Thursday, January 19, 2006

Wed Jan 18, 2006 - 2:45 / 47 miles

First day of the A&F p/b Inferno Team training camp. I drove down to Athens GA early morning. I had a bit of stress as I needed to get my new Masi team bike put together before I could ride. Somehow I managed to get it completely together in just about an hour...including cutting the fork steerer tube....sweet! Special thanks to teammate Jim Baldesare for having a couple of the tools I didn't and helping out. The bike is beautiful. I seem to be a bit in-between sizes though. I am using a 53...which has an effective 55cm top tube. Just a little short for me so I need to switch out my 120 stem for a 130 and I think I will be set up just right.

Every time I change bikes I am meticulous about getting all the measurements from the old bike before even starting to set up the new one.....I have gotten to the point where I can set up a new bike with a tape measure in just a few minutes on the first try. I think I needed to stop only once to adjust my saddle height about 1 mm on the first ride. The lesson is to make sure you keep a good written record of every possible measurement on all bikes.

The Masi is great...aluminum front with a carbon rear triangle.....stiff and smooth...very nice.

We also got out new Verge team clothing. I did a bit of guesswork with the sizes I ordered...fortunately everything fits perfectly...I was a bit worried.

About 10 of us headed out for an afternoon ride. Chad crashed his brand new kit in the first 5 minutes....but he was not hurt and other than a slight wheel misalignment and some clothing damage no harm was done. It was windy and cool, but sunny as we wound our way around the rolling roads near Athens. Tomorrow will be the real ride of 5+ hours. Unfortunately I will only be here at camp with the team for 2 days as I head out to San Diego Friday for a training with power clinic at the OTC in Chula Vista.

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