The Crazy Bet: First Impressions and Final Preparations

I got my new Indy Fab XS on Friday. It's the bike that I'll be taking to France. All titanium and carbon with a full SRAM Red group and Mavic R-Sys wheels. The titanium lugs and stays are painted a shimmering gold, while the carbon tubes are left bare. It's the most beautiful bike I’ve ridden. I’d show you a picture, but my wife accidentally took my camera to New York this weekend. I’ll get pics up tomorrow.

As for my initial impressions of the ride, it’s as plush as I could have hoped for. We threw it up on the scale at the shop where I had it built up, and it weighed just under 15 lbs without pedals. That will definitely help as I’m willing my way up the Alps and Pyrenees. And, if you’re wondering: yes, it’s plenty stiff. I was doing 900-watt uphill sprints yesterday without any chain rub.

The XS delivers it's biggest bang going downhill, though. The titanium is just enough to take the sting out of the chip-seal road that leads up to our local ski resort at 10,200 feet above sea level. On my first ride, I hit nearly 50 mph while descending a long section with an 8 percent grade. The best part was when I wove through a line of 11 guys on Harley Davidsons in the switchbacks near the top of the climb. By the time I reached the lead guy, the bikers I had already passed were cheering me on. Very fun.

My last weekend of training went relatively well. I had to dodge some pretty nasty lightning storms. But from Friday to Monday I got in eight hours of riding and somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 feet of climbing, all at altitude. Today is a much-needed recovery day. My coach has two relatively light 90-minute workouts planned for Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Then I’ll pack up the bike and fly out to France Wednesday evening.

Do I feel ready? Absolutely not. I’ve ridden and raced enough in my past to know that I’m way undeprepared for this. Sunday’s l’Étape du Tour shouldn't pose much of a problem (please don't let those words come back to haunt me). But the Marmotte on Saturday will be a beast. By virtue of how often I ride, the mountains that surround Santa Fe, and the fact that my house is at an altitude of 7,140 feet (close to the highest point I’ll encounter in France), I think I probably have it in me to get through the weekend. But I can’t promise that I’ll look good doing it.

—John Bradley

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Comments

[johnny blaze]

from reading your previous posts, it looks like you've done what you could in training and i think your mindset is perfect. i hope you'll be relaxed and rested for the ride, but easier said than done, eh? good luck. vicariously yours, jb

[Sam Fanning]

I see that you just received your new bike last minute. Be VERY careful about making sure every measurement (seat height, fore/aft position, stem, etc) are all exactly the same as your previous bike. Otherwise you will have major pain problems in some joints that won't show up on regular training rides but will show up after 100 miles of hard riding.

Good luck!