Starting out fresh

[Cycle Drama]

Good day all,
I am an older biker (50yo) who needs some input.
A little about me:
I have been biking all my life. Started on the old Schwinn with the yellow banana seat and moved up to a Huffy 10 speed road bike through my young adult life. Remember those! I rode that WalMart Special about 20 miles a day from home to work and back throughout the summer in the 80's. When life got busy I went about a decade without riding. After had a major injury to my left ankle in '94 and my doctor suggested bike riding as an alternative to walking or running, so the next year I picked up a Trek 920 mountain bike and hit the roads. I did about 800+ miles on that bike for the next 5 years along with some power weight lifting. Since I am more of a power rider I had the dealer switch the crank set to a 53 tooth for more speed. In 2010 after my second hiatus from biking I picked up a Gary Fischer Tarpon Mountain bike and have been doing close to 500 miles each season. I also had a 53 tooth gear for the large ring on that bike. I am now down to 260 pounds (from a 280 pound max weight) and plan on loosing more as the years and biking experience grow. With the mountain bike set-up my average speed on a mix of trails and road is 10 to 12 MPH and my crank speed (cadence) is around 75-80. I usually do 15 mile road trips a few times during the week and 25 mile trail trips on both Sat and Sunday at least three weekends a month.

The dilemma:
My uncle has since asked me to join him in a 150 mile two day MS road ride and I plan to accept his offer this year. I will be purchasing a road bike and have it narrowed to a Trek Damone or a Bianchi Vertigo.
My questions:
The Road bikes come with 50 tooth crank set gear. With my slower cadence and the need to get my speed up to road rider standards should I change out the crankset for a 53 tooth right from the gates?
Should I go to my gym this winter and get my cadence up to 90+ to match the speeds I hear is average with most seasoned riders?

On a side note:
I was told by dealers that based on my average speed with a mountain bike, switching to a road bike will automatically increase my average speed to about 15 MPH.

Thanks,
John S

 

[smaryka]

50 tooth means a compact crank at the front I assume? That's a 34 tooth small ring and 50 tooth large ring. At your weight I would say keep this as it is. You can put an 11-25 cassette on the back and you'll likely not spin out the 50 on the front and 11 at the back anyway. But with the 34 and the 25 you should be able to get up most hills. If you need a bigger bailout gear, you can put on an 11-28 cassette.

Yes, learn to pedal with a higher cadence if you can. Your cadence will probably increase as you get fitter anyway, but it's worth teaching your legs to spin a bit more too.

A road bike with slick tires and a less upright position than a MTB will indeed push up your average speed, plus remember that when riding with other people, you can save ~30% of your effort by sitting in their draft. So once you get your road bike and the weather improves enough to get outdoors with it, see if you can find some people roughly your ability to ride with. It's much more enjoyable and you will come on a lot from having riding partners encouraging and motivating you.

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by Cycle Drama

The dilemma:
My uncle has since asked me to join him in a 150 mile two day MS road ride and I plan to accept his offer this year.

It is a casual ride not a race. 5 hours (each day) at 15mph. Plus 1+ hour of stops to eat. Enjoy yourself.

Your cadence is not bad. I usually average 80-85.

At your current cadence at 15mph you will be in a 50/20 or 50/21 (34/13 or 34/14). So you will have a nice selection of gears without making changes.

---

edited because I looked at the wrong column in my spread sheet.

 

[danfoz]

If the bike you are looking at comes with a compact I personally wouldn't worry about moving to a standard crank until I'd ridden around on the new rig a bit.

A cadence of 80 in a 50x21 is about 15mph.

A cadence of 80 in a 50x13 is about 25mph

If you got your cadence up to 90 in that 50x13, you'd be going about 27mph, roughly the average of a professional rider in a grand tour.

I grabbed these figures going to the first gearing/cadence/speed calculator I found on Yahoo: http://www.machars.net/bikecalc.htm

53T chainrings are great for hitting speeds of 50mph+ going down long hills. I ride at a slightly higher cadence and with a good tuck can reach 50mph+ on my compact. A 50mph crash on a bike is not pretty.

YMMV.

 

[Cycle Drama]

Thanks for the feed back. I didn't realize with the gearing of a road bike my speed would be as high as the chart shows. I saved your link for future reference.

A seasoned rider who is around 65yo and still does 3,000 miles a year recommended I get my cadence up to around 90. I seem to feel most comfortable with the 75-80 cadence and can do that for at least an hour and a half. Add to that with my current weight what it is, that seems like a lofty goal.....but one to work up to as my conditioning improves.

Thanks again,
John S

 

[RoadRover]

Hey there! It's awesome that you're getting into road biking! Don't worry too much about the technical stuff, just focus on enjoying the ride! It's great that you're already comfortable with a cadence of 75-80. Remember, everyone has their own rhythm, so go at a pace that feels good for you. Building up to a higher cadence is totally doable, just take it one pedal stroke at a time. You'll get there! Keep pedaling and having fun out there! ‍