Gearing up- bikes and clothing

Well so far I have talked about how and why I got into cycling and what it means to me. But because I didn't get my blog done until AFTER I had been on a few rides, I will go back and report on our bikes and our first rides.

Setting ourselves up- clothing and bikes
After choosing our bikes and putting a deposit on them, Lisa and I had intended to wait until the end of the month when we had some payments in to pick up the bikes. But anticipation was burning away inside us and after looking at our credit cards- we figured we would pick them up now and get a head start on training.

The day before bike pickup day we had some things to do (shopping, work, etc) and Lisa brought some Netti shy shorts and leg warmers to wear on the bike. Lisa was a bit phased by the whole padded lycra shorts thing and opted for the less revealing option of the built in baggy over shorts. Combined with the leg warmers, Lisa was looking really good and she was surprised at how comfortable the gear was (she did the "try it all on at home and wear it around for a while" thing).

We also both brought BBB RaceShield winter gloves that are thin enough to wear under mitts (which we intended to buy later) so that should give us the option to change as the days warm up.

Cycling clothing for me was a total loss situation. No one had anything big enough to fit me so I was left with no option but to wear a crappy old pair of tracksuit pants that normally never leave home (you know the sort- loose and baggy that you throw on at the end of the day to vege out in). At this stage I figured I would have to search online for knicks to fit me.

The worst part was (or maybe it was a blessing in disguise) that while searching online for clothing, I saw all sorts of cool, retro cycling gear that didn't fit me, and that only served to make me want to drop the weight even more.

Sunday dawned and we eagerly walked down to Brunswick Street Cycles to pick up our bikes. Along the way we stopped in at The Melbourne Bicycle Center to buy a bike lock. The night before after doing some research online I settled on the ABUS Steel-O-Flex Raydo 1460 lock for everyday use. I figured that the high quality U-locks while being super safe, weigh a ton and for the majority of our locking duties (outside a cafe while we stop for lunch) is probably over kill.

We buy the lock and head on down to get our bikes and while waiting for them to bring them out we see they have the exact same lock here as well. Damn! We could have got it here at a discount (let that be a lesson to online store operators- keep your online stocks up to date, otherwise people will make decisions based on what they see online and you'll lose sales).

Finally our bikes are brought out to us along with the accessories we also purchased with the bikes, all fitted and ready to go.

David's bike-
Cat Eye Astrale 8 bike computer
Serfas E-Gel saddle
Rav-X Ergo X bar ends
Rav-X Cross X grips
And a MET Duello helmet for my head.

Lisa's bike-
Rav-X Ergo X bar ends
Rav-X Comfy X grips

They also threw on a free bidon cage on each bike (along with the obligatory BSC bidons) but I asked for black ones instead of the silvers ones they normally give away and we ended up with crappy plastic Giant ones. Oh well- I'll replace those with something a bit nicer in time.

After Matt from BSC makes some adjustments for us (levers, bars, seat, etc) we take them for a quick test up the side street. When we come back and Matt is adjusting the seat on my bike again with a Park multi-tool, I mention that I will be needing one of those myself and Matt just hands it too me and says- "keep it". Its service like that, that will keep me coming back time after time. Good stuff.

So we have our bikes with all the accessories fitted, Lisa has her gear on and now its time to head off on our first ride. I'll save that post for tomorrow (this one is long enough as it is!).

Gearing up- bikes and clothing