A Changing of the Guard

This is Athena. I love her, she has taken very good care of me and she has a cool name. Athena, the Warrior Goddess, pretty much everything I ever needed in a bike, a cool name to get me from A to B. She's not too heavy, she shifts when I tell her to, she's orange which is super cool, she has never dumped me (well once, but that was rider error) and her wheels go round and round just like the school bus. Well, I guess that's her problem, I have put myself in a situation that requires more Ferrari and less school bus.
As previously discussed, I will never sign-up for an Ironman, which makes perfect sense, except that I did sign-up. Ironman Arizona to be exact, November 18th is my day of reckoning. If only one of you readers had been there to talk some sense into me. One of you was, Miss Trina, but all she did was force me to stay in line and take pictures of me as I paid slightly less than 8 bills to torture myself. She was entertained, I was in tears and I was still one-year from racing.
You have 17 hours to finish an Ironman race and the one thing I knew for sure was, "I am gonna need a faster bike!" Fortunately my awesome hubby knew this better than me and was willing to foot the $$bill$$. I present to you..............

This my friends is Medusa or Scarlett, I haven't decided. She came up with both names while we were spending quality time together. Both have a little evil in them, remind you of anyone, and both sound fast and strong. OK, maybe Medusa is all evil, but it took a pretty strong man to subdue her so it will do! She is my Ferrari. She even comes with a battery pack (it's a shifting thing, not a gonna get me anywhere faster thing). She is so cool and let's face it, sexy! She almost shifts before I tell her to and she makes a cool noise that sounds speedy. What's with the names? Well, the way I see it, if anything is gonna spend that much time with my unmentionables, it better have a name. Medusa sleeps next to Ryan (not between us). She has new hot red shoes to wear on her rider and she dropped Ryan on some rolling hills the other day. So she rocks! In his defense, he is not in riding shape and has spent all of zero minutes on his bike this year, but still, I take what I can, when I can. I believe she will be good to me, as good as Athena.
I still love my Athena, she is tried and true. I'm thinking of getting her some cross tires and tooling around with the kids on her. I hope Scarlett will be as loyal. So far she has. I hope she keeps me safe and gets to me to the finish line on time. OK people, FINE, I know I still have to run a marathon after 112 miles with her but the more time she can give me for the 26.2 mile death march, the better!

Here is to safe and fun riding for the next 181 days. Yes, I'm counting. I hope I'm still smiling at the end of all this!