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Posts tagged cannondale
So, the plan is…
Apr 19th
Weather permitting:
- To be on the bike every Tuesday and Thursday by 6:30am to ride Yarra Boulevard before work.
- To go for a ride every second Saturday when there’s no group training on.
- Continue to ride every Sunday.
- Every day do 2×10 jack knife and 2x increasing number of sit ups on the fit-ball to improve my core strength. Once I can do the jack knife sets without struggling, I will add push-ups to each one.
- Start going to cardio boxing again on Wednesday evenings.
Right now I feel fat and lazy, schlepping around the house doing little or no physical exercise. This must change. I have a gorgeous new bike that needs to be ridden. I am ill-disciplined but I have goals I want to achieve. I want to break 100km in a single ride. I want to be able to do the 120km social rides. I want to be able to do hill climbs without feeling like I’m going to die.
I lost two kilos when I had gastro two weeks ago. However, I ate barely anything for three days so that probably has something to do with my rapid weight lose. Of course, I’m eating again so I’ve put most of the weight back on. Sigh. I’m tired of doing the body test on the Wii and having minimal changes (the last two have been gains). I feel like I’m not achieving anything. I’m tired of seeing this disgusting gut poking out the front of my bike gear. You really can’t hide anything in lycra so all my flaws are out there for the world to see. Any wonder I don’t like looking in mirrors when I’m dressed for a ride.
Hence the plan.
I will find the discipline I once had. I will get out there and ride. I will work hard. I will try to eat less of the bad stuff and more of the good. Every day I will try to remind myself that I’ve already accomplished a lot. Going from a 36 inch waist to a 29 one isn’t something to be sneezed at. But most of all, simply enjoy the riding. It’s as close to flying we can get.
Mmmm… shiny
Mar 28th
Ta-dah!!
Yeah, a white seat. It’s actually pretty comfortable but I don’t know how long I’ll be hanging onto it.
The leaf motif is all over the bike.
Yup, I really do have pink handle bar tape.
Just adding this photo cos I liked it.
Yet more of the leaf motif, this time on the forks.
The obligatory arty-farty shot.
Arty-farty shot no.2 but this time showing the ding I already managed to get on the pedal.
What you missed this morning
Feb 14th
Me breaking 70kms on my bike:
Okay so it was by 1.5kms but still…
I nearly made it to the turn around point at junction of Neapan Highway and Beach Road but I knew I didn’t have the reserves to make it there so I turned around just after St Bebe’s School. I’m disappointed I couldn’t make it but glad I’m smart enough to know not to push it. I will get there (and probably sooner than I think) but it has to be when I’m ready to. Right now, I’m not quite there. Plus, I wasn’t prepared for how hilly it got at the end.
I got a couple of lifts on the way back. I was really struggling on my own so I latched onto the first group I could keep up with. I think I surprise a lot of guys because I can keep up with them when by all appearances, I shouldn’t be able to. However, I think I had two guys checking out my butt on the way back! I was pedaling along, minding my own business to hear a comment along the lines of “that’s a better view”. The rest of my body might be in terrible shape but my butt? Totally rocking! 
Best bit about today? Having my housemate cook me scrambled eggs when I finally made it home 
I took the new bike out for a “getting to know you” ride yesterday morning. I’m really looking forward to getting her now. She was so light and I felt like I had more power from a standing start. The gears got a bit sticky a few times but that can be sorted out. I added a Garmin Edge 500 with a HRM to the package yesterday so I’ll be entering the world of power output, maps and a whole bunch of pretty graphs when I get her. The ride yesterday really sold me on the bike. She handled really well and I didn’t feel as scrunched up. I wasn’t even aware I did feel scrunched up but after riding the new bike, I realised that I am. But that’s not going to stop me from riding.
I’m about to head off to the bike shop to pick a pair of awesome Sugio arm warmers. They’re white with little skulls on them.
Ummmm…
Feb 6th
I’m not exactly sure how it happened but I kinda bought a new bike today.
I put a deposit on an absolutely gorgeous Cannondale CAAD9 Feminine 5 in brushed alloy even though I’m still paying off Lisa.
The official Cannondale photo.
Always was a sucker for brushed alloy (as illustrated by my MacBook Pro). The leaf motif is all over the frame.
This bike is a better fit for me with a top bar of 51cm instead of the 46cm that Lisa has. It should correct any little quirks with my riding style and will hopefully sort out my problems with my elbows.
It wasn’t my intention to get a new bike just yet. And certainly not a Cannondale. The sales guy was really good. He didn’t do the hard sell or anything. He showed me the bike and we talked about bikes in general. He was funny and didn’t treat me like I was some ditzy girl who liked the bike because it’s so pretty. He picked it up to show me how light it was and then handed it to me so I could see for myself. He really won me over and by the time I went out of the test ride I was pretty much sold. I did ask a bunch of questions before finally committing.
Such a gorgeous bike. A few tweaks and she’ll be perfect. Heh… I’m going to have a bike with a carbon seat post in a few months. And I’m thinking hot pink tape for the handle bars