BMANX wrote:
Very cool pic and it would be great to see more of the bike.
God save me for posting a pic with a discernible background, but here goes:
When we first met...
Some commentary:
-as you can tell by the mini-Tree in the background, it's Christmas morning.
-No, they did not present the bike to me with the chain on the big ring and cranks parallel to the ground. Don't worry, I scolded them first before taking hold of the bike.
-A "white/silver" aero helmet doesn't perfectly match the bike's paint job, you say. No it doesn't, but white and silver are the two top-ranking colors for reflecting light, and with it, heat absorption. A move on my part to proactively combat this detrimental element of aero vs. standard.
-Spacers! Don't worry, it's before I was fitted at the F.I.S.T. certified (and amazing) Speedy Reedy in Seattle. We have me on a shorter stem without rise and less space between it and the top tube. It's still not terribly aggressive but it's what I can sustain and looks really consistent with what I've seen among pros at least upon cursory visual inspection. Aero helmet is flush and fits the position perfectly. I'll race 20km TTs up through IM this season but long course will be my focus.
-My wife did know to have the front QR in the aero position!
-You'll notice that I have a wedding ring on my left hand. I'm 24, we dated straight through college and married the week after. Went to Thailand for 6 months to do community development work with Step Ahead then school started up for me. If I look young for my age, well, hopefully it's just my boyish charm. . .
-Note the dog bone visible between the spokes of the front wheel. We were at my parents house for Christmas and they've got 'my dog' there. Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Ki.
-The guys my Mom hired to put in the tile completely botched the install. Note that they left spacers between, with the resulting erosion of the grout and tile displacement.
-Slowman in his review of the '10 B12 didn't speak terribly well of the TTR3 wheelset, basically assessing them as a glorified training wheelset. I've been impressed and really like them. I have a wheelcover for a rear Ksyrium Elite that I'll use but I'll keep the front for races this season. Over the summer I'm going to run a simple power-meter based performance comparison between this front and a Zipp 808 clincher with all other variables (as much as I can) kept constant.
-It comes with Vittoria Zaffiro Pro slicks on it but I swapped them out for my Bontrager Race Lite and Race X Lite tires that were basically brand new.
-Given a review sent out by Velonews, I'm going to get latex tubes for racing (apparently it makes a discernible difference over butyl). Unless latex tubes came with it...? I don't even know.
-This is a photo but it might as well have been a video of me for the whole day. I basically just sat there and gawked. Gorgeous bike in person. As is probably the case with everyone else's, pictures just don't do it justice.
-I've been on a road bike with clip-ons for the 6 years I've been in the sport as I wanted to refine the engine before I upgraded (ride up grades, so to speak). I even looked at upgrading the crank on my road bike to the Ultegra crank seen here with my Christmas money on Christmas Eve but couldn't justify it to myself, then look at this surprise on Christmas day! I'm a medical student in a place with bad winters so I've only gotten out twice on her but man, even after 12 hrs of studying I'll just look at the bike and be totally stoked.
Thanks for the comments!!!
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