just made the switch

I don't know if it burns more calories or not, but

my braking muscles got a better workout on the way downhill than ever before yesterday.

my ab muscles, yes my abs, gave out on the way up the hill -- so they must be getting a better workout on this new bike.

I didn't run out of gears on the way up the hill on my new bike. Old bike doesn't have enough gears for hills. old bike also doesn't have enough air in my lungs for up hills. This was not an issue on new bike yesterday -- well, not nearly as much, and when the cold given to me by the booger king goes away, all should be well! This means more hill climbing for me! (though new body position makes me a bit more nervous going DOWN hill, thus the better work out for braking muscles!)

This will sound a little silly: it's easier to work harder on this bike. It's easier to cruise along say one gear higher than I'd normally want to ride on the comfort-beast.

I don't think I'm working this bike to its capabilities yet, I'm still getting to know her and how we work together. She calls me to ride. I enjoy riding my other bike too, but that one has never called me like this one does.

Pooks, the hardest thing for me to do choosing this first road bike (shhhh, don't tell DH I called her my first) was look beyond the paint (when we looked at the Allez, the paint job had me cringing inside, even though the bike felt really good!) and concentrate on the features -- that triple was really important to me, shift mechanisms, etc. (and the double/triple debate that's been going on: I am really GLAD to have that triple!) I feel like I really lucked into the pretty part!

Karen in Boise