Newbie Greg in Royal Oak

[whtebouy]

Hello everyone,
I have never competed, or trained for a triathlon. I have thought about it but always to lazy or put time towards something else. The last three years while in Nursing school I got pretty lazy and have been in horrible shape. Before school I trained in MMA and was in decent shape, and as of now the last month I have been running a lot, and lifting a little. i tend to put on muscle easy, but I dont want bulk anymore I want to drop weight and trim down.
I have always been able to run distance pretty well for how heavy I am. Swimming, I can do it, but I have never trained or anything and that goes the same for biking. I am running about 15-20miles a week, just did a six mile run this morning. I am interested in buying a bike, but I have no idea what type to get and how much to spend being that I am just starting out (holy crap I went on the Trek site, I didnt know a bike could cost that much...)
Hope to talk to some cool people on here and learn a lot, any help everyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Neuggs]

Hey Greg,

The "right" bike depends on a lot of factors including you goals, training location, and budget. For me, I have to earn expensive so my first tri bike was a $600 Giant road bike, which I enjoyed for years (but it wasn't really the best tri bike, even though it was vastly superior to a mountain bike).

This year I bought a Velo Vie triathlon bike. Nice ride, more than $600, the order/receive process wasn't good with VV (still, it's a sweet ride). Why the tri bike? Well..,

1. We have a small lake cottage near Coldwater where I can use it (tri bikes aren't really meant for city riding).

2. I'd been riding for years (back to the point about earning expensive)

3. I have a mountain bike for training near home (Clawson).

I was going to get a much less expensive tri bike from bikesdirect.com - worth a look depending on your budged and training location).

Hope that helps.

Frank.

[Damon]

Hi Greg. I think you'll really like triathlons. They're addicting. It definitely provides an opportunity to get in great shape without bulking up... and slim down if that's what you're after. In my opinion, selecting a bike comes down to a few factors:

1) what are you typically going to use it for? Road riding in groups, racing triathlons, trail riding, etc.

2) how much do you want to spend? You can spend up to $25k on a bike if you really want to... but you can get really good bikes for under $1k (especially if you go on ebay-- you just need to know what size frame you need first).

3) your dimensions. Different bike manufacturers make/measure frames in their own way. Some companies can fit a broad range of body types better than others. The best thing to do is get fitted and determine which brand may be best for you. This will also reduce your choices to something manageable!

Shopping for bikes is a lot of fun in my opinion... and getting that bike is the best. Have fun and come back with questions if they arise. Enjoy!

Damon