Starting to Build my Bike

Yesterday was my first run after my long 22 mile run.  My legs still felt very fatigued in the beginning of my run, but they felt better towards the end run when started to pickup the pace.  After my five mile run yesterday, I started to finally build my bike.  I have all the parts expect the chain and cables which are still in the mail.

 I changed out the cassette on my race wheel set since my road bike is 9 speed and this bike is 10 speed.  I installed the stem, base handle bars, seat mast, and seat.  The temperature was starting to dip into the 40's, so I called it a night.    

Tonight I installed the crankset and pedals.  I have not installed a crank in years, but thanks to youtube, I was able to learn how to install my crank properly.  I was worried about installing the crank since I got the crank slightly used online, but it turned out everything was fine.  One thing I learned fast about this bike is the frame has very tight tolerances.  When I first installed the rear wheel, the tires were touching the frame.  The picture below shows the crank arms and chain rings less then an inch away from the frame.  

 I was so excited, I decided to take the bike for ride down the street.  I pushed off with my foot and thanks to my driveways small incline, I was able to coast drown the street for awhile.  I can not wait for the rest of the parts to arrive so I can take it out for a real test ride.  
   

I will create a post in the future that will provide more information on the bike I am building.  

My First Post "It's Official"

My first blog post is to announce that my name is finally on the participant list for Half Ironman Florida. Now it is really time for me to finalize my goals and training plan for the race.  I did some number crunching today and came up with a total time goal of 5 hours and 20 minutes.  My goals are very preliminary now, but below is a breakdown of each sections goal.

42 min Swim
4 min T1
2:40 Bike (21mph)
3 min T2
2:00 Run (9:10 pace)

I am still working on my training plan for the race and I will post it when it's completed.  I have been mix matching various training programs and using some of the knowledge I learned from reading Triathlete's Training Bible.  I have less than three weeks of training for the ING Miami Marathon left.  This will leave me 15 weeks of training for the half ironman.  

The picture above is of my homemade bike stand which I completed on Monday.  Below are links to a couple of video's I found on the internet that I used to complete the stand.  I used the first video for the wood frame idea and the second video for the bike clamp idea.  I have almost all the parts needed now to complete my new tri bike and  I will post more information later about the bike I am building.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnppJKGXxaY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj9rgRKExlU&feature=related