Anticipation

Sitting and waiting on my frame and parts to arrive is starting to wear on me. I am so anxious to get back on the bike that I find myself checking the UPS tracker several times a day even though I know that the stuff won't be here until Monday. On the good side, I know that everything is going to come in the next couple of days and that I should be riding by the end of the week at least. My Speedgoat order is scheduled to arrive on Monday afternoon so I am planning on treating it with Framesaver on Monday afternoon and letting it sit over night. Hopefully I can find some time on Tuesday afternoon to go by one of the shops and have the headset cups pressed in. It is tempting to do this myself with a cheap homemade press like this one but this headset isn't cheap and I don't want to screw it up. If I can get that done Tuesday then I should have time to assemble the rest of the bike on Wednesday afternoon. It is possible that I can get it built in time for a quick trip to the trail on Wednesday evening but even if I don't I should be back in the woods by Thursday afternoon. I went by the shop today and got Gennie for the afternoon so I could steal some parts. Now that I have those, all that I need are the handlebars and the stuff from the Speedgoat order. I can't wait to have this thing up and rolling. It has been almost six weeks since I have been on a mountain bike ride which is way to long to be off the bike. The guys at Cycling Spoken Here this morning said that Trek had lost my paperwork and that they had to resubmit the claim so who knows how long that is going to take. Fortunately, I don't have to wait on them any longer.

Once this project is complete, I guess I will have to start waiting on the '08 road bikes to come out. They had a new Madone at the shop this morning that was a really sexy bike. I haven't really been that interested in Trek but that bike definitely caught my interest. Then I saw the $3500 price tag. So it looks like a Specialized, Orbea, or maybe a Felt. Or it could be something totally different. Specialized and Orbea are my favorites right now. Specialized makes a good bike and they are definitely popular, but I am not a big fan of the giant corporation or having a bike just like everybody elses. Also, it looks like Specialized prices are going up in 2008. Then new Roubaix Comp is up to $2400 from $2200 last year. It looks like the only difference in the bikes is the paint color. I guess I will wait and see what they do with the Tarmacs. It is hard to beat the support of the smaller companies like Orbea where you can call them with a question have someone actually answer the phone and talk to you. Not that Orbea is that small but they are compared to Specialized. I am trying to support the small guys with this SS project and it is nice to not get lost in the crowd (see Treks warranty process). On the other hand, Orbea bikes are not as common and it is going to be hard to find one to test ride. The spesh is a relatively known commodity having ridden both Tarmacs and Roubaixs, although neither in my size. Hopefully one of the two will come out with a really sweet bike that blows the other out of the water so my decision will be easy.