It's a TT Bike!

Of course there was the last minute stuff at work in the final half hour of the day. Why is it that happens any time you have something you really want to do right after work? So I leave about 10 minutes late which means that by the time I get to my end of the subway and take the bus to the commuter lot, it's already 6:30pm. Traffic was thick and slow most of the way to the shop. Happily I was only a couple of minutes behind the scheduled 7pm and Chris was finishing up with a couple of triathletes when I arrived.

They already have the bike in the fit area loaded into a trainer and I admire it for a few moments before using the changing room to put on my bike shorts. When I come out the triathletes are standing there admiring my bike. Fortunately they were standing far enough back that the drool didn't get on the bike.

I got on the bike and started pedaling. The first thing I had to learn was that the front derailleur is a friction shift. So I can totally adjust the position of it, but have to watch out not to over shift if I'm going from ring to ring, as I can readily generate chain rub by swinging it all the way out. Chris had the bike set up from the numbers we'd generated the previous week. I wasn't sure about the spacer stack on the steer tube, it felt a little high.

He finished up and came over. We fixed up the cadence sensor and topped off the tubulars then I pedaled again. He checked all the angles and was satisfied. I pedaled some more and he suggested that we get a little crazy. I was pretty sure what he had in mind and I said "yeah, let's go for it." So off came the stem and out came a spacer, moving me lower. It felt great.

There was just enough daylight left for a quick little test ride. It's the only bad thing about the location of his shop - no handy test-ride type roads at hand. I did a quick loop around the parking lot then went across the road (the very busy Leonardtown Rd) to a short straight road that led to some industrial type places. The takeoff was smooth and I got up to speed happened quickly. I ran the drive train all the way out, 53x12 turned smoothly. The bars are awesome and the fit feels great. When I got home, I checked the weight - 17.5lbs with the disc wheel. That's a couple pounds lighter than the Serotta was in TT configuration.

As you can see, the frontal area is very minimal. It's going to be fast. I'm anxious for the end of the day today so I can go ride this new bike and see how it really feels. Even with only the short bit of time on it last night, I think I'll be looking for a new saddle right away.

I can't wait to race it on Sunday. Don't know the course, but from the times from last year it looks like it must be fairly flat. It'll just be good to do a TT again, since the last one was back in September.