http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/road_bikes.htm

Pretty much everything in the top 5, even 6 rows is on the table. Supposedly the Dawes, Mercier, Motobecane, and Windsor brands are all good (relative to the price of course). The bad part about the site is a few certain styles/colors/sizes are infrequently in stock. And yes, the site looks really bad haha. They seem to minimize operating expenses as much as possible thereby allowing them to sell the actual bikes for cheaper prices. But they do have an established track record so...

Also, buying one of those excluding the 1st row would solve my downtube shifting concerns. I'm sure I'd get used to them if I bought an older bike, but shifting with those while going fast seems a little terrifying at first thought.

edit: amazin,
yeah, i've seen that comment a lot. i'd definitely call around to local shops. i'm sure at least a few would be willing to help in order to secure future business re: maintenance, tuneups, future bikes, etc.

Went out for the first time on the Tarmac SL. Quick 25 mile ride. That thing is a beast. I look forward to the hills now because I can sprint up them like I'm on a flat. Only issues were the bike hasn't been fitted for me, so I wasn't comfortable on it, and I'm used to SRAM so I didn't know what the hell I was doing with the Dura Ace shifters

Methodz, any updates? I'd you live in a big city I'd go the Craigslist route. Always tons of bikes for sale and you can negotiate yourself a great deal if you're patient

What year did you ride Abitibi? Definitely one of the more interesting experiences in North America since they actually really care about he racing and you are in the middle of nowhere. The mine TT is pretty unique.

Wu, any advice for time trialling?

I went to two local bike shops today. One mainly sold Specialized bikes, and their starting point was a Dolce Compact ($820) and next was a Sectour (can't remember if Sport or Compact) for $1k. The other mainly sold Giant, and had the Defy entry level bikes ranging from $700-$900ish.

Then I'd still need to purchase pedals, shoes, a helmet, etc so that's another probably $150+. So....not cheap, esp for a first bike. Both do offer a free tune-up and 10% off all accessories. They were also really helpful, but def hard to swallow shelling out something nearing $1k for my first one.

I searched road bikes on craigslist (results here) and there don't seem to be a TON of options, though maybe with it getting warmer people will be more inclined to sell their bike while spring cleaning garage/upgrading to a better one for the season? I've never bought off craigslist tbh and am kinda skeptical about purchasing something that expensive when the area is completely new to me. If I were an avid rider with lots of experience, I'd almost surely go that route.

So I'm still undecided. Gonna thoroughly research all 3 options (new and cheap via bikesdirect, used and sorta cheap from CL, or new and expensive w/ employee help from a local store) this weekend.

Do you know what size you are?

The secteur is a fine bike and it's the first road bike I ever bought. I still do about half my miles on it. However, if I knew then what I know now, I would not have bought it.

I'd have bought something like my 2nd road bike, a tarmac pro, which I paid the same amount for (via a friend, however, there were similar bikes on ebay in my area, and probably on craigslist also)

I don't *really* regret having bought the secteur, but in retrospect it wasn't the ideal choice. But really, it's a perfectly fine bike.

As far as pedals go, I like the shimano SPD mountain bike pedals. They're pretty cheap, very durable, and VERY easy to get in and out of compared to most other things I've seen. They also make versions that are SPD on one side and platform on the other, for those times you don't have shoes on you.

Frustratingly no. First place I went to only had one sizing guy working at that moment but unfortunately 4 customers ahead of me. Gonna be in the area again tomorrow so going back and also checking out a new shop, so I fully expect to know size by tomorrow night.

Second place didn't offer actual measurements unless you bought this complete fitting package which was $150(!) or $100 if you bought a bike. It's this hugely involved process with various flexibility/ROM tests, questions, etc that takes like 2hrs. The employee said based on my height (similar to his), I'd be a "medium" though, which sorta helped but isn't exact...

What's your height? Measure your inseam when you get a chance. 33% off the fit if you buy the bike is a joke! every shop I've been to offers it for free with purchase.

So, what are people eating and drinking to sustain themselves while out on long rides?

I make my own "gels", basically just apple juice reduced by 1/2 to 2/3, maltodextrin, caffeine, cinnamon. I carry it in gel flasks. At the dilution I like, a 5oz flask is like 400 calories.

I also carry honey stinger waffles sometimes, and the honey stinger bars very occaisonally. I rarely use water with anything in it, but sometimes I will, I prefer either hammer heed for shorter hard rides or perpetuum for long ones.

I aim to replace about half the calories I burn on the bike while I'm riding, unless it's a very long ride. That means about 300 cal/hour of riding is enough, so I rarely take more than 1 flask + a waffle or 2 flasks. If I'm going to ride longer I'll stop somewhere and buy something.

Thanks, sounds better than the Gatorade gels I've been using while running and biking. So you estimate 600 calories an hour burned while biking? I was told that the online cycling calorie calculators grossly overestimate how many calories you burn

Try a bunch of different gels and find something you like. The ones I make are similar to hammer's apple cinnamon gels. Mostly I hate the texture of commercial gels (too thick) and they're expensive (the ones I make are, I don't even know. 10 cents/oz? I bought everything in bulk.

Most calculators are very terrible. I use a power meter, which continuously measures how much work you're doing (power = work per time). So it gives me a readout in kilojoules. 1 calorie is about 4kJ in a pure energy sense, but your body is only about 25% efficient in turning fuel into energy, so it takes about 1 food calorie to produce 1kJ of energy.

The minimum pace of my rides is about in the zone 2 heart rate. In that zone I'll usually average around 600 cal/hour. Very hard workouts are more like 900/hour.

I *think* strava does a reasonable job estimating calories if you use a heart rate monitor. A little high but not too bad. myfitnesspal over-estimates by like a factor of 2 in some cases.

And fwiw here's how I lost a bunch of weight this year:
1. I ate calories right at or a little below maintenance
2. for every bike ride I did, I didn't "count" some of the calories. I genereally would discount it by half, unless the workout was more than 1200 cal in which case I would just subtract 600. So if I did a 800 calorie ride, I'd log 400 calories. If I did a 1600 calorie ride, I'd log 1000 calories.
3. I rode 5-6 days/week

This actually let me eat MORE than normal and lose weight. If you can stand to eat a bit less, you lose more weight. I ate a lot of protein (1g/lb of lean body mass) and ate whatever I wanted for the rest. From august to now I dropped about 25lb - I'm now 165 at 6'0"

Are you happy at 6' 165? I'm 5 11 and fluctuate between 154-157. I'd like to be 147-150

Yes and no. It's the lightest I've been since... I was 18 probably? 8 years ago I weighed 255 so yeah, I'm pretty ****ing happy about that.

But am I at my minimum weight? Probably not. At the very least, I need lower body fat, whether I can accomplish that by less weight over all or more lean body mass.

I probably won't try to go lower than 160 this season. It's hard to work hard on the bike and not eat to recover. It catches up to you and you crash hard. It's easier to lose weight in the base miles phase - I have no problem with going on a 40 or 50 mile ride at low intensity and not eating much of anything.

solid ride today:


first time this year i rode all out for this specific route and weeeeeeeee, all new PRs compared to last year. no big surprise (i'm already in a much better form than ever before), but still nice to see. on average, i'm around ~15% faster than my old PRs from last fall, so a massive improvement. long live the beginner gains

Yeah riding is way more fun when you're getting PRs every time. It's always disappointing to think "**** yeah I nailed that segment" and then get home and it's like your 3rd best time or something.

There's this segment on my way home I was trying to get KOM on for a while. I got close a few times but was mistaken as to where it started/stopped exactly. Then after a few tries I nailed it, I was so happy.

The very next day the guy I took it from rides out there and takes it back - beating my time by about 15 seconds (on a 9 minute segment). Gonna be hard to re-take it. So I said, screw that, and found one of his other koms that would be easier and stole that instead.

Some questions for you guys that know better:

1. How much would I regret going with a hybrid bike if I just want something for 1-2x a week for casual fitness/cruising around? I was considering the Trek FX, cannondale quick, and similar series.

2. I'm 5'9 with a 30" inseam or so, and am sort of between sizes. Is it better to go with a slightly smaller frame (17.5") or a slightly big frame for me (19-20")? I can just barely clear the standover on the 19/20" bikes, but they feel fine once I'm moving. The 17.5 doesn't feel too bad either, but obviously feels smaller and more like I'm on top of the bike.

I haven't ridden a bike since I was a kid, but am looking for something to use locally as a way to get into better shape and spend more time outdoors. I live in ATL and wouldn't ever have the motivation to take a trip out of the city just to ride so rough terrain won't be an issue. I don't think I will feel particularly safe riding down actual roads so will probably stay on side streets as much as possible to reach local parks/trails.

Should I look into a hybrid or just go straight road bike? What price point should I be looking at? Best to just get fit at a shop and let them make suggestions or would I end up getting upsold a lot? I know nothing about biking if that isn't obvious.

For my "long" weekend rides (50-60 miles), I have a banana and a non-Power Bar bar. Sometimes a Hammer Gel. (I can only take the berry flavor, others make me nauseous. Same with 10+ mile runs.)

Road bikes aren't really for "recreational" (i.e. cruising around for fun) riding imo. I have a few old mountain bikes and a Giant Cypress for when I go to the beach and ride more than drive/walk.

Sizewise, I like to be able to reach the ground comfortably with my feet (which is largely seat height, not frame height, but...). I tend to go with slightly undersized frames. I couldn't imagine being your size and riding a 19" frame; I'm 5'11" with a 32" inseam and I ride an 18" mtb, 54" road. Really, it's just what's comfortable.

You should get a hybrid. You say you'll never want to ride offroad, but you may want to try some light mountain biking for fun some weekend, so why not be prepared? It's not like you need a serious road bike to go down the Beltline. I got my bike from Atlanta Cycling, and they were great. I think I spent around $500 for a Trek hybrid.

perfect. I will check that place out. I would primarily be riding on the Beltline, in Piedmont Park, or around Midtown or the Highlands so that's reasonable.

You're probably sitting way to low. Your leg should be almost fully extended with your foot firm on a downward pedal and sitting centered. Your way may be more comfortable if you have to stop alot, but if you ride for more than a few minutes, you will feel the difference in power transmission.