Oops, I did it again.

I finally brought my new baby home. And she's a Cervelo P2. We're very happy together.

I didn't think I was going to be buying a bike. It's only been a year and a half since that last happened. Don't get me wrong, I love all my children equally, and my Fuji Supreme has treated me very well. I need it for road rides around the one continuous hill that it Pittsburgh, PA - it would be near impossible to do any continuous flat, in-the-aerobars ride around here. We're talking about a city that hosts the Dirty Dozen. And the Fuji will continue to get plenty of road love.

But I couldn't get comfortable on the road bike with clip-on aerobars, and with several 70.3s on the horizon I started to consider a tri bike. I looked around to see what was out there. I even sat on a nice Cannondale Slice. I figured I'd aim to buy one next season or the one after that and carefully stash some grad-student-stipend dollars away until then.

And THEN I went to Big Bang Bikes and there was a hot-off-the-presses new Cervelo P2 staring me in the face. A frame that I could have forever (nearly identical to the higher-end Cervelo tri bikes), and components that could be upgraded over time (and wheels. Zipps. Salivating. Not that I've thought about that or anything). I sat on it, they fit me, let me try 3 different saddles, trimmed my aerobars, dialed me in again, and I was like a tiny compact rocket. A really comfortable and efficient tiny compact rocket.

So I bought another bike. We will have many adventures, and it will be grand. Some day I will graduate, have a lot of letters after my name, and appropriately trick out said bike with super-components. In the meantime, I will EARN the need for those Di2 electronic shifters and Dura Ace parts...not that I've thought about that or anything.

Garmin swim watch review and upcoming swimming adventures!

I love this watch. It does many useful things. The most useful thing, however, is the running total of your total weekly yardage that stares you in the face every hour of every day, prompting thoughts like "%&(^&! I need to go to the pool NOW!!"

I would roughly estimate that it counts my laps (displayed nice and big as total yards/meters instead of number of laps, as opposed to the PoolMate) accurately 98% of the time - and it's easy to glance at while turning or even mid-lap for a quick check. I've grown particularly fond of the "rest timer" function - I tend to do my workouts with interval sets that require "10 seconds rest" instead of "on the 1:50", so when I hit the interval button I just have to wait for the rest timer to get up to 10. Easy peasy. Also, it makes a shrill beeping noise every time you hit the start/stop button, which I thought would annoy me, but actually is reassuring - never any question that I've restarted it as I push off the wall.

My other favorite function is the "Drill Set" option. Hit the Swim button a few times mid-workout until it says "Drill", press the start button, let the timer run, and tell it when you're done. It'll prompt you to enter the total number of yards you drilled so your total yardage is accurate at the end of your workout (as opposed to the PoolMate, which doesn't pick up or allow you to add in kicking sets).

I'll be using this watch to track progress and motivate my swim build leading up to Swim the Suck - 10  beautiful miles down the Chattanooga River coming for me in October! I was super psyched that I got in; registration was nuts and filled up in 27 minutes. The boy will be piloting a kayak for me, and lots of training (and a swimskin - recommendations??) is in order. Here's hoping for warm(ish) water and a decent current in October!