It's a bike!

I’m proud to announce the newest addition to my bike collection (seems like that’s what it is, at least)…my shiny new tri bike!!! I picked it up this afternoon after work, and I’m psyched!! It weighs in at a petite 18.45 lb without pedals (I don't want to know how much my Giant weighs, but I know for sure it's well over 20 lb) and, as Erin put it when she saw it, it’s “cute” (it’s an extra-small frame, but hey—that’s where the measurements netted out). As it’s a Litespeed Tachyon, it’s possible I’m going to refer to it as “Tack”, but who knows…

Sue, Michele and Erin (and Chris from the Bike Shop) all witnessed my first time on my Tachyon—Erin is bike shopping as well and spent some time talking with Chris about tri bikes as her focus thus far (and what she will likely end up with) has been on road bikes. Not sure if the visit was helpful or more confusing for her…but as with my trip to buy my bike, Sue and Michele were along for moral support. I actually wasn’t expecting to get to the store early enough to meet up with them (they all took the afternoon off, but I had a meeting in Schaumburg I had to hit first), but I’m glad it worked out the way it did—nothing like having three of your friends staring/laughing at you while you’re trying to get used to crazy things like aerobars.

Chris made a few minor adjustments (Tack was built to my measurements from the bike fit Chris did before Thanksgiving)—mainly just tweaked the seat height a little. It felt awesome—more comfortable than my Giant, and we’ll see if that translates into more efficiency and/or speed tomorrow on my long training ride. I added a new bike computer (w/ cadence), but I’m still working on the race wheel situation—in the meantime, I’m set with my training wheels (and yes, it still makes me laugh that I have to call them my training wheels).

As soon as I got home (after a couple celebratory beers w/ Sue and Michele—Erin had to run a work errand, and sadly couldn’t’ join us), I put Tack on my trainer (actually while I was talking with Vardo) and climbed on just long enough to convince myself that it works equally well in my house. Test #1 will be tomorrow morning on the 2:15 ride—can’t wait to try it out!!

As for the pictures, here’s the drill…

1. Tack on the trainer in my entryway—the latest in fine home décor.
2. Look at the shiny new gears and chain!!! It’ll never look like that again…
3. A closer look at the frame and, of course, the decals.
4. My view from the saddle…and what I’ll be looking at a lot in the next few months.