New Beginnings
 

So the last 8 plus years I was riding an old Trek 1200. I bought it used from LBS. It was never comfortable and I attributed the uncomfortableness to my back.
The Trek and I never had a good relationship. I never wanted to upgrade to a better bike because I thought it was me and biking that were not a good match.
I could not understand how people could be on a bike for more then an hour. I biked to try and stay healthy but it hurt my back.

Finally I had enough and bought this Surly Pacer that had been sitting all alone in the bike shop. I really had serious doubts that it would be much different but something had to change.
My first ride about a month or so ago was all the difference in the world. It felt great !
I started biking every day{16.5 miles** and that really wasn't challenging enough. So I added a second ride of the day with my wife doing the same route. I felt like a new man.The early ride is for me and the second ride is with her. Last week I hit 199.5 miles and this week 197.5. Yesterday I did a Century metric 64.5 mile ride on Virginia's Eastern Shore and learned a ton about riding in groups versus solo riding.
I'm thrilled to be back in love with biking.
Thanks !!

I used to love biking when I was younger and that love has returned at 58 years of age.

Cool :thumb: now you are addicted to cycling.

Nice. Keep on having fun.

Excellent news! :thumb:

I'm curious. Did you discover what differences between the Trek and the Surly may have contributed to your more comfortable riding on the Surly?

It would be interesting to know what differences are between the two bikes and which of those you feel contributed to your better experience.

Gearing? Frame size? Reach?

Googling the two bikes quickly, they look about the same geometry. But I didn't look closely enough to tell if I was even looking at the correct bikes.

Congratulations! Here's wishing you many happy miles.

The Surly is a much more comfortable ride. It doesn't feel as if i take the 'impact" of the road nearly as much as the Trek.

The Pacer's longer wheelbase and (likely) wider tires = more comfort. If the fit of the Surly has you sitting more upright, that's another contributing factor.

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...icle-section-1 The Park tool company makes available to us a road positioning chart. If you carefully measure everything the chart asks for, you will have a record of your bike geometry and be able to judge whether any future bike will be a good fit.

The Pacer's fit and comfort was noticeable right away.
That Park tool is pretty wild. I can see how helpful it would be.