Nothing Finer

...It Begins. That's right boys and girls. I finally started building up a new bike for the upcoming season. After (literally) a year of scrutinizing over which frameset would serve as the perfect foundation for my new triathlon race bike, I finally settled on the Cervelo P2-SL. It's the perfect blend of aerodynamic tubing with a geometry perfect for my freakshow long-legged, body. It's lighter than most, and it's nimble. Like me. As you can see, the stock fork from Cervelo had to go, as the Easton EC-90 Aero, which is full carbon from the steer tube to the dropouts, offers a far superior alternative. It will be a gradual building process during the off-season months, but rest assured that you, Oh Loyal Followers of The Daily Grind, will be updated frequently.

In other news, I wanted to hand out the usual Kudos. This time to Tammy, Steven, and A.Maria for going out on a limb and posting their big goals for 2006 in response to my last post. Come on... I know there are more of you out there in blogger-land biting your fingernails, thinking about the race season next year. Go ahead, post your goals, share your thoughts and join the group! Oh, and while I've got the bag of Kudos out, I'd also like to forward some traffic over to Lucas' new blog. Lucas dropped me a line after reading some of my coaching comments over on Beginner Triathlete and we started chatting a bit about sport. As it turns out, we'll both be competing at the Timberman 70.3 this year, and so at least right now I know for sure there will be one person I know on the sandy beach the morning of August 20th.

Last week was the first real week of base work. Lots of miles on the bike without moving a single inch, plenty of swimming, healthy amounts of running, and a side order of weights work. Needless to say, by the time Saturday's hour plus trail run came around, I was feeling it in the body. But within only a few minutes of romping, I found my base rythym out on the trail, and once again enjoyed that stateless dreamscape of running. The trails were covered with only the lightest sprinkles of snow, and my mp3 players seemed to know exactly what songs to put out... Even on shuffle mode. Sunday was even better, as I perfected my surfing technique on the sofa and in front of the television.

This morning found me in the pool working on technique and, yup base. I routinely swim at one of two pools in my immediate neighborhood. Both are high school pools, and both are very nice. But one chooses to save costs in the winter by keeping the pool temps slightly below ideal, while the other chooses to save costs in the winter by keeping the shower temps slightly below ideal. And so every morning I have to make a decision: Cold pool? Or cold shower? This morning, I chose cold pool. Brrrrrr.

Stay warm out there.