PJ Wednesday-I'm ready to roll

I have not being doing triathlon long, just a few over the past 4 years and nothing longer than an Olympic distance. Well I am hoping the volume of events I participate in will grow this year. One way to motivate myself to do so is by riding my brand new road bike! Yay, I am so excited!! I have been chugging along on my dinosaur of a mountain bike since 1999 and even when I bought this mountain bike it was already a 2 year old model. I am not one much for spending, so this was a really big purchase for me. I will tune out the critiques about better components and brand envy (Trek, Specialized etc.). This bike is great start for me, and feels like a pretty fancy upgrade from my 12 year old Specialized Hardrock Mountain bike (see Main Blog photo)

I have not been to a race yet where I haven't gotten the condescending sounding "good for you" or thumbs up when people see me on my mountain bike at a road triathlon. I am not sure I am going to make the jump from Olympic Distance to Ironman, so I just needed a bike that will get me through the next 3-5 years while I figure it out. This bike fits nicely, is comfortable to ride and has easy to use gear shifting. I am not yet skilled at utilizing the gears as I have NEVER ridden a road bike until yesterday, but I am so excited to learn. I had store demo stock pedals when I rode around the store parking lot, and they didn't have the ones I needed when I checked out. Apparently the fancier the bike the less you get when you purchase. Really, no pedals with purchase? The next local bike shop closed for the night so I had to wait until today to buy my pedals. A nerdy coincidence is that the bike's color scheme matches my Tri Club colors...how cutesy lame is that? Sorry folks you'll just have to put up with my matchy matchiness. 

By the time I got home, dinner was done and 1 of 2 kids were asleep there was no time for a daylight ride. Around 9:30 I finally got the opportunity to take a spin around the block. Here is a picture of me in my Penguin PJs getting ready to roll. Wow! Can I just say that I have never felt fast, but today I felt so fast it was scary. This bike is so agile, light and zippy. I am not sure I will be able to handle curves and downhills, but my new optimistic self thinks I know enough bike smart people to teach me. A HUGE thank you to AA for going with me to explain and translate the bike speak, to help me wrangle kids and help me feel confident about such a major purchase. You are awesome and I can't wait to ride with you sometime.

So do bikes get a name, like boats and cars do? Hmm, even if they don't I think I might need to name mine.