New Bike, and other news

After doing a sprint triathlon in 2009 with a hybrid bike - not recommended - I promised myself I wouldn't try another tri without one of those skinny wheeled, curved handlebar machines. The search for my first road bike started a few months ago, when I registered for an Olympic-distance triathlon called Mooseman. The race is on June 4th, and the cycling course is supposed to be quite hilly. Today I bought the bike that will carry me up those hills! My muscles will pry do some work, too... just not nearly as much as they would on a heavier frame. I took this thing out for a mild ride this evening, about ten miles, and no slope was too steep for it. 

Here "she" is... I think I should name her. Suggestions welcome!

Before this Saturday, I had never been on a road bike. So while this 2010 Specialized Dolce is by all means "entry level," and isn't the lightest or the most expensive or whatever, it is a HUGE step up from everything I've ridden before. Here's hoping it will be a trusty companion for many miles in the years to come. I told my mom, who pitched in to help me pay for it, that I wouldn't upgrade to a new one until I started training for an Ironman. She said, "Ironman?! Svati, hold on a second..." 

Last night I sent out my first batch of fundraising emails to potential donors for Testing Limits/Insulindependence. What a great response I received! It was really awesome to see that some people opened the email right away and then - bam! - donated 10 bucks, like it was a no-brainer. I'm still a bit behind as far as hitting certain fundraising benchmarks, but it's been such a confidence booster to see the number of contributions slowly creeping up over just the past day, since sending the email. 

In other news, spring has finally sprung here in Hanover! Today the green ("both the physical and emotional center of campus," as I say on my campus tours) was full of students and townies playing frisbee, eating, studying, lounging, babysitting, you name it. People are running around in shorts and tank tops. We joke that the college president has a deal with some higher power to bring the sun out just for the prospies, or prospective students, who are visiting campus this week to decide whether this is the right school for them. My roommates and I celebrated the warm weather by getting froyo at foco (college speak for frozen yogurt at the cafeteria) and enjoying it - where else? - out on the green.