07 April, 2014

Like Butter

First ride of the season yesterday. Damn I love this bike...


After a somewhat wobbly "how the hell do I ride this thing?" start of 100' or so, it was all good. This bike is everything I wanted when I upgraded to carbon. Smooth, fast, responsive, and so much more. Road feel is excellent, but it also does a nice job of soaking up mixed pavement qualities (something we seem to have even more of in SE Michigan after our run-in with the Polar Vortex).

The biggest benefit, in my mind, comes from being on a slightly larger frame. My old Giant OCR3 was a size M. This one's a M/L and slightly bigger. Having a little extra room to stretch out makes such a difference. My riding position is better and I can open up my chest a bit for better breathing.

The only down side? My ass hurt! Yup, need to work my way back into a solid butt-seat interface. I figure a few rides will take care of that though. The Fizik saddle isn't the issue. My sissified arse is.

Did about 24 miles with 3 friends. While I wasn't setting any records, I put in a solid 15.4 mph average and finished feeling strong. Given that this is my first outing since October and I really didn't put in any meaningful off-season conditioning, I feel very good about this. Plus, I was out far earlier than last year. My cycling season is off to a solid start!

-Sean-

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