I bought the road bike when I’d had the hybrid not quite one year. How I love that bicycle! I did one road-bike century on my own, and I wish I could do some organized centuries.

What I have is a so-called “endurance” bike. It has a more relaxed frame geometry than a bicycle for racing or time-trialing would; and is meant for long-distance, recreational-style riding. Even so, at first the road bike seemed very unstable. It’s  much lighter than the hybrid; and the tires are narrower. It took quite some time for my body get used to it.

With the road bike I can ride on the drops when I have a headwind; an option that I don’t have with the hybrid. In fact, the road bike has spoiled me for the hybrid, just as the hybrid spoiled me for the tricycle! Speaking of riding on the drops, approach your first efforts with caution. The first time I tried it, I put one hand down on the drop — and nearly went veering out of control, because I put too much weight on it.

“Scottie” has a compact crankset, and a 10-cog cassette. I read somewhere that using a compact crankset is seen by some as a sign of being a newbie or a weakling. Baloney! A standard crankset (53/39, I believe it is) might be useful if I were racing and needed to sprint like mad. Until, and unless, it comes to that, I’ll stick with what I’ve got.

With the road bike, I participated in Tour de Cure several times, and did Bike MS once. The latter is a two-day ride, and the local version featured quite a few hills. Even though the route wasn’t so very far from home, the terrain was entirely different. That was quite a ride!

The drawbacks to the road bike: no fenders, so I get a wet stripe up my back in wet weather; and I can’t use it to carry loads.

This ends my “been there, done that” list of bicycles. But there’s a lot more out there! Maybe one of these days I’ll explore further — maybe, just maybe — tandeming?