Mega Bike!!!

I saved and saved and saved for the duration of my injury, and two weeks ago I finally got to drain my account. In the name of death, dismemberment and triathlons...I got a road bike.


My sweet new ride!

I rode a couple of Felts and a Jamis, looked at a Cannondale and ended up going with a 2009 Felt F75. It was a little above my budget, but after riding the two bikes I came into the store with the intention of choosing between, I realized this one was the winner. Aluminum frame with carbon forks, steer tube and seat post, Shimano 105 deraileurs and levers and a Shimano 600 crank. I had no idea what all of these things were until a month ago when a bike nerd friend started helping me research bikes. I had no idea what all of these things REALLY meant until I rode a few bikes and noticed the differences between this bike, and the lesser models. I wanted THIS bike, and going a few extra bones above my budget was worth it for the jump in quality. We (me and Lou the bike shop guy) decided that if I went with one of lesser bikes in my price range, I'd spend the extra money upgrading components, and then still want to upgrade the frame down the road. This bike...maybe we'll upgrade the wheels and rims down the road and try adding some aerobars when I start racing long distances. Apart from that, this ride is everything I need.

Well, apart from THAT, and the ridiculous seat. I mean, seriously. LOOK at it. Its about the size of a burrito, and as hard as a plank of wood. I realize that I need to have some degree of hardness for racing and a squishy saddle will slow me down and hurt me in the long run, but there HAS to be something with a little more padding that can actually support my whole butt and not just one ass cheek at a time. I got the cushiest pair of bike shorts I could find and a whole tub of chamois butter, and I'm still afraid of sitting on that thing for longer than about 20 minutes. I'm going to try out a few saddles; the Terry Falcon X is up first, and the Specialized Ruby is on deck just in case the Terry can't deliver. Both are a bit wider, so hopefully having some actual support under my lady spaced sitz bones will allow me to ride longer than a few miles without crying.

Banana Seat!

I've been riding with platform pedals and cages, but it really just freaks me out. I can't tighten them enough to make them useful AND be able to pull out quickly, so I'm gonna make the shift to clipless next week. I predict some skinned knees and bruises in my future. I am fully prepared to eat it at the most embarassing and nonsensical moments. It will not be smooth sailing those first couple of tries, but that's ok...because seriously, check out how my new cycling shoes match my bike!!!!!!


You see that lady sport designers? You see that you can make a lady product without making it PINK?!!!

So to track my rides like I track my runs, I'm adding my Garmin Forerunner to the mix. Clip the face to the handlebars, a cadence sensor at the rear wheel, strap on my heart rate monitor, and I can train like the cool tri kids do. The Garmin mounts like this:


Garmin on the left, Light on the right.

The cadence sensor mounts like this:


The Black Box

And with that, I can measure my heart rate, speed, cadence and distance. That's right ya'll...its MEGA BIKE!