First Ride...

So...  I got my new bike.  :)  It is pretty awesome.  

But I was so surprised when I got it...  It was so shiny.  It has been several years since I have seen a shiny chain and shiny rear cassette:




I thought to myself, I wonder how long these will stay shiny.  And then I realized that wait...  this is a road bike, not a mountain bike.

Here is an interesting photo.  Please excuse the crappy quality, as I took these photos with my phone.


Needless to say, the bike is very pretty.  However, I was quite scared to ride it.  It took a lot to get my nerve up to put it on the roof rack and head downtown to a quiet greenway.

And it took even more to get myself to actually get on it.  But get on it I did.  And I had fun.  It was quite wobbly at first.  Skinny tires are definitely scary.  AND they are much harder to balance on than fat tires.  (Which is probably why I have always ridden off road.  And why Fat Tire is my favourite beer.)  And it took me quite a while to get used to shifting.  There are no trigger (rapid fire) shifters on a road bike...  It is a weird lever double tap thing.  I think I have gotten the hang of it though.

But most importantly, my back felt pretty good after a 14 mile ride.  My arse was a little sore though.  Even with my trusty mountain bike seat on the bike, my bum needs a few rides to get used to being back in the saddle.

I am really excited to be back on a bike.  And road bikes are fun in their own way.  (They are REALLY fast!)  I am looking forward to my first group ride on Monday!

The Bike Purchase

So...  Finally, the decision has been made.  YAY!

So after spending a couple of hours at my local bike shop, I finally decided on the Cannondale Synapse Carbon 6.  

The guys at the bike shop were pretty awesome.  They spent a lot of time explaining the differences between the different Synapse models and between the Cannondale and the Specialized Roubaix.  The Cannondale was a little more bang for the buck and the difference between the Carbon 6 and the Carbon 5 was only a few grams...  But the price difference was a few hundred bucks.  

The only thing is...  It is blue.  Boo.  I hate blue.  But, I guess it is better than the Scott CR1 that I was looking at that was bumble bee yellow and black.  Haha.

The bike should be ready in about 2 weeks.  Here is a photo to tide me over until it gets here!



Please note that this is not my photo, but the stock photo from Cannondale's website:
http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/road/performance-road/synapse/2011-synapse-carbon-6-apex-16717