2011 Trek Speed Concept 2.5

On Monday my legs were still sore from my half-marathon, so I did a super easy 10.37 mile recovery ride. 

Then on Tuesday I bought this:

SHIT JUST GOT REAL.

My local bike shop Bike Beat had a 2011 Speed Concept 2.5 on closeout, so I went in and checked it out. For those of you who don't know, triathlon bikes differ from standard road bikes in several ways. They're usually lighter, and the frame is more aerodynamic. On the front are aero bars (the two bars pointing forward on the front that my grandma says look like machine guns), which allow you to lean forward on your elbows and ride in a perfectly aerodynamic position. When you sit up on a road bike your body acts like a sail and slows you down significantly, so leaning forward with your back parallel to the ground reduces this drag. The tri bike I bought also runs all of the cables through the frame, instead of attached to the outside.

Riding in the aero position is also far more comfortable, which is crucial on longer rides. The bike portion of the Ironman is 112 miles, and it's extremely important to be as comfortable as possible before getting off and running a marathon.

They fitted the bike to me, which involves making a lot of minor tweaks: saddle height, saddle tilt, horizontal saddle position, handlebar stem length, aero bar width, aero bar angle, etc.. You wouldn't think these minor adjustments would make a big difference, but they absolutely do. It was sort of like getting an eye test at the optometrist: he would make an adjustment, then ask me whether it felt better or worse, and then make another adjustment. It took over an hour, and in the end the bike felt completely different than it did at the beginning. 

By the time I left there was just enough time to take it for a quick ride. It was only two loops around the neighborhood instead of three, but I set a PR for average speed: 7.03 miles at 19.5 mph. And it would have been faster if not for a slow first mile leaving my subdivision: after that my mile splits were 2:55, 2:45, 3:08, 2:50, 2:49, 2:55. More importantly the ride felt great, though riding on aero bars is going to take some getting used to.

On Wednesday I did a bike-to-run brick, and had a little tougher time. My legs felt sluggish and my stomach was bothering me, and I managed to hit almost every red light. My time wasn't as fast as the day before but I was still flying, averaging 18.9 mph over 10.31 miles. I zoomed past a pair of men on road bikes so fast that it seemed like they were standing still. 

I finally received my replacement Vibrams (the previous pair was too small), so after the bike I threw these on for the run. I felt nauseous for the first mile of the run, and couldn't keep my heart rate below 160, but things eventually settled down and the remainder of the 3 mile run was fine. One thing of note: the new shoes felt a little too snug with socks on, so I went barefoot in them. I can't decide if I like that more than with socks, but one of my left toes did feel like it was snagging on the inside fabric a little bit. I'll have to experiment with these some more to see how I feel.