it's about time, or, shopping for a new bike, finale

so, there you go.
that's the bike:  a time nxr instinct, black and white with bright green accents.
it's mine mine mine mine mine!
it's beautiful, sleek, awesome, responsive . . . super light, fast, lively . . . and mine.

I've ridden it 4 times:  the snowy ride up toward dead horse point, a windy ride up the colorado river, the 4000' of climbing in arches, and a 52-miler two days ago.  every time has been terrific:  this bike is amazing.  what I love most is that when I really give it some power, it goes.  whether you call this "power transfer" or "responsiveness" or something else (I am not a bike geek!  I don't know these things!), this bike has it.
this, however, does not mean it goes any faster up the hills:  I, still, remain it's only power source and unfortunately I am not any newer, better built, or more expensive than I was a week ago.

so, the time is awesome.  I am thrilled to have it.  and the deal-closer (as I debated and wavered between the cannondale and the time) came in the form of a story and an analogy.  of course.
the story---complete with photographs---was about how time creates its bicycle frames.  ryan at contender showed me pictures of women (yes, most of this work is done by women, woo-hoo) weaving carbon fibers around molds, building the tubes of the frames.  ryan and his wife alison visited the factory in Vaulx-Milieu, France a few years ago where they received a tour and explanation of all that goes into a time bicycle frame.  the story was almost too much for me to absorb, but I did understand the point:  suffice to say they create works of art.  


I was swaying.
and then the analogy, where ryan basically tipped me into the time camp (be aware that ryan, all along, told me that the two bikes I was considering were so very similar that I couldn't choose incorrectly, given my riding pattern, goals, and so on) was this:
for old-fashioned me, who would rather live surrounded by beauty than efficiency, by hand-crafted works and creations than machine-generated anythings (except the keurig, and well, the washing machine, and okay, a few other appliances), he'd said the exact right thing to get me to choose the time.
so john got out his checkbook and bought me a fine example of french craftsmanship. 


cannondale is all about technology, and time is all about craftsmanship. 


which has already brought me untold pleasure, which I'm sure it will continue to do, and which I'm also sure I will continue to tell you about.

ps:  these posts are created using "times" font 

shopping for a new bike, part III

wednesday was cannondale day:  I took the evo supersix for a short ride.  I wanted to get a feel for descending, so climbed about 800 feet so that I could swoop a few times, around a few corners, down a straight line, get a sense of how it handles.
it handles quite nicely.  quite.  in fact,
it was much more fun than it was supposed to be . . .

you see, I had pretty much decided I was going to go with the time.  my tuesday ride on the time (the time trial time trial) was so good and the discussion I had with ryan at contender about the craftsmanship of time frames had convinced me that purchasing the time was the way to go.
and then I rode the cannondale again.
and that cannondale is---get ready for it, I have a big, perfect word here---zippy.
yep, zippy.
it was fun.
and zippy.

it felt great, it handled well, it cornered and swooped and sped up and moved with me and darn it all, it was fun and zippy.

sigh.
it's not like I can even say "I want them both," because they are too similar, they both do the same things, they are within centimeters of each other on a continuum of road bikes and their performance.  if I had them both, it would be a dilemma every day of which to ride.

I've learned in the last few years of my life the Big Secret of Decision Making and it is this:  the decision itself is usually far less important than just making the decision.  let me state that again.
the decision you make usually matters less than the fact that you made the decision.
the struggle and indecisiveness are almost always disproportional to the importance of the decision.
we overthink most every decision we make.
yes, or no.
this or that.
just do it.

so I left contender that day having made a decision.
the time, or the cannondale.  yep.  I had made my choice.  which one do you think I chose?