This morning I took my new stead out on its maiden voyage, and I've gotta say, it excelled itself! It felt fast, reacted well when I wanted it to move, stiff yet uber comfortable (which will come in handy on the long training rides), and it looks great to boot! The low down: it is a Time NXR Instinct. Time is a french brand, one of the few brands in the world who manufacture their own bikes in their country (rather than get places like Taiwan to build them) and put a lifetime warranty on the frame. It is running the same groupset (gears) as my Colnago, but a 3-year advance version so to me it's like running the higher level gearing anyway! I have kept some of the best parts of my previous bike, the wheels and saddle, so in a way it is the best of both worlds. Imagine if you could do that with your new girlfriend - take the good stuff from your previous one and meld them into the new one... I think that is when problems start though, right? When you try to make the new person like the old person? Aahhh, the sweet simplicity of bikes. They never complain or take it personally if you put a new bottom (or saddle/seat) or legs (wheels) on them.
On another note...
My first race of the year is tomorrow. My first race since Busso on 05/12/10, my first 'short distance' race since who knows when! It's going to be interesting. While a calf injury a few weekends ago put a damper on my running sessions (I went a week with no running) I have put in some good bike sessions (135k last Saturday) and some extra swimming (4 sessions this week). The lead up this week has also been pretty good - a few hard bike sessions on my race bike to practice race-pace (and above) and a not-so-bad run on Tuesday morning (though I couldn't keep up with the fast guys on the last few sets of 800m - buggers!). With a great massage on Wednesday night as well, I think I am as ready to rock n' roll as I could be. I'm nervous, but in a good way. It's going to be fun to get out there and see where I sit on the hierarchy at the moment. All this time in training, how does the end product compare - I will know tomorrow!
My first race of the year is tomorrow. My first race since Busso on 05/12/10, my first 'short distance' race since who knows when! It's going to be interesting. While a calf injury a few weekends ago put a damper on my running sessions (I went a week with no running) I have put in some good bike sessions (135k last Saturday) and some extra swimming (4 sessions this week). The lead up this week has also been pretty good - a few hard bike sessions on my race bike to practice race-pace (and above) and a not-so-bad run on Tuesday morning (though I couldn't keep up with the fast guys on the last few sets of 800m - buggers!). With a great massage on Wednesday night as well, I think I am as ready to rock n' roll as I could be. I'm nervous, but in a good way. It's going to be fun to get out there and see where I sit on the hierarchy at the moment. All this time in training, how does the end product compare - I will know tomorrow!
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