My shiny new tri bike!!!

Yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought my bike--well, I guess I ordered it and paid for it, but I won't get it until they build it (probably 1-2 weeks). Still, I'm pretty psyched--I think I now have all the major gear lined up and ready to go...maybe I'm actually a triathlete after all.

After long deliberation and several late nights reading through the forums at slowtwitch.com, I ended up going with a Litespeed Tachyon frameset and ended the carbon vs. titanium debate in my mind by commiting to titanium. The Tachyon (named after a sub-atomic particle, incidentally) is Litespeed's low-end tri bike, but it's still a pretty sweet ride. I worked with Chris at the Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn to get the components figured out--I had some stuff nailed down, but he kept throwing questions at me on other stuff--sort of an overwhelming experience. Thankfully, I had conned Sue and Michele into coming down for the afternoon and being my moral support while I plunked down my credit card--their input was also much appreciated on things I wasn't sure on (wheelsets, for example).

Not that anyone else will care, but I went with Ultegra components across the board (10-speed 12-23 gearing with a compact crank to give me some extra flexibilty on the IM WI hills), bar-end shifters, Vision aerobars and bullhorn, standard Litespeed fork, Thompson seat stem, Shimano wheels for training (Chris kept calling them training wheels, which just makes me laugh and think about the training wheels I have when I was first learning how to ride a bike), and Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels for racing. Race wheels weren't in my original plan a few months ago, but they've sort of crept in there over the past month or so. I was torn between the Zipp 303 wheelset and the Mavic set I ended up with--at the end of the day, cost was the driving factor, and I can always upgrade to Zipps at some point down the road if I ever get fast enough where it will make a difference. I also let both Sue and Chris talk me into tubular wheels for my race set--which means I now have to learn how to change tubular tires in addition to knowing how to change clinchers (which will be on my training wheels).

I can't wait to get my bike--the worst part is going to be waiting to ride it until the weather gets a little better. It'll be a big adjustment to get used to riding in the aero position and to using the bar-end shifters, but I'm up to the task. And, one day later, I don't have too much buyer's remorse...and whatever remains will no doubt go flying out the window when I ride my bike for the first time. So, thanks to Sue and Michele for helping me spend my money (and for the much-needed Starbucks run after), and to Chris and the rest of the folks at the Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn for being awesome to work with and for building my dream bike!!! Bring it on!!!!!!