Fancy kit!

in the words of Staind, "it's been awhile".
One of the things i wanted to do on here was to batter on aboutsome of the fancy kit i often have the chance to see/play with/ride etc and t give MY views on it, so here we are.

A while ago (when the weather was REALLY sh1ttee), the nice man (Justin) from Saddleback (Felt/Zipp/Sram/Castelli) loaned me a bike. Pile of rubbish.

Kidding.

He rolled in what was essentially an F2 frame (bling), Sram Force group, with Zipp bars, stem and 808 clinchers(bling, bling, bling) - OUCH :)

So, how was it? The chain was way too short as the cassette had been swapped from 11/23, to 12/26, the rear derailleur cable had seen better days and we won't talk about the saddle.

Put on one of my chains with 4 links extra in it and replaced the cable (oh, that was fun!), and put on the SLR and pedals and away we go.

BOOM

I felt like Mick Doohan, this thing gets up to speed, stays there,..... and cornering :) :) :) pass me the sliders with the Ti screws in, I thought i might be able to get my knee down on it.



The Frame: Brilliant. In the top 2 bikes i have ever ridden (SLC-SL is the other and you know about my Cervelo bias right?).

It's stiff, both at BB and Head, so it accelerates and corners fabulously.

BUT, even with the 808 rear on (from the day I had the bike, for the next 2 weeks, I didn't have the chance to ride it when the wind wasn't gusting 20mph plus, so i put a regular wheel up front), it was very comfortable. Admittedly my longest ride on it was only 4.5hrs.

The Group: I really WANTED to like it, but, although I liked it, I would choose a lower spec Campag group over it. I liked the Sram lever shape, and the size of the rear paddle, and the 'copying' of Campags - 'the brake lever is the brake lever and therefore only travels in one plane ', philosophy - and the brakes were very good. But I wouldn't buy it.

Other stuff: Zipp bars=comfy, Zipp 808s - BLINDING. I love my front 808 tub for racing, i'm no heavyweight, but it JUST FEELS FAST (sounds it too). The clinchers on the FELT were great. As i said earlier, i mostly rode with just the rear on, but i'm sure it helped carry the speed a notch or two higher.

If Cervelo weren't a big factor for me, I'd buy this FRAME, stick a Campag group on and be VERY happy, as it is a fantastic ride. I'd be tempted by the bling wheels for training too - nicely pretentious.



S2 still to arrive :(

Ironman Popular Front! we are the Popular Front of Ironman

Feb 1st and some stuff has happened, i won pinch/punch (very important) and i did my first 'long run' of '09, probably the longest since........June last year! and it was fine. If it weren't for the strong headwind, which at times reduced my running to walking, it would have been lovely.

At 'regular church water stop 2' Jim and Ju appeared out of the Forest, with just over an hour left of their 30mile left to do. They were heading the way I had just come from, but it was good to see them, especially as i was running the route which i used to run with Ju and Loz, every week.

Now i am putting Sarahs bike back together, just returned from QR in the U.S, while she sits in the car awaiting the recovery truck, as, once again, she has left the lights on, and run the battery down - doh!