Trek, Felt, Specialized, Cannondale - this was all gobble-de-goop to me a few weeks back. 

“So what bike you gonna buy”, asked Brian, the big, tall bald chap who has enthused me into buying a road bike.  “don’t know  - what do you reckon?”.

“Well if your gonna be a bear be a grizzly” - Brian’s usual response which means spend lots of money.  Or as he puts it, “buy the best you can afford”. So, spend lots of money.

So not knowing very much about cycling and road bikes but definitely looking to get into something that will help with the fitness, and therefore with my diving, as I approach middle age, I set about gathering information.

After some research and asking around I was set on Trek as a brand.  Lance Armstrong won the Tour De France on trek and my pal Brian has got one so they must be OK.  But what spec should I go for?

Without spending serious amounts of cash on a carbon bike I started looking at the specifications and in particular the group set.  Treks have Shimano group sets and derailleurs.  The bottom of the rung is the Sora, then working upwards it goes, Tiagra, 105 and then Ultegra.  As you go up, so does the cost but the good news is the weight comes down.

I wanted 105 or Ultegra.  So I looked at the Trek 1.7 and the equivalent Woman’s Specific Design (WSD) for my partner, which was the 2.1 WSD.

So we knew what we wanted and off we went to find them, sit on them and ask some questions.

However, it seems Trek are either very sort after or the stockists in the UK don’t stock enough (probably the later with the current economic climate) and I was going to have to wait 2 months to get my bike and my partner would not see hers until next year - now I was not going to wait that long. I was in the mood to get fit and get peddling, well at least the the nearest pub.

But one helpful shop in Alton, UK, suggested that we might not actually want out and out race bikes unless that was what we were going to use them for.  He then kindly pointed out that as I did not resemble a racing snake then I would be more comfortable on a similar spec bike but with a slightly more upright geometry.

Apparently with race bikes you site with arse in the air and shoulders down which puts a lot of stress on the wrists.  It is also not the most comfortable position for long periods of time.

As I wanted a good road bike for fitness, some longer rides to a country pub and something that looked good I was al ears when he suggested he had something just for me.

So now we are looking at a bike made by a company called “Felt”.  They do some top range road race bikes, some very nice mountain bikes but also a slightly more upright geometry road bike. I was impressed.  the spec was very similar to the Trek 1.7 but with a bit more carbon and the price was about the same.  And we could have them in a couple of days.

So we plunged, head first and bought two Z70 models from Felt and collected them today.  They look very nice in the hall way and I have plans to get out on them this weekend.

“A word of advice” said the helpful shop keeper (apearing again like Mr Ben), “practice using the clip-in shoes and pedals whilst still in your house.  Don’t wait until you are in traffic, come to the first set of traffic lights and then realise that you can’t get your foot out the pedal.  You’ll end up lying on the floor still with your feet in the pedals. It will make you look silly and also could be dangerous”.  Wise words from one that knows.

So, I’ll let you know how the cycling goes and as I learn more and gain more knowledge I hope to share this with you.

Anyone out there have some advice for a virgin cyclist?