my sweet little black bike

Last September the left shifter on my Tarmac fell apart. I don't know what was wrong with it exactly, but it was covered by warranty so it didn't really matter. I had my buddies at In-Gear send it back and in a few weeks I had a new one. But by that point my collarbone was broken and I wasn't riding (though I was thinking about riding, and in fact being off the bike proved rather expensive).

When I got back on the bike I didn't really feel like putting the Tarmac back together (bicycle maintenance is surprisingly stressful on collarbone injuries), so just rode my cross rig, and when I've been on the road I've been riding my cross bike exclusively. Until Saturday.

I really like my cross bike. Really. I even like riding it on the road. But holy cow does my Tarmac feel sweet after having logged so many hours on that cross bike. I really, really like this bike. It's an absolute dream.

...

Back when I was not riding and therefore spending all my riding time bidding on bike crap, I got a screaming deal (it's all relative) on a pair of Sub Zeros. They've been installed.


I've got to tell you, after reading the reviews I didn't have high expectations performance-wise, but I've been really, really impressed. Of course, I'm coming off months of riding cantis on the cross bike, so it's not hard to outperform those, but these brakes are outperforming the Rival brakes they replaced. Very smooth, steady, sure braking. They're easily the best brakes I've ever ridden.