New Bike Day!
Friday, March 4, 2011 at 7:00AM I LOVE New Bike Day, as you can see...
Am I the queen of goofy faces or what?
As you all know, this year I'm branching out into triathlons, irregardless of the fact that I barely know how to swim. Apparently, I'm ok putting my life in the hands of lifeguards I wouldn't know from Adam. Branching out into triathlons means... it's time to buy a bike. Since this is my first tri season, I selected a road bike. This way, even if I decide that I hate triathlons, I'll have a good road bike for fun/crosstraining to my running.
My dad and crazy sister Tweets (who used an ironman-distance race to tell us she's preggo) are both triathletes. Tweets has been competing in tris for years, then my dad drank the Kool-Aid... and now they are trying to infect me. We'll see how it goes this year.
Anyway, Tweets recommended the Trek Women's Design bike line, since it's designed specifically for a good fit for the ladies. She isn't able to use them, since she's too tall, but... I'm the perfect size! In the bike department, I just do what Tweets says, so in January I locomoted to my local bike shop: On the Route.
After checking out my options, I settled on the Trek WD Lexa road bike. Guys, it's SO light. Since it uses easy release tires, I can easily fit it into my tiny Honda. And it's pretty. Marketers love me. The best part? They had just released a coupon for 20% off any Trek bike until the end of February. SCORE.
Since I still had time to use the coupon, I walked away so that I could take a few weeks to save up extra money to make my big purchase. The weeks dragged until this weekend, when I finally walked my booty into the store and plunked down cold, hard cash.
I was excited. :)
On the Route was so nice too, and super helpful. I totally recommend them - and they have a store dog! You can't beat that.
Now, I just have to find a place to store this sucker...
Any cyclists out there with tips for me?
Triathlons
Reader Comments (9)
That's MY local bikeshop too! I love them! I don't compete or anything, but I'm a regular (fair weather) commuter. I know lots of people find the streets scary, but if you stick with bike lanes, it is not bad at all.
So convenient, and you don't have to deal with parking. I highly recommend getting biking gloves; I rub really bad blisters otherwise (but I ride pretty long distances, so maybe you won't need them).
Also, your pictures didn't show up in Google Reader. :(
I'm in no way any sort of triathlete... but I just had to say, "NICE BIKE!" I've never owned a road bike, only mountain bikes, but working in the most bicycle friendly city in the US, I know a good bike when I see one! :)
Have fun with your new friend!
Nice bike! I got a Trek last fall and I've been happy with it, although, I'm still learning to ride it.
Super cool! And I love that big ol' grin on your face :)
What a nice bike! Sooo jealous.
p.s. I tried to comment on your starburst post but it wouldn't let me! It thought I was spam :(
But I said I went to go buy starbursts that day!
Love it! I posted about a cool bike rack the other week, but not sure if you want to display it as art in your home?! :)
Sweet looking ride Penny! Now we just need to have a ride together! Your nice looking bike reminded me that it is time to clean mine up a bit...:)
Hi Penny! I found your blog through the reading guest post on Bien Living. I live in Lincoln Square, too! I'm also somewhat of a runner, but not quite the far distances you do. Good luck with competing in some triathalons... even if you decided to wait until next summer, it's still exciting!
Also, I was looking at your to-do list... did you know Death Cab is coming to the Metro in May? You should check it out. Tickets just went on sale last weekend, so there should be some left :) I love them!
@Erin - YES, I went to buy tickets the morning they went on sale... and they were already sold out. Disaster! And the Metro doesn't allow resale, so I can't even eBay/StubHub/Craigslist them :(