What a beauty...

A prize for working out what is wrong with this picture...

I've finally got all the bits and bobs for the bike - the last (or should say latest?) addition was the funky 4 spoke front wheel. Just the Darth Vader tie fighter whoosh whoosh sound of the back wheel combined with the helicopter chop chop chop of the front wheel makes you feel as though you are going faster, even if you are not.

I went for my first decent length ride this morning. The idea is to use the road bike with the "normal" wheels for training on the roads and to keep this one mainly on the turbo trainer to get used to the aero position (and for competitions, of course!). I had a few teething problems like the screw of the gear lever working itself loose and getting stuck in a high gear as a consequence. This was easy to fix but when the seat post nut came undone I didn't have the requisite tool to tighten it up again. I had to ride about 15 kilometers without sitting down - it felt like I was in a spinning class - before I found a gas station where I was able to fix it at least temporarily. But hiccoughs aside, it was great fun zooming along and it was nice to go back over the routes that I frequented when I was training for the Ironman (I was surprised to see that a whole bunch of new houses have popped up since then along the way). The Adamo seat is fantastic! Really comfortable - what a difference it makes being able to fully sit on the seat.

I did find it quite tiring on the arms being in the aero position. I think the position is good but it is very low down for this early in the season: normally you start higher up and work your way down. Also my pulse rate was on the high side the whole time but, for now, I don't care. Once I start training seriously for the Half Ironman in April, I'll have to hold back a little and be patient while the speed gradually comes back.