I thought i would mention my way too brief frist ride of the year i was able to do yesterday.
I picked up a '03 Soloist frame over the winter and built it up as a winter hobby. It is my first real road bike I have ever owned…my previous bikes have been MTB’s, a REI touring bike (rode like a Caddy!) a Softride and a QR Caliente. After taking it to my trusted and respected fit specialist and getting squared away, I actually closed my store an hour early so I could finally get a ride in on a beautiful Friday afternoon.
I chose a controlled newly paved bike path to make sure shit wouldn’t fall off on my shakedown ride. (It is the first build I have ever done.) I felt like a hog on ice! I have never felt a bike respond so well as this one. I wasn’t attempting to break any of my best times on this loop…just to introduce my legs to the bike after a long time away and get a feel of things. I don’t think I have ever had more fun on a bike. The Soloist was everything I had wanted and much more.
I maybe made a mistake using a FSA K-Wing bar. It was a x-mas present to myself and I got wood all winter feeling the countours of the carbon ergonomics of the bar. But in practice my hands are too big for the part of the drops right under the hoods. I think they were designed specifically to allow a rider to grip them there without having to feel a contour of a curve…but I think I can live with it.
Terrific acceleration, extreme nimbleness…I am going to have a lot of fun this summer with this bike.