I brought her home on Saturday and I've only ridden her once. I don't know her name yet. But she is screamin' fast.
It was a pretty productive Saturday. It started at 4:45 with a drive to the northshore for a 70-mile ride (which turned out to be Stella's farewell tour). It was a really nice ride. The change of scenery was exactly what I needed, and our smaller group of 7 (5 girls, yeah!) was fun and friendly. I *conveniently* stopped by the bike shop on the way home, since it was *conveniently* on the way, and they *conveniently* had a P2 in my size that they had been bugging me to look at. I had told them I wasn't deciding anything before IMNOLA but I'd come by after the race. I had been there the day before just briefly to check it out and get an initial fitting but didn't have time to make any real decisions.
I had recently started thinking that it might be time for a bike upgrade. Stella has been AWESOME, no doubt. But I'd never ridden anything else, and I'd been hearing how carbon is so much nicer to ride- that it wouldn't beat me up so much and I'd be able to run better off the bike. Training for half and full IMs does mean a lot of time in the saddle. And biking is my new Primary Focus Area, since it is my "key limiter", aka "thing I suck at way more than the other two". So to my thinking, if I'm going to be spending a lot more time at it, and I want to really improve at it, it should be comfortable and enjoyable to do.
So to make a long story short, over two hours later I rolled out of the bike shop with two bikes- a brand-spankin-new Cervelo P2 and a slightly forlorn, saddle-less and pedal-less Stella- along with over $200 in free bike stuff (thanks Bike Connection, you rock!) and a significantly lighter wallet.
I then proceeded to go home, wash the car, take Kai for a walk, and then collapse of exhaustion onto the couch.
Sunday I took her out for a quick 30-miler, which was pretty intense on the way out due to a strong headwind. She handled like a dream! I could tell right away that there was a big difference when going over bumpy roads. Much smoother. The one bummer about the new bike is that the only two colors I do NOT particularly like for vehicles (bikes, cars, whatever) are red and white. And you can get your 2010 Cervelo P2 in any colors you want... as long as they're red and white. Doh! But hey, if my bike times start improving, I think it'll grow on me real fast!
*Actually, Stella isn't really gone. She's still here while I decide what to do with her. She still looks sad without pedals and a seat, though.
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