Monday, March 1, 2010

Oh carbon, where have you been all my life?!?

Ah, such a good weekend. A few complications, but so much more good.

After a long drive down Thursday night with a poor little 4 month old baby Aubrey that just wanted to get out of that blasted carseat, Ryan, Anna, and Aubrey (I swam with Anna in age group and high school) and I made it about 10pm. Cleaned up the bike a little and visited with the couple I stayed with, Aliese and Darin.
Thanks guys!

Woke up Friday morning about 8am (yes!) and started getting ready for the long ride. I didn't realize my new frame doesn't fit on the bike rack the same, so some of adjusting had to be done to the brakes after the ride down. I tried to have Jameson from PowerTri talk me through it, but yeah, that didn't work so well. It's a new bike we're all a little unfamiliar with and I'm not the best with adjustments like that. So since the brakes wouldn't release fully after applying them, I had to ride 6 miles into town and pay $34 for them to do it. Ouch! I really do want to learn good bike maintenance soon.

So anyway, sorry, all this set me back so I didn't get out on the course till almost noon - not good! I managed to squeeze in 70 miles though, so that's good. I was a little worried that I'd be sore from riding in a new fit, but it was great actually! After getting used to shifting in aero I absolutely love it. I feel so much more in control and confident! It is so so nice not having to come out of aero to shift, especially on a course like IMSG. Which by the way I am totally using a tri bike for. The discussion is out there as to whether to use a road bike or not, and I totally say tri bike. Yes there are probably 3 short climbs (1/4 - 3/4 mile long) where you're definitely standing and a granny gear would be great, but that's it.
Back to the ride. I was so pleased to see my average move up from 15.7mph on my old bike to 16.8 on a very windy return, on a new bike, during a ride I didn't push super hard. Very nice! I will definitely change up my gearing to make those couple climbs a little more doable, but I'm feeling really good on the bike. And as the title points out, carbon is so great!!!! The ride is so much smoother which helps me translate more power into the pedals. So very happy with it. I recommend at least trying a carbon seat post. I also got several "nice bike" comments which was so fun. I've certainly never heard that before :)

My ride after the race got rained out. It was actually sunny and warmer up north than in SG. I did manage 6 wet miles instead though, not the same, but something. Awww, life is good though. The massage my great friend Sylvia
who lives in St George (who is awesome! Please let me know if you'd like to get in touch with her for massage if you're in the area) gave me Friday night didn't hurt either :D

3 comments:

Megan said...

Sorry the weather wasn't cooperative, but I'm glad you still had an awesome weekend.

What I want to know is why you're being all modest and not sharing your race results? (Yes, nosy me looked them up.)

And could you at least pretend, for my sake, that cheapo crappy aluminum road bikes are every bit as good as fancy expensive carbon tri bikes? :)

Sarah Jarvis said...

So is the race report yet to come? Congrats on taking second. And you beat Caprice by 4 minutes. Holy moly. You are in amazing shape. She is a fast runner...
Sorry about the rain and sad I missed it but i am trying to make plans. I will let you know. But the very beginning of April is definitely not going to work unless you want to come over to Moab for training. Cause that's where I will be. Family Reunion but I am hoping to squeeze some nice training in as well.
Great job!

Leslie said...

Sheesh ladies, hold your horses! The race report is being typed as we speak. Of course you already know how I did, so....... It's all good, at least I know you're interested!
And Megan, I'm afraid I can't
say that "cheapo crappy aluminum road bikes are every bit as good as fancy expensive carbon tri bikes" because they're not. BUT obviously it got me through 10 years, so they're not horrible, they're just not as good as a carbon tri bike. In time my young triathlete, in time. And Sarah, you don't get excuses for your bike. It's aluminum yes, but it's a tri bike and you're just genetically mutant anyway :) Love you guys!