Gear Reviews

Meet El Lobo Gris

Enough of this heavy thinking stuff. It tires my brain.

So, where was I?

Oh yeah. I was at the bike shop the week before Christmas and the gal was going through the bikes within my price range. She was showing me bikes from Felt, Orbea, Cervelo and Jamis.

“This one here is my favorite and our best deal,” she said pointing to a black and grey Orbea. “Some guy ordered it and we took all of the Campy crap off and put Dura-Ace on. It’s got carbon fiber front and rear forks, carbon chainstay and carbon seat post. Plus, it’s about 40 percent off.”

I shrugged my shoulders and returned my lustful gaze to a 2006 Felt F5C. I didn’t even dare look at the Cervelo Team Soloist winking at me. Much like my single years, there was a gal I could not afford to bring home.

I scheduled a fitting for the next day to see what the bike fit guru would have to say and what Felt I would be taking home with me.

When I showed up for the fitting, I perused the line of ponies in their stables one more time. The Felts were now looking kind of flat to me and the grey Orbea came to life. Was that the same bike I saw yesterday?

Rich, the owner of Pro Cyclery came out and started the fit process. After getting my measurements, we went down the line and looked at the bikes in stock. With my goofy long-torsoed, short-legged build, bikes started getting removed from the list of potential steeds.

“You know what?” Rich said looking over his computer again. “There’s only one bike here with the right top tube for you.”

I closed my eyes and hoped I would hear the magic word. During the fitting process, I had made a connection with a bike and now prayed that it’s name would flow from Rich’s mouth.

“Let’s try the Orbea Volata,” he said.

Yes!

This Spanish beauty with the chunky welds ended up coming home with me that afternoon after getting fitted with some Speedplay stirrups. Due to some holiday-family commitments, I wasn’t able to take him for a spin for a couple long, painful days.

During that inaugural ride, his name came to me: El Lobo Gris. The Grey Wolf.

Since that fateful day we’ve gotten a few miles on the road and have completed one time trial. Our next event is the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. While I don’t planning on tearing up the bike portion on the way up the mountain, it should prove to be a good bonding experience before we hit the spring and summer road racing circuit.

Gawd, I still can’t believe I’ll be hanging around roadies this year. Somebody pinch me.

Share on Facebook

Popularity: 6% [?]

© 2007 The Outdoor Journey.