New Season, New Ride!

So much to catch up on. This blog was in the queue, waiting for the race report to get posted first!

I almost forgot to mention the best part of coming back home this weekend. Arriving to find this:

So awesome! I have the best family. Also, while I was away I got a call about MY BIKE!!!!!!

My bike. I have been talking about getting a new bike for a couple of years now. ‘The Shuttle’ as  my ride is nicknamed has had a good run. As a side note, it is called the shuttle because it is a high tech piece of equipment but I am constantly strapping things on there with ducktape. As someone said to me yesterday “When I met you two years ago, your bar tape was really messed up on one side and you still haven’t fixed it.”

It has been a good bike. Much better than my first bike, which was a used road bike from Play It Again Sports made for a 6’ tall man. Also better than my second bike, also built for someone much taller.  All three have been great DEALS which was the main decision factor. SO, in summary, it is Still a very good bike.  However, truth is I have never felt completely comfortable on it despite the help of several local fitting experts. It was time for a change and I just needed to save up gift credits from several holidays to make it happen!

I have been told that I would be perfectly suited to several different bikes by several different people but one thing that was very important to me for this time is that the process be completely objective. I enlisted the help of Matt from Podium, my favorite multisports store to give me an objective opinion. He gave me something that I wouldn’t even describe as just a ‘fitting’ because it went way beyond that. I  know my body is jacked up and uneven in certain ways but he was able to tell me exactly how certain things were off and quantify it with some tests. Thanks, Matt!

Next, I had a really comprehensive evaluation to help me figure out exactly what bikes I was suited for.  At the end of the process I was given a list that included mostly bikes not sold at Podium. To me, this is huge for credibility. I was happy to see that on the list was one of the bikes I had been most attracted to, the Trek Speed Concept. When it first came out, I kind of felt like the technology was beyond me, but after giving it a test ride (or two) at my fave BIKE shop, Atlanta Cycling, it was already the bike I wanted. After I was satisfied that it was also the one that would work BEST, it was on to the shopping at Atlanta Cycling.

Atlanta Cycling is hands down my favorite bike shop in town and I knew they would help me figure out how best to get the perfect SC and pronto! Mike, their awesome resident fitter, helped me figure out exactly what features I wanted and all the guys there weighed in on different color combos and component options. HUGE thanks to Atlanta Cycling!

Here it is!

Terrible pic, I still don’t actually  have it in my possession! 

And now it is here! I will be getting the final fit details figured out in the next couple of days then it’s on to the maiden voyage.