Everything SBR

I decided to give my blog a new look... and a new title. Instead of Happiness is a state of mind (which sounds more like an advertisement for alternative health treatment), I have decided to name it something more tri related. I'm not less happy... my mind in general, is mostly in a happy state. Just that most of my postings relate to triathlons, thought I'd better give it a more relevant title. So here's to my new looking blog, My TRIals in Life... Lil' sis did a splendid job with the banner... as I am hopeless with these things. Thanks sis, really appreciate it!

For the past two weeks, I have been volunteering myself as a lab rat for a UWA exercise science experiment (until my fingers are now numb from the blood samples extracted from them). A component of it is a VO2 max test that involves running 3 minute intervals on the treadmill (with one minute breaks in between each interval), and increasing speed after each interval. The highest speed I could sustain was 16kph for 3 minutes... I gave up partway through the 17kph one. My maximum heart rate for the 16kph was 185.

My VO2 max outcome was 76.6ml/kg/min (4.7 litres/minute). I'm pretty happy with that result. Considering that trained male athletes have an average of 70ml/kg/min and 7 times Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong's VO2 max is 85... so I'm only less than 9ml behind!

Oh... and the highlight of this post is...

Let me introduce you to Ah Rui...

Yeah, my cheesy attempt of following the herd by naming their beloved bikes. Why Ah Rui? I wanted to name it Rooey, but that seemed like a mouthful. So I thought a Chinese approach to a bike's name would be somewhat unique.

Yes... based on the encouraging comments to my previous post, I made the bold decision to purchase the bike from Total Triathlon. Here are the specs to my newly owned Quintana Roo Kilo 2006.

The service at this triathlon specialist store was much better compared to TBE. I had to set an appointment to get the bike fitted. Ian, the mechanic spent about 30 minutes fitting me onto the bike... as compared to TBE, where my measurements from the old bike were just transferred over.

A pair of Look Keo Classic pedals were initially just fitted on Ah Rui to let me give her a trial spin. But I had the intention of buying a new pair of pedals anyway. However, later on, while browsing through the store, I saw some cheaper options, including Shimano 105 and Shimano SPD.

So I just mentioned to David, owner of Total Triathlon store, saying that I didn't know that there were cheaper pedals available. He was reluctant to get the pedals switched as Ian was already busy bike fitting another person... triathlon and bike business here is amazing... there were 4 walk-in customer sales transacted during my 1 hour visit at the store! So David gave me a $30 off the pedals, to make it worth my while... and he threw in two complimentary water bottles as well!

Although the top bottle seemed a bit tight... I'll probably scratch the top stem each time I pull it out. Maybe I need smaller 500ml ones, rather than these 700ml ones.

So total damage to my wallet (or rather credit card for now) is AUD 1750 for the bike + AUD 100 (after deducting $30 off) for the pedals = AUD 1850.

I'm excited to take Ah Rui out for a ride! But that would have to wait until next weekend, as it is raining tomorrow. But at the same time, I'm a bit intimidated by the sudden change in the frame geometry and functions in handlebars. I'm even given an instruction manual to use the bike!