Dreams are Free

One of the natural thoughts you have while training for ironman is, will this be the only ironman event I ever do, or is this destined to be my "calling" in terms of sports?  Am I about to discover my ideal sport, the one that I am going to go back to year after year or am I going to finish the 2011 event and say "never again"?  

St Pete probably hopes that once is enough although publicly he'll tell you I'll probably do one more, just to get it out of my system.  And on the basis of doing at least one more the conversation invariably turns to bikes and a prediction as to whether my current speed machine has another ironman in it after March, or will it be time to invest in an upgrade.

My Avanti Cadent is a great bike, no question.  It's a full carbon frame and Ultegra componentry and I've now got a pair of awesome Fast Forward carbon aero wheels for race days (and other days when I want to give myself a treat and ride the special wheels!).  If I were to get a new bike it would have to be a specialised time trial bike and wouldn't you also want it to be a bit special....with a custom paint job maybe...???

With that in mind, and because dreams are free, I've come across the Trek website where you can custom design your own bike.  They do a fantastic time trail bike, the Speed Concept 9.9, and you can use their website to design your own colour finish and even have your name printed on it.  

For a cool US$9000 here, then, is my dream bike:

mmmm.....