David Kerber wrote:

As I've posted here over the last two months or so, I got my new Fuji
Touring in early September. This past Saturday, I got my first long
(for me, anyway) ride on it, and was very impressed with it. I had
done plenty of rides up to about 22 miles before, but for this longer
ride I rode with another poster here in the NG's; I won't identify
him, but if he wants to chime in with additional comments, you'll
know.

My first _real_ bike was a Fuji, by today's standards heavy, but sturdy
and a good ride. I used to rip around town doing 13-15 miles each day,
before I really knew anything about cycling or proper kit. My first 25
mile ride was a painful experience.

The weather on Saturday was great: temps in the 50's, bright sun, and
a little more wind than I would have liked, but nothing horrible. I
have described all the stuff I have hanging on my bike in other posts,
so I won't repeat it here except to say that I was curious to see how
my homemade wheel covers would work out. I brought along a jacket,
but could tell within the first 1/2 mile that I wouldn't need it. I
was hoping that riding with a partner would help me to keep from
pushing too hard and burnng out early.

Sounds like you put a fair amount of thought into it, that's always a
good sign. :-) How many times have I felt like the "rudder-less child"
a long way from home and wondering if I'd ever see it again? Too many.
A moderate pace for a first long ride is a good idea. When I got my
new road bike in Sept. I did some long rides, 60-80 miles, but very
slowly, trying to convert a mountain biking physiology to road, it did
hurt the first few times, but got better. Now I do 40-60 miles, trying
to pick up the speed each time.

I left the house at 9:15 and rode the 8 miles or so to the starting
point (a Walmart)

They just let everyone congregate in their parking lots, don't they? ;-)

and got there a few minutes early, so I sat on a
bench in the sun; it was so nice that I was really tempted to just sit
there for the rest of the day. He pulled up in his truck with the
bike in the back and unloaded. After a few minutes we took off.

Sit too long and it gets harder to get started again. This effect
increases with age. ;-)

We did several miles on a couple of roads with wide shoulders (wide
enough to ride side-by-side and still leave room between us and the
travel lanes), with a side tour through the veterans cemetary, then a
short stretch on a narrower busier road with little shoulder room, but
which took us to the South County bike path. This path was extended
within the last two months to about 7 miles. At the end of the path,
a half-mile or so on a busy commercial road brought us back to
residential streets.

Next time out, practice taking turns at the front. You'll be surprised
how much easier the ride goes and how much faster or further you can go.

A stop for lunch, and then we took one of my regular routes along the
ocean, which was gorgeous riding: a good tail wind meant that with a
nice easy speed of 16+ mph, we were feeling basically no relative
wind. Of course, that only lasted until we turned around after
another short rest at the Pt. Judith light house. That wind wasn't
nearly so nice going the other way, but after a few miles we got back
into the trees which blocked most of it. Another mile or two of
exposed riding along the beach, a couple of side road explorations,
and I realized it was starting to get colder and dimmer, so I turned
on my tail light and let him lead so that cars coming up behind would
see us as we ran into and out of the shadows from the lowering sun. I
also had on my bright yellow jersey to help the visibility. At this
point, we were probably about 10 miles from the Walmart. We rode
together about half this distance, and then I turned around and turned
on my headlight to ride the five or six miles home because I didn't
fancy riding any longer at twilight than necessary. I pushed pretty
hard on the way home, staying on the aero bars for most of it, and
running over 18mph almost the whole way except for the one big hill.

Aerobars? Leave those home unless you're Tri or Time Trial training.
You should be able to ride comfortably and quickly in the bar drops.

I ended up pulling into my driveway at 4:16, (which is just a few
minutes before sunset this time of year), having covered 61.45 miles
on my computer in almost exactly 7 hours. The computer said the
moving time was about 4:45 (didn't record it), with a moving average
of about 12.9 mph. This was nearly three times my previous longest
ride on this bike, and also the longest I've ever done. When I was a
kid my Boy Scout troop did a 50 miler once, which was my previous
long.

Keep doing them and when spring/summer roll around you'll be able to
cover more ground and do some excellent touring.

I survived it much better than I expected. As expected, my butt was a
little sore, but nothing serious, and my legs and arms were tired but
again nothing serious. I could have easily gone longer if I had
enough daylight. The next day my shoulders were just a little sore
and my legs a little tired; it just felt like I had done a good whole-
body workout the previous day (which is exactly what it was, I guess).

As for the lessons learned, I think I need to shorten my stem by 10 or
15 mm to reduce the weight on my hands a little, but other than that
it felt really good. I was pleasantly surprised how well my
Specialized Body Geometry seat worked as long as I made sure I was
well back on it. If I let myself slide forward too much it was
causing a little numbness. I had previously noticed that I tend to
slide forward when pushing hard on training rides, occasionally
causing some numbness. And based on how my legs feel, I don't think I
want to move the seat any further forward. I was glad I had long
sleeves on, but didn't really need as much insulation on my torso as
I had. I also think leg warmers are in order when the temps are in
the mid-50's and below, so I'll have to look into that as well.

Knee warmers at the least. It's surprising how fast I find myself
chilled to the bone on 65 degree days when I drop into a long descent in
the shade. They're light and can be kept in a jersey pocket.

Do a few more rides, try to pick up your pace and then think again about
what adjustments you'd like to make. Some of what you're feeling is
just getting used to riding the bike. I figured a months riding, 3-4
times a week, was sufficient to get a clear picture of what changes I
need to make (mostly the shoe/cleat department, fortunately a local pro
is selling me a couple pairs of very good shoes :-)

The ride was great, and now I can't wait for next summer when I hope
to join some of the local group rides to rack up a few more miles in
warmer weather.

Thanks for listening!


You might start looking now for weekend tours, groups which do a long
ride over Sat/Sun and you catch train back home, etc. I live on the
west coast and there's a few of these every year. I hope to do the ride
from Big Sur to San Luis Obispo.