White is the new black

Took delivery of the new Harrell's Bicycle World team bike and it is pretty sweet. The team currently rides Scott CR1 SL's but decided to upgrade to the Scott Addict R4. I chose to stay with the full Campagnolo Record Carbon Group and as well as Zero Gravity Ti brakes but moved away from the anatomic bend handle bars in favor of the traditional bend. I chose the Deda Newton shallow drop bars and stayed with the Ritchey WCS 4Axis aluminum stem. Instead of the Specialized Toupe saddle, I decided to give the Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbon Flow saddle a try and first impressions have me thinking this will be a keeper and will replace the Toupe on my trainer/back-up bike. With the Zipp 404 tubulars, the complete bike weighs 14.4lbs. I just knew the bike was going to come in under 14lbs but oh well.

First ride impressions - WOW!!! I love the look of the bike. The Tarmac SL is half the stiffness and twice as harsh compared to this bike. It is quiet, comfortable, and every bit of power is transferred to the road. Might be the placebo effect but I felt as though I was riding 1 - 1.5mph faster and could ride in the drops for hours at a time. With the shallow drop bars, the reach is shorter and therefore, I had to move to a 120mm stem. I think I need to remove a spacer or two as the bars are definitely higher due to the additional 10mm in length. I'll give it a week or two and see if I'm producing the same or higher power and make a decision at that point.

As far as training goes, I'm almost through with the lead-out intervals and will start the V02 work at the end of the week. My first training race is 3 weeks away so I think I'll be in decent shape. CTL should be in the 70's by the first race. No taper as my focus is to be in form for April and again at the end of August - SC Crit Championship in April and SC RR Championship in August.