how to road cycle on a mountain bike

You just do it.

I've had this bike for a number of years. There's a good story behind it. It was my brother's bike back in college. It was stolen, and he bought a new bike. Some months later, he biked to the local mall, and discovered his stolen bike there, locked up on the rack. The tag from registering it with his university proved it was his, so it was released to him. He gave it to me as a christmas present. Woot!

Anyway, this is the bike I've been cycling on since then; a lot more regularly in the last two years. It's heavy. And has huge heavy knobby tires. It is a Brute.

But it's what I've gotten used to. Luckily, the fork (the sproingy bit on the front wheel) is stuck in place, so I don't have to work about overcoming a soft & sproingy ride (no, I don't know cycling lingo; so shoot me). I can ride it in high winds, without actually falling off the road. I can ride it uphill and down and on the flattest, most strenuous flats. My calves are the size of tree trunks and I can ride harder and further than Able-Bodied Boy. I have mastered this bike.

So for the love of god, STOP ASKING HOW I COULD POSSIBLY RIDE THIS BIKE FOR ROAD CYCLING!  Ok, these questions are mostly asked light-heartedly by other riders in my cycling club. Riders that have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on very expensive, lightweight bikes riding on narrow, smooth tires. They tell me amusing stories about naive college girls trying to join their club with a hand-me-down bike from their brother and how they really want to ride with the big boys but they get left behind because they just can't handle the bike up hills.

Wonderful. That's not me. I have trained on the Brute. I keep up with ease.

Now, all that being said... I have fancy new narrow smooth road tires that I plan to put on later in the summer. I figure I'll do a bunch of training on these big ones before giving myself a break (according to, well, everyone) and put on tires that will apparently launch me to the moon or something.  My goal is to get up to the 50 mile mark (what I can handle for one day's ride, with small breaks; I'm currently at 20 miles) before switching out the tires. After that, 75 miles should be a breeeeeeeze, right??

And after I reach my goal of riding in Bike to the Bay, Able-Bodied Boy is gonna get me a big-girl road cycle :-D Yippeee!!!

Do you ever get questions about something people think can't be done, while you're doing it? If so, please tell me your amusing story about telling them to go shove...

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl