Spring is in the air...

Springtime just seems to have been delivered, one morning, out of nowhere - warm air, flowers, singing birds. Winter didn't really seem to happen this year. The cold and snow of 2012 have not returned. Being injured during the darker months of December and January has also meant i didn't get to do many night forest runs with the headlight on - something i relish - so i suppose that explains it all. Still, it's not a bad thing to take an afternoon off work and ride a new bike in the warm sunshine and 17°c in March !

My achilles problem which has plagued me since the end of October 2013 has finally subsided, leaving me free to run without pain or problem. I finally got to put my runners on  by March 5, which is almost 3 months without wear.

So what have i been doing ? Well,  i have managed to keep busy at the pool and swim at least twice a week, and also get a good few kms either on the Turbo trainer, or outside. PLus i now have the new Boardman 9.8 to ride around on. The dact that i it built myself simply adds extra pleasure to the ride. Well now not only do i have myself to blame if something mechanical goes wrong, but at least i can fix it myself!!

The frame is light, stiff, comfortable and very fast....even without the final luxury of new wheels (i am waitiing for the bank account to fill up again before a new set of zipp 404s can be bought). But for now i don't regret the time and effort of bargain hunting and haggling on troc-velo.com.
The Boardman has a SRAM red gear set up, with brand new SRAM force brakes, DEDA Presa bars,  and a FSA Carbon slk light compact crank set. The SRAM Red is quick, smooth, light and very comfortable to use - especially after many years with a 2008 Ultegra/105 mix - I would never have thought that the difference could be so great...

The only problem now is that Boardman framesets are going to get better, which is very very tempting - seeing the Brownlees win the Abu Dhabi Tri on the new AIr 9.8 TT doesn't help !
But for now i'm just enjoying every second i get out on the road - either riding or running.
It's going to be an enjoyable season... well, if i can stay injury-free !