After last season I wanted a new race bike, or a bike just for training and racing. George was great, but to commute and race on the same bike just seemed odd and too much wear and tear on the same bike. So last winter, or the one we’re still suffering through!?!? that’s a whole other story, I decided I wanted the best bike money could buy. Or at least my money, after the new furnace, new tires, new windows, new plants and trees. OK you get the picture, there was a list in front of it, but around early December I pick a 4.2 Madone and ordered from Gregg’s Cycle.
Hurray!!! Not so quick, it was going to be May 10th for the delivery date, ouch! But I figured I wouldn’t start bike training until March 1st and would only really be without for about 5-6 weeks. So it didn’t seem that big a deal. Three weeks later I got a call saying that it would be arriving in about a week. Holy fu’shizzal!!! Batman!!! So I pick up the
Madone, made a bike fit appointment for the following Monday and hung it in the basement for three weeks before I rode it on the Mag loop and then two days later for the Chilly Hilly.At the first bike fit I explained how I would be buying new shoes and clips in a few weeks, so before I could finish the next sentence I was at the service desk rescheduling the bike fit until I got new stuff. SO two weeks past and the bike, which was briefly named Popo, hung in the basement. At the next bike fit we got about 15 minutes in and Matt the bike fit guy says ‘ go ahead and put your street clothes back on’ nothing good ever came from someone saying that. So he says more or less that the bike is too big and will never fit me the way it should, bummer!?!
So I jump on a Specialized ‘Roubaix ’ really sweet bike, but it was a compact and I’d never ridden a compact, only two chain rings instead of three. Also, I was
dressed for indoor riding and it was 38 degree’s outside and I’m in a tank top with a long sleeve wick jersey from the last Seattle Half Marathon I ran a few years back, no gloves and 3/4 run tights on. BURR! I couldn’t feel my hands or feet 
and I could talk when I got back from the ‘test ride’, but I said ‘sure why not’ and scheduled another bike fit. With the new Roubaix I went on a bike ride with Eileen and put a good 30 mile ride in on the day before the bike fit. At the bike fit, the third one at this point, after about 30 minutes of adjusting and switching out parts, it was decided that yet again, yes , again, the bike was too big.At this point I figured whatever, in a month or two this will all be over and I’ll have a new bike. So I ordered a Specialized ‘Tarmac’, carbon frame, fork and seat, two sizes smaller than before with a compact, but it would take two weeks to arrive. The weeks went by quickly and I got the call that the bike had arrived and I just didn’t feel happy about it at all. I wasn’t excited or dying to run and jump on it for a ride. I took it home and went on a 20 mile ride about two days later and it felt OK, but not amazing. Before I went and picked up the Tarmac I stopped by Speedy Reedy, a local Tri store and tried out a Time Trial Cervelo that was roughly the same price as what I had invested already.
At the bike fit, if your still counting at home that’s the fourth one now, I just wanted to get through i biggest one coming from putting a smaller stem on the handle bars. t and hopefully finally leave with the same bike. After some adjustments, theThe difference was unbelievable, from always rolling my shoulders over to having them rest underneath was a huge step forward.
Matt the bike fit Guy said ' that was what I was looking for, you should feel like you're pushing a shopping cart, not driving into a pool'. A day after I went out for a long ride and it’s odd how you don’t realize how awkward something is until you ride something that’s fitted just for you.So, it
took about 3 months, but I finally got a new race bike that totally rocks and feels like a race bike. I only take him out on weekends for long rides and it’s funny getting back on George during the week because it feels like George is so tall and high up. And standing next to the new bike he is about 2-2.5 inches taller and 6 pounds heavier. All in all it was well worth it.
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