My New Ride: I'm in Love!

My new bike finally arrived!  I am calling the new Scott Foil 20: "Scottie".   I picked him up on Thursday and rode home 3 miles from the shop.  It is like being born again as I took my first pedals.  I took one look at Scottie and you would think I would have just embraced him right away.  I was more relieved I did not have to climb up a ladder to get on.  I felt a little bit shy and a little worried that his handlebars appeared so far away.  I measured the reach and it was exactly the same as Chamele's.  The most telling thing was when I went to lift him over my head and he almost flew out of my arms.  I looked him over from bar to wheel like a teenage boy checks out his first love be it a car or a girl.  After visiting Jeff my personal bicyclologist (fitter), he rotated the bars, lowered the stem by taking out 2 rings, moved the seat forward, adjusted my cleats, and gave me a few more tips for pedaling, position, riding the drops and standing.  Then we put Scottie on the scale and he weighed in at 16.6 lbs with pedals and 2 water sidecage water bottle holders.  The wheels weighed over 6 lbs. and we talked about the potential for getting even lighter with race wheels.  Then Jeff sent me on my way to get acquainted with Scott for a month and then we will revisit seat, aerobar options, and wheels as my fitness improves. 

I decided to forgo our group ride and took Scottie out for 3 hours this morning. 

Chamele, YOU'RE FIRED!  Scottie is the new CBE (chief bike executive) of my IM training.  Well, I won't let my purple pal go so easily.  She has brought me to this point and has been a reliable training partner, so I am giving her a new job as trainer buddy and back up bike.

I set out at the crack of dawn.  All I can say is BETTER, BETTER, BETTER....better shifters, better brakes, better handling on turns, and lighter and faster on the hills both up and down where I noticed it the most.  I was able to keep a more consistent cadence up hill and the turtle felt like she was flying on the down.  It seemed to handle well in the wind.

Areas of need:  Still had some issues with foot pain, but Jeff adjusted my left cleat and talked about how I was distributing my weight through the cycle and I was able to shift the weight more posterior in my foot on the upswing which seemed to resolve the problem.  I was trying to find my sweetspot on the extra firm seat that came with Scottie and in the end I think it provided more proprioceptive input to keep my core active.  The verdict is still out there on the seat and will take some time.  I felt more comfortable being a little lower on the bars and definitely in the drops (yeah!) and did better with standing for short periods.  I was having a little back pain at times, but I had that on my other bike as well and I think everything left to fix is related to my form and getting a better motor program hard wired in my brain.

I AM IN LOVE with SCOTTIE.