Cervelo S2

So I always get buyer's remose. Always. I'm also horrible with decisions. It can be anything from a new dress to a new car, I'll always question my choice. Actually, I spent WAY more time researching a bike purchase than I did a car purchase. When I bought my brand new car at 21, I thought, "I like it, I want it, I'm buying it." I did. (and paid it off in three years thank you very much!) But purchasing things has always been tricky. Growing up where money was always tight, having worked since 14 years old, and working two jobs in college- I know the value of a hard earned dollar. To drop a pretty penny on a bicycle, most would think is pretty silly.

I was at a dinner with some friends when I brought up the question, if you could spend $3000+ on a material item (not to pay off a bill or go on a trip) what would you buy? Several suggested, a nice computer, entertainment set, new furniture, etc- most thought I was crazy to even consider that much for a bike (I ended up spending more than that but I'll get to that in my $$$ post)

I'm justifying out loud here, I don't have a mortgage, only need to work 2.5 more years to have all my student loans paid for, don't have kids and am not planning a wedding anytime soon (More to come in a relationships post) I would not want a fancy diamond engagement ring (if I find somebody who would buy me one :)-again, I'll leave that one for a relationships post) nor would I really need a fancy wedding dress. Most my furniture is second hand, and I made the commitment to not go crazy on new cute clothes this year. (But I do like cute dresses) So basically, I can afford this.

I think of it as an investment. I made the choice on a bike that will be versatile and that can be upgraded if I want to later. So back to bike shopping. I've enjoyed the process way more than I thought. I finally went with purchasing with Get a Grip Cycles. http://www.getagripcycles.com/

Ken, Christian, and Adam were all awesome. They spent a TON of time with fittings, and adjustments and more adjustments, and emails to help me make a good choice.

I did look at other vendors and models, and ended up test riding four different bikes (not just the bikes sold at Get a Grip) and think I made a decent choice. Yes, I probably overpaid, but not going to think about that. I'm happy with the purchase. I ended up going with the Cervelo S2- with clip on aerobars. I decided that based on the races I'll be doing, I wanted a bike that could both be a road bike, and give me the aero position if wanted for strong headwinds. I don't intend on winning anything when I do triathlons- and my number one priority was efficiency and comfort. I hope I found it. (I did go back between TT/Tri bike vs Road bike- and I'm sure I'll have moments of "should have gotten the Tri bike"- but I think I'll be pretty happy with my choice)

So the Cervelo S2 purchased at Get a Grip- with the ISM Road Saddle and Profile T2 aerobars is what I went with. I also bought the stainless steel speedplay zero pedals and new Sidi Shoes (the speedplay allows to adjust for a more efficient stance I guess?)- I purchased those through performance bike- and through my membership points ended up saving a good amount of $$ (like $130 :) ) Oh and the red tape was an extra $18 but couldn't resist :) Gotta admit it's a damn good looking bike :)

All in all, I can't wait to take it out for a spin. I've been working on improving my bike, still a lot of work to do, but I'm really hoping that I can feel improvement once I start to get on the road / on the courses :)