I finally took my new Bike & Build bike on a test ride! Knowing that a winter storm was on its way, I left work before it got dark to ride my favorite nearby trail, the Kent Island Cross-Island Trail. Although I brought workout clothes to work with me to wear, I quickly realized the error of my ways when I hopped on the bike and started pedaling... boy, did my feet freeze up quickly! Next time, I shall remember to wear my thick SmartWool socks and not my thin work dress socks (sigh).
Check out those white handlebars!
Nevertheless, I toughed out the miles in below-freezing temperature and ended up putting on a solid 11 miles on my first ride. As you might know, I have 500 training miles to complete before I start on my Bike & Build journey, so now there are only 489 left to go!
By the way, coming from a mountain biking background, I'll first say that this Giant Defy 2 is a true work of art compared to the heavy, rugged frames that I'm used to. It takes so much less effort to get up to speed and cruise than on a mountain bike (even with road tires), which is fantastic on the paved Cross Island Trail. On the other hand, those bumps along the way sure hurt a lot more!
Bicycle Tuesday! Part 2! (a.k.a. "The Bicycle Strikes Back") (a.k.a. "Bicycle 2: Judgement Day") (a.k.a. "My Bike Has Arrived!!!")
My Bike & Build bicycle arrived yesterday! Although I felt bad for the delivery man who walked the box up to the second floor landing of our office, I was thoroughly excited to see the Giant box (bad pun intended...) finally here and in one piece!
Bicycle waiting to be unpacked in my living room.
While I couldn't just leave work to go assemble the bike, you can bet that I did the moment that I got home! Although I love to tinker and assemble new 'toys', thanks to the folks at Bokoo Bikes in Chanhassen, MN, the bike came almost fully assembled. All that I had left to do was to attach the handlebars, front wheel, seat, and pedals...
Bike out of the box, ready for unwrapping and assembly.
I've never made any You-Tube videos before, but on a whim, I decided to create my first-ever time lapse video of my bike assembly. The photos were taken at a 10-second interval and are replayed at a 0.5-second rate. Enjoy!
Finally, here's the bike! By the time my trip is done this summer, she will have over 4500 miles on her. Not bad for a bike that's only 7 months old! Now I need to find some time to start riding those 500 training miles...
Fully-assembled 2014 Giant Defy 2
On another note, I made a quick bike fitting using Competitive Cyclist's Bike Fit Calculator. While I will still be getting my bike properly fitted by my local bike shop before the trip, this online tool is a great aid in getting your bicycle roughly-fitted to your body measurements. If you've never had your bike fitted (and I mean more than picking the frame size), I highly recommend that you check it out!
I just got word yesterday afternoon that my summer steed, a Giant Defy 2, is on its way! I'll say that my mountain bike is definitely looking forward to having a sleek and light-weight younger brother to keep it company (or is it sister? I don't know yet!). Thanks goes again to Giant Bicycles for helping with the price of our bicycles as a B&B corporate sponsor, to Bokoo Bikes for assembling and packaging our bikes and providing great deals on gear, and to all of you who have donated to the cause so far!
A new bicycle is on its way!
As the summer gets closer, I can only manage to get more and more anxious about wanting to get out on the bike and on the road. While I cannot yet even begin to imagine what my summer is going to look like, I can say that it will be very hot, exhausting, filled with hard work, and (most importantly) incredible. If nothing else, I am excited to find out what's in store!
After first making a map of my bicycle's shipping route, I got on the map kick and decided to map the Bike & Build Southern US (SUS) 2014 route! Sadly, MapMyRide decided to crash and not to save the route, so I'll have to make it again another time, but I did get a nice screenshot first!
