The past couple of days have been solid weatherwise, so I’ve been able to get out on the new bike: an ’06 Giant TCR Composite-0. The difference is pretty stark compared to the Bianchi. It’s like comparing a roadster to a school bus. Since the mass isn’t there, it’s real easy to accelerate and turn. An interesting side effect is that since the bike is so light, a crosswind can just blow it across the road. If I’m not careful, I can wind up in the oncoming lane. Oddly, before I got the bike, one of my teammates who does triathlons mentioned something about this to me at Colonial Relays. Since the steel frame of the Bianchi provided a strong anchor against the wind, this had never happened to me before. I was taken by surprise this week, for it has been pretty windy.
The shop said to come back in a week or so to make sure it’s adjusted right. I’ll have to do that since my IT bands on both sides have always tightened up when I bike. I don’t want to take any chances with that. I’ve also got to figure out how to clean everything, especially the drivetrain. Every few months of riding I would try to clean up all the crap that accumulated on the Bianchi and relube the chain, but I was never able to get it as clean as when I would take it to the shop. I’ve found some tips on the internet, but there wasn’t anything I hadn’t really been doing before. One issue is that I don’t have access to a hose at the apartment. Maybe if I get a chain cleaning machine it will be easier — sometimes I’ve just taken off the chain completely. A bike stand would help too, but the expenses are piling up. Regardless, it won’t be long before dirt and mud starts building up on the frame and drivetrain.
I’ve forgotten what it’s like to bike (or run) outside. There are only a small number of good routes around Williamsburg, so I wind up doing the same thing almost every day. I remember a lot of my teammates would start to complain about this in terms of running routes, especially towards the end of the spring semester. We would wind up running the same old route a lot. Someone would offer a bunch of suggestions of where to go, but they would always get shot down, and we would head out to the same trail that we had done for the last zillion maintenance runs. Right now, it doesn’t really matter since it’s a relief to go away somewhere for awhile.
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