Goodbye - Hello

Wow, two months since my last entry! Guess I'm getting real slack these days.

This week I said good bye to my Devinci road bike. I knew when I bought it that I wouldn't be keeping it a long time, but it was still sad to see it go. Bartman found it a good home, and it's local, so I'm sure I'll see it around town.

Now, I'm bikeless - well, kind of. I have my TT bike - which I need to finish building today, it just needs some tune-up work. I'll get it done and get pics posted soon.

I have my custom titanium Kelson - but that's up in Fort McMurray for the rest of this month so that I have something to ride on the computrainer up there.

So Thursday night I went to a bike shop in Calgary for a complete "fitting" They told me it'd cost about $100, so as soon as my plane landed I drove like a madman to get there.

Changed into my cycling gear, and went upstairs to begin the process.

First I stood on the board, heels against the wall, and then Bob measured my inseam. Cool tool for that - a spring-loaded stick, and the spring makes things fit tightly - they get a good measurement from that! Another tool fits on the top of that and measures up to the collar bone to get your upper-torso measurement. While you're on the board it also measures your foot size.

Then he brought out a frame to start playing on - warmed up a bit, adjusted the seat to get to that comfy spot, then played around with stem length and stem angle... trial and error here. Had a mirror beside me that I was able to check out my form on... all in all a good experience. I learned some interesting things about my current bike set-up, and the reason why I do some of the things I do.

I've now got it narrowed down to two bikes - either a Tarmac SL or a Rubaix SL. I'd love to be able to spend some serious time on each bike to see how they feel, but it's going to be tough to find the right size frame to take out and hammer for a few hours. I'm hoping to be able to put something together for the Salt Lake City Century ride. Time will tell!

So, as I embark on this "last bike" purchase, I'm really trying hard to make sure I get the right one. I know I've been known to change bikes fairly often - but that has slowed down alot. I've kept my Kelson for 2 years now (though it hasn't gotten alot of miles on it.) This will be one of the last bikes I buy. I'm spending enough on it that there's no way I'll ever be able to get my money back out of it. In the past I've gotten such good deals on my purchases that I've been able to sell the bike for what I'd paid for it. Going to be pretty tough to get a deal good enough to do that again - especially given the frame size I'm looking for.