It's here!!!!

The bike has finally arrived! And just in time for the Woodlands CB&I Triathlon. This gives me one week to get used to shifting in the aero position and recover from being incredibly saddle sore. I didn't think Saddle soreness would be a problem. I've ridden for years and have never really had that big of an issue with it. However, there are certain things that can be an issue for a guy if the saddle isn't just right, and I've been told that switching to an Adamo saddle would probably be the best thing for me. So I switched. The traditional saddle supports your frame on a single thin saddle nose down the center... and the Adamo has a "split" nose that spreads the support out towards the outside of your... well... "contact area". It felt a million more times comfortable right off the bat, but the next day was a different story. The first rides of the season are rough and you can expect to be sore, but it has progressively gotten easier because my body has become used to it. Well this was a brand new position for my saddle and my body definitely let me know that it did not see that one coming.
The next piece of equipment I am excited about trying out is my new Louis Garneau Tri shoes. I found a pair of size 50 tri shoes on Ebay, and they were relatively cheap compared to your average retail tri shoe... only $120. (Seriously, shop around, you will see... that's about half price) So I took a gamble and ordered a pair without ever trying them on. I knew I would be pretty close on the size because I was finally fitted correctly. The shoes themselves are perfect. I have never ridden with a pair of prand new, comfortable, no hassle shoe before, and I am perfecty satisfied with these shoes. There is one large velcro strap to get in and out of the shoes quickly, they are lightweight, and they are well ventilated so your wet foot can dry out on the bike ride, yet they provide plenty of support. The process I chose to purchase these shoes however is regretable. If you click on the link above for the shoe, you can see that these shoes are available straight from the website. This is always the best way to purchase new gear online. Ebay/craigslist should be used as a last resort for times when you know exactly what you want, and you know you can get a great deal. I do not recommend shopping on Ebay for retail items than can be purchased for the same price straight from the source. All you are doing is adding another link in the chain, and another opportunity for something to go wrong. This is what happened to me. I saw the shoes on Ebay and got excited. They had the size I was looking for, and being that a size 50-52 is a difficult size to find n the first place, when i saw that this guy only had one pair left, I paniced and hit buy it now. If I had taken the time and done the research like i did before writing this article, I would have found that I could buy these shoes straight from LG for the same price and not had to worry about wether or not this Ebay schmuck would follow through with the order. I say that because I realized very quickly how horribly wrong this entire deal could have gone south about 3 days after i purchased the shoes. I clicked "buy it now" on a Wednesday and by friday i still had not even received a confirmation email from 2wheels77. (Yes this is his real Ebay username and he does operate a real life Ebay bike store) So i sent him an email and asked him if he received my order, he sent back a one line email response that said... "Thx, rec'd order will ship out by next Tuesday. Rgds" I saw this and about 50 questions popped into my mind. Was he saying thanks for notifying him that he had a sale? Had he forgotten? Had he just not paid attention? Or was he just being patronizing and saying don't worry, I'm gonna ship it out. Either way, that answer wasn't good enough for me. It had been three days, it is his job to contact me first, and if he DID ship it out the following tuesday, THAT'S ALMOST A WEEK... If you run an Ebay store, it shouldn't be that hard to ship out a show box in no more than 2-3 days (especially if that's what your ad claims.) So the timeline he gave me was unacceptable from the beginning, and then... HE DIDN'T SHIP THE SHOES UNTIL THURSDAY!!!! If you're going to promise something, have the professionalism to follow through or at least communicate to the buyer any issues that might be causing a delay. I had a brand new bike sitting in my house, no shoes to ride it, and a triathlon a week a way. I was beginning to think that this guy was gonna keep me from participating in the first race of my season. So then i started reading his feedback... (I know... a little too late) and I saw the exact same thing happening to a handful of other people. Apparently this guy advertises on Ebay a lot of stuff that he doesn't even have in stock, and if it sells, he goes and gets it and then ships it to you. There were comments about never receiving the goods, filing claims with the Ebay dispute center, and fighting to get money returned. There was a lot of positive feedback as well, but apparently you have to get lucky and buy something he has sitting there ready to go and waiting on his shelf. Needless to say I was really getting nervous. The shoes finally arrived and I love them. I got lucky.
Well that's all for today, I'll write more about the bike later. I want to take it for more than the two rides i've had before I do a review. But I will say this... WOW!!!! In the meantime... Enjoy the pictures.
PS I have a nice watch tan to keep me smiling through the day at work... Yeah Spring!