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Posts tagged new bike
You know what’s weird?
Apr 3rd
It’s weird to realise that I now own a bike that’s worth as much as or more than some people’s cars. And it can still be considered cheap. At least I have proper bike insurance. I really should get a Bicycle Victoria membership as well at some point. And a name, I still haven’t come up with a name that’s sticking. I’m toying with Dale. I have heard of a few girls called Dale and she is a Cannondale so it fits. (What is it with me naming inanimate objects and assigning a gender to them? My car is Mr Bingles and then there’s Lisa.)
Got a bit of a surprise today when I pulled the rear wheel off and discovered I have SRAM cassette on the back. I thought the bike was supporting a Shimano 105 group set (excluding the cranks which I knew was FSA) but no. Still, if I’d read the specs on the Cannondale web site I would’ve already known this as it clearly states the rear cog is SRAM.
I realised today that I didn’t link to any of the art I picked up in Seattle, so here’s my CAF gallery for Seattle 2010. And of course my favourite.
Having so much art now, I’ve started to think about what would happen to my collection if something bad happened to me. Not a nice thought but it is worth a fair chunk of change so I really should try to work out what’s to be done with it.
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.
Home to reality
Mar 27th
Sigh. It’s always so disappointing that holidays must come to an end. I’ve been back just over a week now and I’m still kicking my butt kicked by jet lag. I thought I’d recovered from it but I’ve been exhausted all day today. Which is bad considering I picked up my super purdy new bike today. I found it very hard to get excited about it when all I wanted to do was have a nap (which I did while I waited for my new Garmin to charge up).
Anyhoo…. a few final photos from my trip that weren’t taken by me.
See, I wasn’t kidding when I said the “Great Wall of Chocolate” was nearly as big as my head. The look on my face is one of there’s no way I’m eating that (especially considering it’s a fake on that the wait staff take around to show people the dessert menu).
See, I really do know Barry Kitson! He’s currently working on Amazing Spider-man and is a super nice, wonderful, generous man.
Hanging out at Von’s. L – R: DJ (who took the prior two photos), Me, Barry, Veronica and Sven.
So, yes. New bike. New bike computer. New shoes. The shoes are giving me an endless amount of grief. I simply can’t find the right place for the cletes and they’re hurting my feet. Well, my right foot is okay, it’s my left foot that’s causing all the trouble. I really want to make them work because I spent so much money on them. It’ll really suck if it turns out I can’t actually wear them.
Getting back on the bike after such a long time away is actually a good deal harder than I thought it would be. I managed to ride half of Kew Boulevard on Thursday night and it was so hard. It feels like I’ve lost so much strength. I’m starting again but that’s okay. I can set myself goals and work towards achieving them. The first one is doing the 120km version of the Fruit Loop ride that’s held during September in Shepparton. I want to work towards breaking 100km and I think that’s a reasonable target by September.
I can’t make an assessment on my new bike just yet, having only ridden her for just over half an hour. Jet lag sucks! I should’ve gone out for a ride today but I was so tired I couldn’t get motivated to actually do it until after I had a nap. Even then I didn’t really push myself. My first observation (apart from needing a name) she sounds different on the road. My next observation is that seat is more comfortable and that I’m sitting much better. Then we move to I think that handlebars are a smidge too high. I won’t be able to form any definite opinions until I’ve gone out for a long ride, which might be tomorrow.
Anyhoo… I’m being terrible rude as we have company and I’m sitting in the front room on my computer in the dark as it’s Earth Hour and we’ve got the lights off.
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
Meet Lisa
May 23rd
This is Lisa, my new bike. I bought her today from the very helpful Ben at BSC Bikes.
She’s last year’s model and has a few little scratches on her but it saved me a good chunk of cash and I got a better bike out of it. I had already picked a different bike which was cheaper but the test ride was disappointing. It was a pretty crappy ride to be honest. My old bike felt better than that one did which is bad considering my old bike is 17 years old and bike technology has come a long way since then. I got back from my first test ride definitely not sold on the bike and asked to see what else they had. I’d seen the Kona Lisas (2008 and 2009 models) already but felt they were too expensive. But after riding the cheaper one, I thought perhaps something that cost a little more would be better. It’s not like I intend on doing this again any time soon. Better to spend the money and get it right the first time.
I knew within two minutes of riding her that she was the bike for me. I spent most of the test ride with a huge grin on my face. It just felt really good. The seat is still too low and I probably could’ve done with the next frame size up but the seat can be adjusted another few centimeters and maybe the handlebars as well, just to get that extra bit of height.
I also indulged myself and bought my first ever pair of bike shoes. I was originally going to get cage pedals but to get decent looking ones that suited the bike would’ve ended up costing nearly as much as just buying some shoes and clip pedals. It’s an experience that’s for sure. I had a few massive wobbles on the way home and my foot slipped around heaps but I didn’t fall over which I think is a pretty good effort. It’s a totally new way of riding and something I’ll have to adjust to. At least now I’ll stop trashing my sneakers.
New bike. New bike I already love to ride. Think I’m going to be riding more. It’s better than public transport!
And how did I afford this? I have 12 months to pay it off and I’m spending the money from my train ticket which I didn’t renew, a pay rise and a reduction in my tax on it. Money well spent I think.