Beginner...

[wesley bugg]

I am currently doing a 26mile ride from work and the following day a 26mile from work at least once a week for the last 5 weeks now with one day of doing the 52miles to and from etc.

The first and most important point is that i am really enjoying it but I have an old crap rusted mountain bike which is in dire need of replacing as the wheel is buckled and the back brake pad scrapes resulting in making the trips less enjoyable and my focus sometimes moves towards annoyance of this when some fella whizzes by on his lush road bike. The terrain is country roads and main roads and i would like to do the coast to coast next year and hopefully follow on from there.

Now i don't want to bore all the experienced people on here as i have seen this thread
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-advice-to-newbies.12623/
and i am sure there are many more like it that i will have a search after but if anyone could point me to a more recent thread with some solid advice on a quality road bike i should be looking into (beginner with the hope of moving up the ranks) and the budget i should be setting my bar at then it would be greatly appreciated.

My second point is getting better and faster...What, if any, other exercises can i do to help this? The obvious i have been trying is weighted squats but any other tricks and help would be great.

cheers,

wes

 

[procel]

Well done on keeping up such a long commute on an old heap.

For £300 ish Decathlon's triban 3 gets a lot of praise on here, or you could get a 2nd hand road bike that needs some work. £500 would get you a triban 5, a decent equivalent from Halfords (just get someone who knows what they're doing to check the setup) or a good 2nd hand from a name manufacturer. £7-800 will get you a new 'starter' level (not at all) from a name manufacturer and £1k+ will get something a bit special. If you want a new bike and can wait til after the summer then there'll be good savings on this years models from name manufacturers. Generally, get a good light frame and the best gearset you can afford - everything else is upgradable later relatively economically.

You'll still get passed by other people though. There's always someone faster.

Training: use Strava or similar and set stretching but achievable targets; or go riding with someone (join a club?) a little bit faster than you.

 

[MikeW-71]

^^ all that really.

I second waiting until after summer when 2013 model bikes will get discounted to clear them. My Giant Defy 2 is normally £800, but bought late in the year, I got it for £640. Excellent bike, I'd recommend it.

 

[biggs682]

my advice is go 2nd hand route as for £150 should buy a decent enough road bike that would be capable enough to provide an easier journey for you , especially if its been well looked after .

@wesley bugg you dont say where you are based , but if your local to me i might be able to find you a road bike you could try to see how you get on .