Up until February of this year, my best month (highest mileage) was last September at 386 miles. Not coincidentally, I bought my first road bike on September 1st. Last August was second best at 348 miles. Prior to last June, when I bought my first real mountain bike and started riding, I would peg my highest mileage month at about 80 miles so the addition of cycling in all forms was a really big deal in my fitness life – and my overall enjoyment of life altogether. I managed to spin in my office through the winter so when March rolled around, I hit the ground with my wheels turning to the tune of 410 miles. This month will be another record for me – I’ve already got 310 miles in and I’ve got my first 100k on the 29th… By my best guess I should be able to (conservatively – depending on the weather) fit in another 130 miles in on top of that for a 500 mile month.
Worth its fitness weight in gold
This all added up to something special for me this morning – I just realized that I can no longer see my knees when I look down at my toes – and it’s not because I’ve got a dickiedo… I can’t see my knees because my legs are so fantastically well bulked up, the bulging muscles hide my knees from my line of sight. This is all kinds of awesome when I look back to my knock-kneed childhood, then through my short (but ugly) chunky period.
What’s a dickiedo?
My gut sticks out farther than my…
Fit Recovery 
That looks like a carbon frame (no welds)? If so, how do you like that?
I think road bikes are the most fun kind, by far. Of course, I’m biased by a lot of things. But they’re fun, nimble, agile, and they leap forward when you press down on the pedal … they’re so responsive they could be part of your body. So, it’s natural that getting a road bike would be sort of like a gateway drug, to the world of fun. It’s also true that they’re much easier, in a way, so that one road mile amounts to a few mountain bike miles…
It is a full carbon frame, and having switched from an all aluminum (chro-mo fork), I can tell you the carbon frames are fantastic. Riding on rough pavement on the aluminum bike was insufferable. Every little bump made pedaling harder – the carbon frame dampens that so it’s much faster on uneven pavement. I’d say that I picked up at least 2 mph over the aluminum frame on rouher roads. Riding on smooth pavement is like riding on glass. Of course, the aluminum frame is a lot stiffer so the power to pedal transfer is better, but overall I’m still faster on the carbon.
I also went from down tube shifters to brifters (integrated brake/shift levers) and that upgrade almost made me weepy it’s so much better.
Hope that covers everything – thanks for stopping by and commenting.
It’s funny you should say that, about power transfer, because my experience has been exactly the opposite. I’ve got two road bikes: one with aluminum frame, and a second in carbon. Both are Cervelos, a Soloist, and an R3. When I press down on the pedal, the carbon bike leaps forward, like a bat out of hell; the same pressure on the pedal of the alu bike will move it forward, but without as much get up and go. The alu frame is most definitely a more harsh ride … but I’m convinced that there’s more to the speed and stiffness business than most people let on. (Saint Sheldon argued that they’re unrelated, but I think his reasoning was a bit over-simplified.)
But I agree 200 % about the road buzz. FYI, photographers prefer carbon fiber tripods to metal ones, and not just because they’re easier to carry, but because they give sharper photos. Put a 300 mm lens on a CF ‘pod, and you can actually see the difference in vibration dampening. 😀
My aluminum bike is a Cannondale Criterium frame – they’re notoriously stiff frames, and I could definitely accelerate faster on that one but, like I said, it was some serious work to keep the momentum up on anything but the smoothest blacktop. Now we must also take into account that I’m a noob at this, generally speaking I know just about enough to be trouble.
That said, enjoy that Cervelo – they’re beautiful bikes.