A Clyde On A Bike

I think I may like my idea of a road bike better than I like my reality of a road bike.

I just went for a short ride on my Schwinn that I fixed up last year.

It is only the second time I have ridden it. I definitely need a set of knee savers for it and that probably didn’t help things right off the bat. But I was having problems with just about everything.

I am not sure I can get comfortable with down tube shifters. I am all over the place when I need to shift. And I am not comfortable breaking from the hoods or riding in the drops. And, the bars feel very cramped (narrow) especially on the top. And, oddly, even though the bike is actually a little big for me, I feel cramped on it.

And, I felt the whole way like if I was in the road instead of on the bike path, I would dump if even the slightest challenging situation arose. Need to downshift fast…not gonna happen. Need to brake fast…not gonna happen. Need to steer fast…oh that’s gonna happen! But I will probably flip the thing in the process.

Maybe I need to give it some time (absolutely on the bike path). Or maybe I need to lose some weight first. Or maybe the setup or geometry of the bike is just not right for me. Or maybe I just need a flat bar road bike if I want to go that way. Or maybe I am just an old fart who needs to stick with a slower MTB.

I do enjoy the little boost in speed and easier rolling effort which were both quite noticeable. But, man I am uncomfortable and unstable on it!