So, what’s the verdict?

Do you mean the new bike or the first TT of 2014?  Well….

   …Really enjoyed putting the new bike together although due to lack of time / dosh I’ve had to compromise a little on replacing a few of the parts in order to get it finished in time.  Here it is:

No chain and saddle at a funny angle - explained later!!

  Smart eh?  Next on the list is replacing the clip-on aero bars with something slicker and less clumsy but that’ll have to wait for a month or two. No front mech either – I was hoping to recycle my homemade chain retainer device thingy from the previous frame but it didn’t fit. Thing is, the chainline was really good in the gears I use the most so thought I’d be fine without one (Doh! See later!)

  Apart from the frame, the biggest change is probably the saddle – I’ve taken a bit of a leap of faith and decided to try one of those weird shaped Adamo saddles that lots of riders seem to be using.  ‘Sore arse’ etc is a common theme in these posts over the last couple of years and sometimes the thought of nether regions rubbed raw is more of a psychological barrier than the actual metabolic discomfort of riding TT’s hard. Believe it or not, I do actually enjoy the longer time trials but I’ve been so worried about being uncomfortable and in pain that it’s put me right off. So, I thought it was about time I addressed it.

A bit odd but lots of fellow testers swear by them!

  I have to say that the new frame immediately felt like a better fit, which should help, and fingers crossed the new saddle feels slightly more forgiving although I get the impression it might take a bit of tweaking to get it dead right.

  So, how does it ride?

  Well, stiff in a word (downright ‘harsh’ over the potholes!) but it feels really direct and slick. Before today I’d only ridden it up and down the street a few times and done a couple of short TT efforts on the turbo on it but it felt really nice.

  It was bloody freezing this morning with wintry showers but I thought it was time to see how it went for real, so I headed to the North Norfolk Wheelers ‘10’ at Horsford for a test ride...

 

  An amazing field for an early season club 10 – nearly 40 riders I think, in spite of the bad weather.  Too cold for a proper warm-up, so just a case of sitting in the car with the heater on full blast, a quick 10 min spin up and down the road to get used to riding down on the bars then off to the start.

3 – 2 – 1 – GO….

  Woohoo!! 

  Bit wobbly for a while then I got the hang of it and settled in.  Cold, wet and a stiff crosswind but I was really pleased with how well I was going. Had that really nice feeling where you don’t really feel like you’re pushing too hard on the pedals but the cranks whizz around usefully. Certainly can’t remember experiencing that at this early stage of the season before. An omen perhaps?

  As I overtook the rider who’d started ahead of me, he decided to turn his head to the right and spit… and despite some nifty avoidance maneuvers, I still ended up with a lump of gob on my tights.

  “Sorry mate!” he gasped as I came past, “didn’t know you were there!”

  “That’s alright….”

  Averaging just under 25mph out to the turn.  Felt like a good headwind component in the xwind on the way out so was looking forward to a quicker ride back – should get under 24 mins fairly comfortably….

  Once I’d settled down, I tried to analyse my position a bit. Well, the saddle was a smidge too high for a start… and waaaay too far forwards. And the bars felt too short as usual – I really must try to replace them asap.***

  It was very slippery around the turn (I found out later that a rider had crashed there earlier on and broken his shoulder) so I tiptoed round and headed back towards Horsford.  As I left the shelter of the trees, I really felt the tailwind kick in and dropped the new Trigger into top gear.

  Right, let’s go!!

  Clatter, clatter, clunk….. F**k it, the sodding chain has jumped off…

  I braked really hard and very nearly went over the handlebars!!  Calm down Andy, calm down…

  I jumped off & hooked a finger under the chain to drop it back on but it had wrapped itself around the rear brake calipers that are located near the bottom bracket on my new frame.  Arse, arse, arse!!

  I eventually got it back on – it’s always hard to know how much time you’ve lost – but it seemed like an age.  Throw a leg over, clip in and away you go again.  Then, bugger me, two minutes later I clattered a pothole and my saddle came undone, slipping forwards into a crazy angle! I managed to bounce my bum up and down on the tail of it a couple of times and it straightened up slightly but spent the rest of the ride pushing myself back with the bars in order to stay on. At this point my feelings were somewhere between hilarity & anger but eventually philosophical:

  “At least it happened here and not on a potential PB ride on a dual carriageway,” I reassured myself. And it was only supposed to be a test flight after all. Still didn’t stop me feeling effing pissed off though!!!

  24:21 in the end. Gutted, but without the stop & mechanical issues sub 24 would have been done fairly easily.  Fastest ride was 23:09 I think so my ride wasn’t too shabby I suppose.

  Pleased with the way I went despite this year’s radically different approach to training (still just two hours a week!) and more than happy with the new machine, just a few teething problems to address.
  Might have another week of hard stuff then back off for a while to let my body catch up and to see what sort of form emerges....

  *** I've since had a bit of a tinker with this on the turbo in my usual 'improvised' way. More info next post...

One of the most annoying things about riding this time of year is getting your bike filthy. Quick wash then up on the line to drip dry....