Domestic violence

Poor Tessa. Kathryn was sooo excited to have her newly fit tri-bike in her car and on her way home. She had such joy in her voice when I talked to her and I was really looking forward to my Thank-you dinner that I was going to get for helping her. I was crushed when she called me from home to let me know that there were many badly touched up paint chips and scratches on her never-before-ridden bike.

She loves that bike - more than I could have hoped for. I had secretly hoped that a new bike that works better would help her appreciate cycling more. Based on her aesthetic love of the bike I am off to a good start. Her voice had such heartbreak in it after discovering the damage that happened at the fitters. I had hoped she was exaggerating and it wasn't that bad. She sent me pictures before coming to pick me up and I freakin' lost it. It was terrible. I almost went to Phil's house, but I didn't think that would end well and had the sense to talk myself out of it. Instead I called and sent a VERY firm email. I can't believe that he didn't have the guts to call and/or tell us in person. He says that he forgot, but that is BS.

I went there to finish my fitting. I was tempted to just get my bike and bail, but decided to go ahead and finish after he sent an email accepting responsibility and offering to have the bike repainted. We did our thing and I paid him. He promised to get it fixed in the new year, and I guess we'll see how that goes. Kathryn doesn't have the same sparkle in her eyes for Tessa anymore and that is tough on me. I am hoping that having her fixed will make things better.

I rode my own bike for the first time yesterday. I am not thrilled with the fit. I raised the seat half an inch to get full power. He didn't experiment with my position relative to the power I was putting out at all. He also didn't ask once if I was comfortable. I was uncomfortable and not putting out power. I discovered on my ride that my aerobars were asymmetrical and were a cause of a lot of the discomfort. He also didn't tighten several bolts. Did we just waste $1000? Did I also waste $$$ of my team-mates that I referred over to him? I guess we'll see. I wish we had taken the time to go to Aria Velo instead now. Lesson learned.