Any advice for a rookie road biker?
 

I've been mountain biking for 15 years, but I never had any desire to get into road biking because it looked really boring to me. Over the last 5 years or so, most of my mountain biking buddies have slowly switched over to more of a road focus, but I have resisted. Well, I finally gave in and bought a road bike (nothing very special; just an aluminum frame with carbon fork and seat stays and 105 components throughout). Does anyone have any advice for someone who is completely new to the sport? I'm open for any recommendations that will help me maximize the efficiency of my training and my enjoyment. I'm not looking to race so much as use this as a fitness tool for my real loves which are backpacking and mountaineering; however, I'm certainly not against the idea of doing a big race like STP or LOTOJA one of these days/years.

What about equpment advice? For pedals, I went with the Speedplay Zeros because that's what a bunch of my friends use and I didn't know anything about other road pedals. On my mountain bike, I've been using eggbeaters for a few years and love them so I'm a little tempted to just set up my road bike with eggbeaters and then use my mountain shoes for both bikes. Would that be a bad idea? If so, why? I bought a pair of Sidis, but I could still take them back.

Thanks in advance.

My first bit of advice would be to post this in the cycling forum.


(I am starting to feel like I am channeling Indycoug; it's sort of fun)

I use speedplays and Sidis. So it is hard for me to think that you have done anything worng so far.

Thanks. I just joined this board so I hadn't even noticed there is a cycling forum.

It's the most awesomest forum on the board next to the Literae Humaniores. If you use those two fora, people will know you're really cool and with it.