Trinity A1--My new best friend

I dropped by my local bike shop today. Ohhhhhh, man. I found the bike I think. One of my students who is a major bike aficionado and is the VP the WVU cycling team pointed me in the direction of the one I looked at today. It is a Tri bike that has a lot of standard Aero gear (including Aero bars) and it's not incredibly expensive. The decision is do I get a regular road bike now and then buy a Tri bike later, or just spend more and get the Tri bike now. I'm leaning towards getting the Tri bike now as my schedule has me doing 2-3 Half Ironmans next year.

Ok, so get ready for some boring cycling talk. If you're not interested, just skip to the end :)

The bike is a 2008 Giant Trinity A1. Here are two pictures I took at the shop (click on them for bigger pictures):




The listed price is $1799.00, but the guy I spoke with is a friend of a friend so he says $1,500-$1,600 is doable. Here are the specs. It has an aluminum/carbon blend frame and I can literally hold it over my head with one hand because it is so light. It has 42mm Aero rims with a full composite fork. Shimano 105 hardware with Shimano Ultegra Rear Derailleur and Shimano Dura-Ace Shifters.

I think I'm in love....sorry Steph.

Now on to the really cool part about this. So remember I wanted folks to give me cash instead of gifts this Christmas so that I can buy this bike? The idea was that I would then have 'everyone' with me on the course while I train and then eventually when I race. That is, since you bought it for me, you'll be with me when I ride it.

Well, Steph and I were talking yesterday and to make it even cooler, we decided that it would AWESOME if people who are helping me buy this would write their name or a message on the bike. You could draw a picture, whatever you want. The only caveat is that Steph gets the spot directly below my line of sight so that I can always see what she's written. Other than that, you can write/draw what you want. Anything :)

I didn't get a chance to ride it today, but will do so next week. The bike is sized for me (we figured this out today). Next week will be the determining factor, but it seems to line up pretty nice with my body so far.

Welcome to my new obsession!!!

5 down today, 20 tomorrow.

Woot!!!
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