The Maiden Voyage

Here she is ladies and gentleman, the “Tuxedo” …
(named by the hubby, a tux to replace my grey suit)


One of the reasons I love this bike is the red anodized components :)


I love her, she is just so beautiful, you can’t help but want to go for a ride!

With that said, our maiden voyage was not without difficulty.

Saturday we went for a 3 hour ride and Sunday we went for a 4 hour ride … but to give you an idea about our maiden voyage on Saturday, it took longer than Sunday’s 4 hour ride! Saturday’s ride started off well enough with me spending a lot of time really focusing on the fit. For example, I don’t like the aerobar pads that came with the bike because they are too slippery (I will be replacing those asap), but other than that I was surprised at how comfortable I was so quickly. About 2 hours into the ride, just as I was hitting my stride and excited to be headed back to the car, out of nowhere, I felt some resistance that I was not expecting … sure enough, I had a flat.

Seriously! On my first ride? Uggh.

I hopped off the bike with confidence to change the tire, not expecting the battle that was to come. The tire did not want to come off the wheel for anything in the world. I had to just laugh at one point because otherwise I probably would have cried. My fingers were blistered and the damn tire still would not budge. I have struggled with tires before but nothing like this! I finally got the tire changed right around the time my hubby showed up on a rescue mission. He brought the Continental GP 4000 tires I had purchased with the bike and that I normally ride and decided to go ahead and switch out the tire. He is a pro, so I decided to let him go for it, and even he said it was the hardest time he ever had changing a tire. That made me feel MUCH better. I hate the idea of being a damsel in distress (although technically, I had changed it all by myself, even though it took a friggin hour, thank you very much).

So, I am not sure if it the factory wheels or what, but I am anxious for my new race wheels to arrive to see how challenging they are to change (more to come on the wheels).

The good news is that my Sunday ride was fantastic! I switched out the aerobar pads and was infinitely more comfortable on Sunday and my GP 4000s performed flawlessly. I am getting used to changing gears on the aerobars and I am happy with the overall feel of the bike. I might need a few minor adjustments, but overall, I am thrilled with my purchase and how quickly the Tux has started to feel like an extension of me.