Souplesse

2012 will be the year of Souplesse on the bike. Did you know I was a French major in college and studied in Aix-en-Provence? True story. If you read the piece on Souplesse I linked above, you'll see that cycling "souplesse" is a sort of one-ness with the bike that most roadies probably think us triathletes sorely lack. In some cases (mine!), they may be correct. I'm the climber with the wiggly hips, the audible sigh, the death grip on the bars choosing the squiggly line.

In 2012 that's going to change. I will channel style, grace, and stillness on the bike. My riding partners might be laughing right now because there is quite a long way to go. But, the project is underway, and it's starting with the bikes...

If you had three cups of coffee and nothing to do, you may have made it to the section of my blog post on going pro where I mentioned that I'm going to be riding one of these in 2012:

Cannondale WOMEN's Slice

Remember when I rode a borrowed Slice at Oceanside 70.3 in 2010 and got my first Kona spot?

My borrowed rig with "fake" Zipp 808s (we got ripped off on craigslist but thats a whole different blog  post :)

Even though I know I was a better cyclist in 2011, my PR on the Oceanside course was set on the Cannondale Slice in 2010...hmmmmm.....On that day in 2010, on that borrowed bike, I felt more "at home"on a bike than I ever have. Clearly, the Slice must be my bike soul mate and I'm excited to be reunited and get some one-ness with my bicycle. I'm quite sure that feeling in touch with my Slice will most certainly help in the Souplesse department.

If you can't tell, I'm beyond excited to be supported by Cannondale Women's bicycles and can't wait to ride the s$%t out of some bikes the next couple of years (WHOA, that was not very souplesse-like). My Cannondales will also be SRAM equipped with better components than I've ever had the pleasure of riding. The soft clikety click of SRAM Red will most certainly help me to shift with grace and ease, right?

My Slice hasn't arrived yet, but I did just receive a super pretty road bike that will be all set to go for the Coast Ride next weekend. Heading to Studeo DNA to get all dialed in and then we'll be ready to party pedal gracefully- can't wait to get some pics of the newest addition to the Walsh family! I don't really name my bikes, but if I were going to name this roadie, I think she'd be called Souplesse.