the new this and that.

thursday afternoon, I got a call from my mom: “did you order something?” -yea, but I’m not expecting it for another week.  it’s the bike.  “oh, well I think it came to the old house.  there’s a big box here but your name isn’t on it.  some desiree salvat or something.” -uh…hmm. well open it, it’s probably the frame.  she proceeded to open the box, and there it was.  a matte black and white cannondale supersix hi-mod.  the seller wrote my name out in cursive, and fedex retyped a printed label that had the wrong address as well as the wrong name on it.  I’m just glad it found the right person, eventually.  so there it is, in all of it’s beauty.  I’d say the frame itself is roughly 900 grams, it’s VERY light.  the tubing is massive, I compared the downtube on the supersix to the one on the caad track.  the supersix one is quite a bit larger.  there are no flaws on the frame, and all the components were removed carefully.  I found small blemishes here and there from rocks and bottle cages, but nothing major.  very stoked.  most of the components off of my caad9 will be swapped over, but I’m getting a couple new things:

- edge composites tapered road fork: I e-mailed the edge composites rep and he told me that they only make a 43mm rake in the 1.5″ lower bearing tapered fork they provide.  stock is 45mm, the same as the caad9.  but since the frame didn’t come with a fork, I saw this as an opportunity to test out the edge one.  43mm will give the same feel as the caad9.  I could probably order a stock cannondale supersix fork to match the bike but I feel like it’d probably cost around the same.

- deda zero100 stem: 130mm and 82*.  maybe I’ll opt for the ti bolts of the servizio corse, but is it really worth it? probably not.  and I’d think the regular one would be stiffer than ti.  I currently run a 120mm, 73* stem.  the deda one would give me a bit more upright reach.

- deda zero100 rhm bars: 42cm o-o, compact drop.  I’ve been wanting to try out some compact shallow drops.  attack mode!

- deda superzero seatpost: 31.6mm to accommodate the larger diameter seatpost slot on the frame.  more setback than the thomson I currently run, which is 16mm.  the deda seatpost is 21mm I believe.

and I think that’s it.

anyway, today I left for another alpine dam ride.  I’ve been avoiding any longer rides because of my custom insoles.  my pedaling is sloppy and my right knee taps my water bottle because of the collapsed arch.  hopefully ari from bespoke calls soon with good news.  I’d love to pedal with equal power but as it stands, my left leg is in much better shape than my right.  anyway, I left this morning feeling the same as I always feel.  a bit sleepy, but excited to ride.  not sure what I did differently last night/this morning, but I felt like absolute gold the whole ride.  once I passed fairfax, I had the whole road to myself.  the weather was warm and sunny, picture perfect.  I took a picture at the dam, but somehow my phone flipped out (SURPRISE, NOT) and it didn’t save.  what the HELL.

there wasn’t anyone on ridgecrest, 7 sisters, or even down panoramic highway.  some cars on 1 that I got stuck behind but that’s expected…I guess.  oh, I used my new tiger tail muscle roller a little while ago, after stretching.  I have to say, it’s absolutely great.  much more linear pressure on my legs, verses using my hands.  I can push the roller deeper and rock it back and forth to get the lactic acid out.  I knew they made those tools for a reason.

as a side note, my boy zain (therealzigzags.com – a pc gaming blog) got into a little accident today when an asian woman hit him front behind and wrecked his front wheel.  he is okay, and he got her information.  she blamed him for slipping in front of her car, but I highly doubt that happened.  zain didn’t just “slip”, he was hit from behind.  and when they go to court, I’m sure the jury/judge will be in favor of him.  glad he’s okay.  my vote has been cast, his new bike will be a pinarello, or something else high end in the road bike category.  maybe a look 586, or a wilier.  hmmm.