Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Of Fit and Fancy

I can't say I've been doing a heck of a lot of anything these days, and judging by my torturous performance in spin class yesterday, I've lost what little fitness I had back in the season. The knees are starting to hurt again (darn you for throwing away thousands of your insurance company's dollars on physical therapy!), and I'm back on the diet. At least I have 3 pounds to show for all my effort. But let's not address the fact that exercise and caloric deficit are not things that work for me.

So, in the midst of turmoil at work and uncertainty with hubby's career at home, I've decided that my Trek 1000 SL is not the bike I'd like to continue riding in my races. Call it faulty tuneups or a faulty bike, but the gearing has never sorted itself out and I had to do my last race STUCK in gear. It was a flat time trial course, and I was stuck in the middle ring, unable to shift in the back. Yeah, it was a real field day and a miracle I was able to go as fast as I did. At any rate, here's my dilemma. I feel like I'm fairly fast on the bike, at least in sprints. I'm a real crap runner. So the more distance I can put between people in the bike and the swim, the better. I need some sort of edge on this darn bike! I had the fastest bike split in my relay group in Long Beach, and I'm one of the faster ones in my age group...but the top girls definitely have a few mph on me. Granted, a lot of that is fitness, but could some of it be that they are more aerodynamic??

My dilemma is this: Do I upgrade my Trek 1000 to a slightly-better road bike and slap some aerobars on it? Knowing that the best I can do is a 2006 Trek 5000 in my price range, but maybe not even that much because I'd still need to get the aerobars and a fitting within that budget?

Or do I take the plunge and get a tri bike? And keep the road bike for practices?

The roadies all say "get a good road bike." The triathletes ask if I have any interest in group rides or being a roadie. I say no. So they say, "get a tri bike!" Why can't this choice be easy?

Coach says that my training will be hill-focused over the next 6 months. Roadies say you can't climb hills on tri bikes. Well, I ask, how the heck can you ride it in a triathlon if it can't climb hills? I don't GET THIS! Totally flippin' confused. It is apparent, though, that I will need a road bike for the easy rides....somehow you can't take it easy on a tri bike? Again, never been on one, so I haven't a clue.

One thing I must say, though, is that they are all very sexy indeed. I have a fitting tonight to check out how I ride and see what frame geometry will be most comfortable for me. My hubby thinks it's a bit excessive to spend an hour and a half measuring me for a bike I may not even buy, but I think it'll be helpful and worth the investment. I hope so!
Here are my sexy bike choices. Any opinions on what I should do???

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