Bike trials
As a runner I know the only way to be faster is to train. As a triathlete I know the same goes for swimming. However, I also know there is a leg of the triathlon that can be improved with zero effort as long as you are willing to sacrifice a little cash.
I am currently riding a Trek 1.2 road bike. It is a fantastic bike, especially for the beginner triathlete. It is light and fast. The great thing about the bike is I am naturally built to ride. Running and swimming are somewhat challenging to me, but riding comes naturally. Rarely do I ever get passed when training.
On the rare occasion I get passed in training, or on the frequent occasion I get passed in a triathlon, it is by a Triathlon/Time Trial Bike. For those no familiar with these bikes they sound kind of like a jet engine coming up behind you and occasionally you see a streak of color pass you by as it rips your self confidence away.
In my last race in Lake Zurich these bikes were everywhere. Part of the course was open to cars. Every now and again you would think a car was coming up on you only to turn and see one of these monster bikes. What really got me was this short little overweight girl on a tri bike. I was clearly in much better shape than she was, I was clearly stronger than she was, and I clearly weighed more than she did. All of these factors should have had me flying past her. Instead I struggled to keep up with her and her tiny tri-bike.
I am a gadget fiend, so it was mearly a matter of time before I invested in a tri bike. I scoured eBay and found a lightly used bike in Michigan. Even better, I won the bike that has $3000 in almost new parts for less than $800. It was a steal. Or so I thought…
I paid for the bike right away with the understanding that I would cover shipping and packing. The auction listed a 5 day turn around to ship. WRONG. It took five days for this guy (who I will refrain from calling Bike Guy out of respect for my sister, who is a doctor) to take the bike to his “shop” to have it disassembled. Why disassembled? I have no clue. Why not take the wheels off, wrap it in bubble wrap and put it in a box? Did I argue? No. I’m a nice guy.
So then he writes me to let me know it will be TEN DAYS before the bike is packed and ready to ship. At this point the question pops up in my head, if this guy is going to sell the bike, why not have it packed BEFORE you sell it? So we are now at 15 days to ship the bike.
Four days into my 10 day waiting period this guy writes to me all freaked out. “PAYPAL WON’T GIVE ME MY MONEY, THEY’RE HOLDING IT BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TRANSACTIONS!!! WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP??” Apparently this guy wants me to waive my buyer protection on a used bike I have never seen and is not shipping for another week. My response: ship the bike and we’ll talk. Shockingly the bike is ready to ship three days early.
So now the bike hits the newest roadblock. The shipping company. I will not name names but they tend to ride around in brown trucks. This shipping company picks up my bike on Monday. It is only about 5 hours away so it is a one day turn around. Needless to say, I was rather excited yesterday. I tracked the package a few times, it was out for delivery. Like a kid waiting for a new toy I stood on the shipping dock at my company when I saw the brown truck pull up. They unloaded our boxes and to my chagrin, no bike. This has happened before with big boxes, sometimes they get left off the truck.
It was only one day so I was not too concerned. Then last night I get more emails from the seller. DID YOU GET THE BIKE? PAYPAL WON’T RELEASE MY MONEY UNTIL YOU GET IT AND LEAVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK! I informed him of the situation. No bike and definitely no feedback until I get the bike and am comfortable with it.
I woke this morning and was pumped again. I was ready to be out on the dock waiting for the brown truck. But alas, disappointment has struck again. It turns out the bike did not get left off the truck. In stead someone at the brown truck shipping company decided my bike needed a vacation. It looked stressed from all the bickering that has surrounded it. So they gave it an all expense paid trip to New Stanton, PA. Because what bike WOULDN’T want to go to New Stanton, PA.
Now that the little vacation is over my bike is finally on it’s way back West to me. At last stop it was in the thriving Metropolis of Middleburg Heights, OH. So I SHOULD have it tomorrow. Either that or it will be in New Mexico.