The first one to arrive was the Evoke SL. This is Kestrels classic round (or somewhat round) tube, lightweight road racing machine. The Evoke will be my weapon of choice for all draft-legal tri's as well as any road races and crits I decide to do throughout the season. Right out of the box, you can already tell this thing is built for racing. With its oversized down tube and seat tube, the Evoke has the stiffness to transfer all off your power forward. It's also remarkably comfortable too. The first day I took it out, I went for a solid 60-mile solo training ride over some smooth roads and some not so smooth roads. After the ride, I still felt nice a fresh. I didn't experience any lingering back pains or numbness. I'm really thrilled about the Sram Rival component spec as well. This group performs just as good if not better than my old Ultegra group and at a fraction of the cost. Each shift is accentuated by crisp feedback at the lever. I've ridden Sram's top of the line Red group as well, and aside from weight, they are nearly identical in function and performance. I'm really excited to get out and race this thing as soon as possible.
As I mentioned before, the Evoke will be strictly for draft-legal events due to its reliable handling and agility. For non-drafting events, I have been provided with the Airfoil Pro SL. I just finished assembling the Airfoil yesterday, and all I want to do is ride it. This thing is just begging to be ridden steep and aggressive, just the way I like it. The short head tube allows you to get as low as you could ever possibly need to go. In the past, I have ridden frames where I am slammed down on to the headset with no spacers and still feel like I need to get lower. I like the Airfoil, because you have a very wide range of fit options from super aggressive to relaxed without the need for one of those expensive adjustable angle stems. What was also quite remarkable was the weight. With its deep tube sections, you would think the Airfoil would be a bit on the chunky side. Not the case. My stock 56cm Airfoil without pedals weighed in at just over 17 lbs (17lbs 4oz to be exact). Not bad for an Ultegra build, training wheels, and stock steel railed saddle. Now all I need to do is get fit and I'm good to go.
That's all for now. I'll try and get some pics of the bikes up later today for a little eye candy. Next up on the war path is the NC State Road Race Champs this coming weekend. Following that is the Philadelphia Insurance Tri, which will be my first tri back since the accident. Training is going remarkably well, and I know I'm going to have a great race.
