ALLISON MANN

Due to some unforeseen circumstances last weekend Justin wound up needing to build up my 2011 Specialized S-WORKS Epic (26!) for me to ride this week.  This baby is niiiice!

Cockpit

Trying out a demo saddle from Rock N’ Road – the Romin.  So far so good.

Stoked to have the Ergon GA1 grips on board, as well as the Garmin Edge 500 (soo easy to switch around bike mounts!).  Sadly, no CycleOps Power Tap for me as there currently isn’t a hub with the 142mm+ spacing available.  BUT, I guess sometimes it’s good to let go of the information and data and JUST RIDE.

First singletrack…oh so sweet

Justin and I are up for new prescription lenses for 2011, so we were testing out the Oakley G30 lens tint. MONEY.

JRA on a beautiful afternoon…

You can hardly tell I’m in excruciating pain!

I kid, of course.  (Sort of.)  The foot is…well, it’s the foot.  Sometimes it hurt, sometimes it didn’t.  Sometimes it just felt hot and inflamed.

The bike was amazing, as I knew it would be. Justin built it straight out of the box, and just added my Ergon grips, old seat post, demo saddle, and Crankbrother’s pedals.  Weight without the Garmin or bottle came in about 21.5lbs.  For the race set-up the pedals will be a little lighter I think, with Roval Control carbon wheels, Leichtbau GA1 grips, lighter seat post, lighter saddle, and I might even go with my half-finger gloves – I jest!

Overall, super satisfied with the bike of course. Need to add some more air to the suspension for racing and dial in the fit with Mike McCovich over at Max Performance Bike Fit, but otherwise everything is ready to go!  Was having a blast floating over the small ruts and rocks leftover from the recent storms, and the dirt was in stellar shape.

Couldn’t ask for a better bike, afternoon, or riding partner!

And, just for kicks…here’s the 09 Epic, still going strong, on its first ride – also out at Vail Lake

Thanks to Ben for the title quote; I have been using it start every ride lately.