i have a 20 year old steel road bike, and not being funny, it doesnt get hard till your hitting 30 miles. thats with 20 mph average speed over hills ( i live by the pennines. the only killer road that gets me is a road called cragg vale. its 8 miles and all uphill, no flat, just hill, its the longest single assent in europe apparently and its a bitch, takes an hour to go 8 miles lol. and road bikes are fun when you can over take cars doing 30 mph on flat, thats very weird the first few times you do that. i love my road bike i just dont ride it cos its a shed and peopel i know may see me lol