Yikes, it is almost April! From here on out, I will be consistent with the blogging.
I just celebrated my 39th birthday with a wonderful surprise from my husband. A new road bike! New to me any way. Initially we were on a budget of $400. We quickly learned that $400 does not go far w/bikes. Even used. I was stalking Craig's lists for months now for a bike that would fit my 5'1 frame. We went into a few bike stores and found out that the entry level bikes started at $800. I was getting pretty discouraged. At one point, I was just going to order a cheapie Dawes Sheila from Ebay.
My awesome hubby called around, and found this great little bike shop owned by a cool hippy guy (I'll bet $10 he is a Phish fan; my kind of guy!). I went in with an opened mind. Low and behold, he had just gotten in a 2010 Fuji Road Series. I fell in love at first site. It was the absolute perfect size for me. It was also in pristine condition, never had ridden by the previous owner. However, my hopes were dashed by the $800 price tag.
The bike store owner was super nice, spending a lot of time with us going over the features of the bike. I was totally drooling over this bike. It was perfect in every way. It even had a fancy $50 water bottle cage (I kid you not; it was top of the line). All this time, I kept glancing at my husband, giving him pleading eyes.
For the hell of it, I decided to take it for a test drive. Since I was wearing wedge heels (what was I thinking?), the owner swapped out the cage peddles for regular peddles. It was at this time that Kevin whispered to me, "if you really want it, you can get it". I was pretty excited at that point.
We went outside and all of the necessary adjustments were made. I straddled the bike. It felt perfect; like it was built for me. I was initially shaky on it, but quickly found my groove. It was FAST. To go from a heavy mountain bike to a road bike is just crazy different. I raced around the neighborhood and headed for a hill. Not only was I able to climb the hill with ease, I was STANDING UP ON MY BIKE while doing it. Sure, I could do this in spin class. But on my mountain bike? Hell no!
From that moment on, it was a done deal. That baby is now mine. $800 is a lot of money, but I look at it as an investment in my health.
Here is a link to the 2011 model.
http://www.fujibikes.com/bike/details/newest_1_0
I am scared to death that I am going to fly over those handle bars! That is just a mental block that I am going to have to deal with.
Training is going to be a lot of fun this summer.
