Originally Posted by insignia100

Hey guys! I've been on and off the forum for quite some time now, as my interest in cycling waxes and wanes. A bit of background: most of my cycling has been in the form of recumbent trikes (love my Catrike Expedition), and before moving to Knoxville, TN from Tucson, AZ, I was regularly riding 20+ miles on The Loop (which I miss dearly). A few months before moving I purchased a Giant Escape 3 hybrid and started riding it a bit in lieu of my trike. After we moved across the country the trikes and bike set for several months, and now that the weather is warming up I'm getting my pedaling legs back. Also, I've been working on getting healthier overall -- I've been going to the gym and working with a trainer since January, and have lost 60 lbs since February of last year (~308 in Feb 2018, down to 248 today).

One of the observations I've made is that trikes don't seem to use the medial quad (vastus medialis) muscle as much as bikes do. Last weekend I rode 15 miles on my trike, but I struggled to get 4 miles on my bike. This is improving, though, with my 7 mile ride today. My medial quads are definitely the limiting factor for me, not my lungs or my butt.

I'm wanting to get into road bikes for exercise benefits and the social aspect of group rides eventually. However, I won't buy one until I can actually justify the expense. My thoughts were setting a goal of being able to ride 20 miles with an average speed of 15 MPH before investing in a road bike, but I'm not sure how realistic that is for a cheap hybrid bike. Has anyone else had similar thoughts/goals? I'm also thinking that perhaps I should ignore the speed aspect, and just set a distance goal instead. I dunno! Either way, I'm constantly looking at road bikes to provide some inspiration...