I'm lookin for a bit of know-how form those in the know... I've had my bike for about 2.5 years now, bought on C2W and used prob 2 days a week average over that time, though I have been commuting almost every day since the start of this year. It's a Trek 'sport hybrid' (their words, not mine) which used to look like this but is now wearing flat bars (and no muddies when it's dry) so it's like a heavy flat-bar road bike, weighing in at about 13kg's.
Since the start of this year, I've started to see cycling as a leisure activity rather than just a week-day mode of transport and I can't wait for weekends so that I can get out and go further, the only limiting factor being family duties, we've got a 6 month old daughter and it's not fair if I sod off every weekend for hours on end.
So I've started doing 20+ mile rides, basically something I can do in an hour and a half to 2 hours so as not to piss off SWMBO too much and also to get as much time with the bab as poss.
Since going for longer distances I've started to realise how much I like riding and I now want a road bike (entry level £5-600ish), this is something I want to buy when I've lost more weigh (20 down to 17.5 at the moment) and when I'm fitter.
I normally average about 15mph, sometimes higher on flatter rides. A typical hilly ride being something like this I did this in an hour and a half today at 14mph, there's some big (to me) hills on this ride.
My question is really what the differences will there be between the bike I have now and a road bike. How much quicker will I go? Will it encourage me to go further? I'd like to build up eventually to doing the fabled 100-milers though the more I ride, the more achievable this seems.
Also, am I doing ok at the moment in terms of average speed etc. Would I be quicker with a road bike? Any advice on how to improve or what improvements I'll get when lighter and road-biked-up would be welcome.
Since the start of this year, I've started to see cycling as a leisure activity rather than just a week-day mode of transport and I can't wait for weekends so that I can get out and go further, the only limiting factor being family duties, we've got a 6 month old daughter and it's not fair if I sod off every weekend for hours on end.
So I've started doing 20+ mile rides, basically something I can do in an hour and a half to 2 hours so as not to piss off SWMBO too much and also to get as much time with the bab as poss.
Since going for longer distances I've started to realise how much I like riding and I now want a road bike (entry level £5-600ish), this is something I want to buy when I've lost more weigh (20 down to 17.5 at the moment) and when I'm fitter.
I normally average about 15mph, sometimes higher on flatter rides. A typical hilly ride being something like this I did this in an hour and a half today at 14mph, there's some big (to me) hills on this ride.
My question is really what the differences will there be between the bike I have now and a road bike. How much quicker will I go? Will it encourage me to go further? I'd like to build up eventually to doing the fabled 100-milers though the more I ride, the more achievable this seems.
Also, am I doing ok at the moment in terms of average speed etc. Would I be quicker with a road bike? Any advice on how to improve or what improvements I'll get when lighter and road-biked-up would be welcome.
