My New Ride: The Valdora AC Tri Bike

I got the new Valdora AC Tri bike today. The one I won in the Beginnertriathlete.com (BT) contest. I’ve only ridden it about 5 miles. It’s awesome and made me wonder how I ever got by on a road bike with clip on aerobars for two years. The aero position on this bike is so much more comfortable! THANKS A MILLION VALDORA AND BT!!

If you read my earlier post from today, you’ll know about my my ongoing saddle saga. It’s actually a bit of serendipity that I went thru all that pain from that new saddle. When I sat on the Valdora, I immediately knew that the saddle it came with wasn’t going to work with my female butt. Several people on the BT website suggested the Terry Butterfly saddle. Luckily the bike shop had those in stock, so I got one of those. Feels great. Kind of expensive, but worth it if I can become one with my bike.

Here’s a pic of me getting the bike fit at Inside Out Sports in Cary, NC.   If you need a bike fit, Mike Beaman is the guy to go to!   The bike came with a Valdora bike jersey and padded bike shorts. I put those on for the fitting 🙂

And, I’ve already broken the bike in with a little crash. I was test riding it out of the LBS, and about a half mile into the ride, a DICKWAD driver was making an oncoming left turn and didn’t see me. I put my hand down to grab the brakes. Trouble was, the brakes weren’t where I expected them to be, because I’m just learning this bike. I did finally get my hand on the brakes but the reaction was delayed, so I had to really hit them hard. My back wheel skidded out and I crashed. The driver also stopped, so I didn’t get hit by the car, thankfully. But, the DICKWAD driver proceeded into the shopping center without even rolling his window down to check if I was okay. Another car who was waiting to turn out of the shopping center also proceeded on their merry way. I got up, moved to the sidewalk to inspect my brand new bike. There’s a little scratch on the brake lever, but otherwise the bike is okay. Later I noticed my knee was banged up. Otherwise, I’m okay too. All’s well that ends well, right?

Here’s the cost of my “FREE” bike:

$150.00….Labor to Build Bike:
$75.00…..Bike Fit
$139.99….Butterfly Saddle
$7.99….Water bottle cage
$9.99….Tax
$382.97….Grand Total

Of course, it would have been about $1300 more if I had to pay for the actual bike!