One Clydesdale’s Journey

Okay, I had all the new toys to go along with the new and bike and I was dying to get it out on the road. So I called Wheel and Sprocket (where Shelly bought the bike) and got a fitting setup for this past Friday with Trent.

Let me tell you, it is well worth the time and money (if you bought the bike somewhere else). First thing he did was ask how I was going to be using the bike and then for what length triathlons. From there he proceeded to set everything up so that it was Tri specific. Very cool!

But, due to my height, he wasn’t able to move the seat far enough forward with the current seat post that was on the bike. So he needed to order a new one which should be in some time next week.

Even without that he was able to get everything else set so that it was road ready.

But by the time I got back home it was too late for a test drive since we had a party to get to.

The next day though you can believe that I was out there on that bad boy! Or wait a minute, is it a female? Man that is a confusing concept. Oh well, just work with me here!

Either way, that is a way different ride than the old Grocery Getter! I have a feeling that it is going to take a little while to get used to.

Everything, and I mean Everything is different about it!

Okay, I know, it’s supposed to be different since they are about as far apart as you can get for styles of bikes.

I need to focus on a completely different posture. And not doing so is not an option since it is very uncomfortable otherwise. I need to focus on completely different hand grips and position and also keep in mind that the brake levers are in a different place. Along with a whole list of other things and I need to focus on keeping her (there is that gender thing again) steady and straight while doing all that. And that steady and straight thing gets even trickier when using the aero-bars!

But what I can tell you is that she is fast! Very, very fast!

I wasn’t able to focus too much on the computer, so I’m not sure how fast I was going at any given time. And I had a head wind in what is normally my really fast areas which made it seem like I wasn’t going very fast.

But when I got home and checked what my average and top speed was I was shocked! For being a very shaky and seemingly slow ride, I was able to average 14.5 mph and had a top speed of 28.1 mph!

I can’t wait to go for another ride so that I can work on getting more comfortable with it.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training