Conversion to road bike



GinaNY

New Member
Aug 28, 2007
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Hey folks. When I started riding a few months ago, I bought a hybrid, as I hadn't ridden in years and figured it would be the best thing for our extensive rail trails here. Well - it is very nice for the rail trails and for riding with the kids, but it took me about 10 miles to start wishing I had a road bike. Anyway...

I have been averaging about 14 miles an hour over 20 miles on the trails but will be getting my NEW ROAD BIKE:D this Friday. If I'm doing 14-15 miles per hour over gravel and through mud etc. what would you expect I can do on the road?

And - since the trails are pretty darn flat, I'll be slower over the hills until I get some power going, I assume. However, on the other hand, I'll be in clipless pedals...

I guess I'll find out soon enough. I'm so excited!!
 
this is all what i would think, cause its a hard question to answer and i havnt read anything really about it...

if your averaging 14mph on that kind of terrain for 20 miles, i'd figure you would do about 16-18mph with a road bike on a moderatly flat road. im pretty sure the faster you go, air resistance increases exponentially so thats why its not gonna be a huge increase. though 4mph is a decent gain in speed.

best advice i can give is dont go out with your road bike and stair at your spedometer trying to go a certain speed the whole time. i actually like to ride without a cyclocomputer a lot of the time cause i dont feel as bad if im not going as fast as i think i should be. like if im going uphill with a headwind ill feel like i need to go faster since it says im only going 12mph, which ill end up killing myself up that hill and ruin the next part of the ride.

so i usually just ride with a hrm so i know how hard im working, and i know how far im going cus i clocked it in the car so when i get back ill see what my average speed was.