The Great Bike Dilemma

I previously wrote about Pre Ironman Remorse and now have more distractions leading up to the race then I could possibly want. I dropped my Aegis Trident off at Performance bike to have it tuned up one last time before the big day. Common sense says not to have anything changed in a tune up prior to such a big race, but my lowest gears were skipping really bad and the race involves a lot of up hill riding. I figured it was better to get things checked out and fix the skipping rather then do an uphill course with such inefficiencies.

the tool used to measure my chain, mine was past the 1.0

I told the mechanic my situation and he immediately went for the chain and a measuring tool. He looked up and told me that I was in trouble because the chain had stretched way beyond what was reasonable, had ruined my cassette, and pretty much messed up my entire drive train. This is unfortunate because I had a Shimano Ultegra set up and to replace it was going to run my in the high hundreds. My bike being a 2005 that was never fit to me, but rather just the only one I have used extensively made me very reluctant to invest in the new components to get it up and running again. The mechanic told me he would look into trying to get the bike running smoothly, but could not guarantee any of the work.

I was in Denver the next day when I got a voice mail asking me to call back. I was told they were unable to get the bike to even shift correctly and that they wouldn't charge me. I asked if I should consider a new bike and was told yes, that if I am going to continue racing it would be a good choice. I immediately sent a text to the man who I bought my bike from and introduced cycling to me and asked if I could borrow his bike. I had no idea what he was currently riding, how nice it was, or if it was even a tri bick, just that he was not participating in Ironman AZ this year (he has done it three times). I got a text back saying of course and at least knew I would have a reliable bike to ride.

I later found out I would get to ride a Velo Vie with a SRAM Red group set. I am still going to put the Zipp 808 and 404 wheels I am renting on it from Race Day Wheels, which will make for a slick ride. The bike has a full carbon Bontager aero handle bar set up and makes for a much nicer bike then mine was, though only a week out still a different bike. This is concerning, because that means without making it a perfect duplicate of my prior ride, I will be using muscles not previously exercised to the same extent, as well as holding a slightly different position putting strain on my back and neck. I also got some good news in that I am going to borrow a Louis Garneau Vorttice aero helmet. I'm hoping a little extra aerodynamics can make up for my lack of time with the new bike.  At this rate I'm going to brake all the rules of last minute changing.

It will be hard not to feel like a poser in this.

I have done this kind of thing before borrowing a bike from the firefighter before, to do a century bike race the Tour De Tucson and only riding it once before the race. It was over a hundred miles and I got through it fine, but didn't have to run a marathon afterwards. This at least encourages me that though it's not ideal, I actually have experience with last minute fixes.

I got a call day two of my trip while in San Jose for about half an hour and was told by the bike mechanic they got the Aegis Trident shifting, but the work would not be guaranteed. The work couldn't be guaranteed because it could come out of alignment at any point. With me renting wheels from race day wheels and them having to change out the cassette there was no way to assure myself they could get it shifting correct. This assured me that I was going to be on a new bike for the race and I also began looking for my new ride that that would need to be purchased to continue training for Ironman Coeur D' Alene and Arizona 2012 (I'll save that for another day).

Here comes day three where I finished a flight from El Paso to Phoenix and started the journey to a new bike. The first trip was home to pick up my beautiful bride and head to performance bike to pickup the Aegis Trident. I picked it up and while there looked at the 2011 and 2010 Fuji D6's they had there. Then on to my cycling mentors house to set things up for my new race day bike of IM AZ 2011. He was waiting for me in the garage with bike already set up on a trainer. We transferred my saddle to the new bike, tried to put my pedals over unsuccessfully adding one more item to the new equipment I'll use. I am upgrading from a free set he gave me four years prior from his wife's road bike, to a new nicer set that he had been using. At this point the only items I'll be using that I have prior experience with are my shoes, clothing and aero bottle. In aviation we say versatility is the key to air power, well I hope the same proves true for racing.

The bike is a pretty one but I am going to now have a 2 cm further drop from seat to aero bars. My profile design aero bars had a 45 degree up turn as opposed to these mostly straight ones which should help hold aero better, but take a little getting used to. I can still make last minute tweaks, but I am 90% set up for what race day will feel like. After the work on the trainer I put the bike to work with a few turns around the block also wearing the new helmet. I am excited with the prospect of using a bike that with the new race wheels would retail near $7000 with a helmet that cost almost as much as my tv, but in the end it's not the equipment as much as the engine.

About to take her out for a test ride

I am planning on riding Sunday through Wednesday to get used to the bike. No century rides, but an opportunity to become better accustomed to the differences. My mind is filled with curiosity over what I'll be capable of and if in the end it could yield a positive result. In the mean time this has been a dilemma I'd just assume not to have had, a weekend of scrambling and much more excitement then the doctor ordered.