My new bike!

I did it... I've gone crazy!

I just got a new road bike today, from Joo Ngan's Bicycle Center. It's a TREK 1000 model, an entry level road bike. FYI: TREK is the main sponsor, and the bike of choice for Tour de France seven time winner, Lance Armstrong. Here's how it looks like.

I will not divulge on how much I paid for it, but suffice to say, I'm now unofficially broke lah. So that will put a hold on my gadget craze for a very, VERY long time. But I'm glad I bought it. I will finally get into cycling again, but this time, even more seriously. I hope to be able to race with it too, with duathlons and hopefully one day, triathlons as well.

Greg went with me this afternoon to get the bike, and he showed me basically how to dismantle the wheels and put the frame in the back seat of my car. Quite a tricky procedure in itself. When I got back home, I was waiting in bated breath to assemble it myself.

Front wheel... no problem. Just put it in, lock the brakes quick release lever, and lock the wheel.

Back wheel... BIG problem! I don't know how to fit the back wheel back with the chains! Eventually, I managed to fit the wheel back with the chains into the sprockets, and that itself took me 15 minutes! I had to study the picture of the road bike, from a book I bought called The Complete Bike Book written by Chris Sidwells. It's a good book for beginners and intermediate riders on bike anatomy as well as maintenance.

Then, without further ado, I took it for a short ride around my taman (which is basically one small little loop). It took me a few rounds before I got the hang of starting off pedalling, playing with gears (that I still have to practice some more), braking and just the general feel of riding a bike again. Ahhh, the feeling was nothing short of exhilirating! I can't wait to take it out for a longer ride in the next day or two! The bike itself was such a nice ride, but I'll still need to get used to the light-weightedness of the bike (compared to the bike I used to have back in high school). But that's the nature of these entry-level road bikes, with greater technological advances, bike manufacturers can use lighter materials for the bike frames.

Well, since I'm unofficially broke, if anyone got some gigs (paid ones only please!) that need a saxophone/flute, don't hesitate to call me! Thank you very much! LOL!