New Bikes; Big Mountains
Recently, I started working at Fairwheel Bike shop in Tucson. I only
work there a few hours a week, and help out in the shipping room. In
return, I get hooked up with cycling product at cost, which is a lot
cheaper than I’d be paying for it normally. When I started cycling a
couple of years ago, I noticed a Cervélo Soloist frame hanging on the
wall at Fairwheel. At the time, it was way outside my price range,
and I wasn’t cycling seriously enough for that type of investment in a
bike. But now that I’m on a competitive team, and the frame got much
cheaper, I decided to get it. After getting the frame, the mechanics
at Fairwheel showed me how to build up a bike. I spent the next two
days building the bike up (pictures attached). After the bike was done, I took it out for some hill repeats out new
Gates Pass. The repeats were hard, about 10 minutes long, 2 miles
from bottom to top, and the bike handled really well. I was still
getting used to it though, the geometry is a lot different from my old
bike. It’s a lot lighter, and way more responsive. So then I took it
out the next day to do about 40 miles on flat ground and just see how
it rode. The aero seat tube is a quite a bit stiffer than I’m used
to, but the bike handled really well. So on Saturday I decided to put it to the test. We rode out to Mt.
Lemmon, and up it to Summerhaven. Mt. Lemmon is a 6000ft ascent over
27 miles. It’s a long, tough ride to the top. It took Bill and I
about 3 hours to get from the base to the summit. The bike did great
climbing. The power transfer from pedals to gears seemed really
smooth, the bottom bracket was nice and stiff while I was really
hammering the pedals. On the way down it did even better. The
Cervélo Soloist has a massively oversized bottom bracket shell, which
really lowers the center of gravity for the bike. We probably
averaged 45mph on the descent, and the bike felt like it was glued to
the road, even during tight cornering. I can’t even begin to explain how exciting it is to be on a
professional level bike now. Hopefully it’ll help us with our racing
goals too!
@1 year agowork there a few hours a week, and help out in the shipping room. In
return, I get hooked up with cycling product at cost, which is a lot
cheaper than I’d be paying for it normally. When I started cycling a
couple of years ago, I noticed a Cervélo Soloist frame hanging on the
wall at Fairwheel. At the time, it was way outside my price range,
and I wasn’t cycling seriously enough for that type of investment in a
bike. But now that I’m on a competitive team, and the frame got much
cheaper, I decided to get it. After getting the frame, the mechanics
at Fairwheel showed me how to build up a bike. I spent the next two
days building the bike up (pictures attached). After the bike was done, I took it out for some hill repeats out new
Gates Pass. The repeats were hard, about 10 minutes long, 2 miles
from bottom to top, and the bike handled really well. I was still
getting used to it though, the geometry is a lot different from my old
bike. It’s a lot lighter, and way more responsive. So then I took it
out the next day to do about 40 miles on flat ground and just see how
it rode. The aero seat tube is a quite a bit stiffer than I’m used
to, but the bike handled really well. So on Saturday I decided to put it to the test. We rode out to Mt.
Lemmon, and up it to Summerhaven. Mt. Lemmon is a 6000ft ascent over
27 miles. It’s a long, tough ride to the top. It took Bill and I
about 3 hours to get from the base to the summit. The bike did great
climbing. The power transfer from pedals to gears seemed really
smooth, the bottom bracket was nice and stiff while I was really
hammering the pedals. On the way down it did even better. The
Cervélo Soloist has a massively oversized bottom bracket shell, which
really lowers the center of gravity for the bike. We probably
averaged 45mph on the descent, and the bike felt like it was glued to
the road, even during tight cornering. I can’t even begin to explain how exciting it is to be on a
professional level bike now. Hopefully it’ll help us with our racing
goals too!
