Cycling
I Got On A Road Bike.
So one of the reasons you haven’t seen Steve the Cyclist (hi, Steve!) much on this blog over the summer - despite the fact, er, summer is when most cycling takes place - is because he’s pouring all his time and energy into convincing me to buy a road bike. Somewhat regular readers of this blog are likely aware that I do spend a fair bit of time tooling around on a mountain bike - I own a low-end Trek hardtail - but that’s where my experience on two wheels stops.
Now, I’ve never historically been too attracted to the idea of cycling for a variety of reasons. I’m a little afraid of the cars, I can’t veer off into a field if I want to, most cyclists I know have fallen off and smashed their faces in at some point and frankly I find the tight pants and leg shaving somewhat odd. But I put all this aside Friday night and decided to get on a road bike. I figured there’s not much mountain biking in my new town, plenty of good places to cycle, and I’ve gained 10-15 pounds since my knee surgery a year and a half ago that I’ve never lost. Cycling, it seemed to me, would be a great way to shed that weight lickety split. So, on to a road bike I went.
We (Steve, a friend and I) pulled three bikes from the good folks at Duke’s Cycle in downtown Toronto for a road test. I don’t remember the name of the first one I tried (Steve, help me out here!) but it was a 54cm road bike with slightly larger tires for offroading. Despite the larger tires, the difference in speed was immediately apparent when compared to a mountain bike. A couple of pedals, and woosh! I was gone. It was far different from a mountain bike, which requires a fair bit of energy to get going at any considerable speed.
I then tried a more traditional road bike on a 56cm frame, which was too big. But still, I got the feel for the thinner wheels and even quicker speed. It was interesting to feel how fragile road bikes feel as well - like they could collapse underneath me with one bad move. Mountain bikes, on the other hand, feel extremely sturdy and solid.
At the end of the day I was pretty impressed. I’m thinking about picking one up next weekend, if the price is right. We’ll see. Steve will probably work me pretty hard until then!
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The first bike was a ‘cross bike. Some mid-level Specialized that I can’t remember the name of.
The 56cm frame was a Trek, a 1000 series entry level road bike.