end up dropping many if any gears by bumping the cadence/effort just a touch. Front derailler is going to need a bit of adjusting when I bring it in for the first one month tune up as it doesn't want to go into the smallest ring (which is big problems when the grade gets steep!).

Take a smallish phillips head screwdriver and turn the screw on the top of your front derailleur, the one closer to the frame, out about a half turn. See if that lets you shift into the low ring.

Front derailleurs, especially, on road bikes I've found to be very, very touchy. A quarter turn on the limit screws on my front makes the difference between a perfect shift to the low ring, and falling off the low ring completely.