Steve Quick was at the shop for a fitting on his TT bike and helped to unload her bike. I think most women would enjoy his help with their frame...haha
So here is one that I am super proud of. Kathleen is a triathlete who I have known for a couple years and as long as I have known her she has worn pink and tried to "pink out" her QR which unfortunately (not for me though) did not fit her at all. I think she first thought custom was out of her range but after looking at it all we figured out a way to make it work...as in showing her how she can live off of no food or gas for a month. haha No seriously.
So we picked out the frame, a Guru Magis which is a carbon frame that can work with the paint color she wants...PINK! But not ALL pink. We had to throw in some white to go with it. We choose the ultra reliable Ultegra SL components and went all out on the aero set up. Also of course we did out little ceramic bits with some little pink tricks.
The best part of this story is we broke the BIGGEST RULE in triathlon racing. NEVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER NEVER NEVER EVER EVER race something new on race day...let alone a whole new bike! I LOVE IT! I have done it before and will do it again. Custom works and when its right its right. Kathleen's frame came in from Guru at 1:45 pm on Thursday...as in the Thursday before Redman Half Ironman on Saturday. My friend and team mate Steve Quick pulls it out of the box and of course we start in on it right away. Just after 2pm Jon and Kathleen show up wondering if she will race on the Magis or on her old 2 gear working QR. By 5pm this was built and by 6pm she was fitted and loaded up in the car and off to OK for Redman. I triple checked every bolt on that thing as I knew the risk involved here but I have done it before and it has worked every time and with the condition of her old bike we did not have much choice. So Friday's ride report was pretty good, nice ride and nothing hurt or alerted anything. All systems go for Saturday. Saturday came and from another friend there I was getting info that they might cancel or start late due to weather and flooding. The race went on with a mandatory bike dismount in the flooded areas. WOW! Later that day while I was working in the shop with some friends I get this text message saying that the bike was awesome and that she had a 21 minute PR. OH YEAH!!!! TAKE THAT NAY SAYERS! Now, lets just be real here, her bike split was slower than before, the Cyclo Cross style tri did not make for fast splits but her run was very fast. Which if you have ever read this blog or followed my tri bike fitting philosophy you would know that while I know you will be faster on the bike...I look for faster run splits on race day before I say I have "delivered" to my clients what they came to me for. She was excited and loved it and also happy to be able to shift all her gears. haha
Look for her to get used to the new position and dialed in and start to realize her full potential. She trains hard and puts in the work...she may have bought some speed but she earns her AG placings!
Rock On Kathleen!
No comments:
Post a Comment