I recently purchased a road bike and have started spinning on the road for fun and for health. I am amazed at the difference between my road bike on the road, and my older mountain bike or for that matter recalling my old ten speed of yesteryear.

The whole experience is so different. The shifters, the position, the speed…it blows me away how you can roll along the road.

I covered 34 miles this past weekend which is awesome for me being a beginner. At this one point I had a long climb to the top of blueberry hill on depot road where I could see the mountains. I decided to turn around and downhill (2 miles)  when last I checked my speed it was 46 and I know I went faster than that. It was a bit windy and i was getting blown around a bit so I actually was on the brake a bit as i moved more to the center of the road. I started to get paranoid of flatting and wiping out and the whole logical side of my brain started chiming in. It was so much fun though. I could picture what it would be like trying to ride in a pack at those speeds like the pros do.

I could have easily gone farther this day but not having had that much time in the saddle I figured best to ease into things. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t going to have any knee, back, saddle, or hip pain. As it turned out I feel fine today so my bike fit must be good. Previously I was getting a lot of painful numbness and tingling in my hands from my mountain bike and I experience very little on the new bike.

The Shifters are interesting if you haven’t seen a road bike in a few years. They are part of the brake lever and to change gears you merely tap them to the left to upshift and an inner lever taps to the right to downshift. You want to move up two gears quickly tap it twice. The chain indexes immediately and quietly…I love engineering.

I ended up transferring my rear rack from my mountain bike along with the pack. I like being able to carry a spare tube, tools and essentials. It is also great for extra water, rain coat, snacks etc. It makes the bike look slower and adds some weight which to a purist is probably crazy, but it is practical.

This weekend I also christened my knees with my new clip in pedals. I was riding and talking with my wife and playing with my dog, when I went to turn and leaned accidentally to my out bound, cliped pedal and tipped over, doing a somersault of all things with the bike. I scrapped my knee but was no worse for the wear. It was actually quite funny and an experience Rosie will remember for a while.

I have about 5 weeks to prepare for my Breathe NH ride. If you haven’t contributed I would appreciate any and all donations. Every dollar counts. See the article on this website and or go to Breathenh.org – bike event.