Visit to Tri Shop in Plano

Visit to Tri Shop, Plano

Paid a first visit to Tri  Shop in Plano.  This is a dedicated store for triathlon gear and services.  First impressions are that they stock everything you might need with many of the triathlon brands.  I particularly like the endless pool spa they have so you can try out wetsuits before you buy.  My next tri is my first lake swim so at some point in the next three months I'm going to have to tackle the wetsuit issue (note to self - need to line up some training lake swims).  They also offer training and group rides which I might look into more at a later date, but the far side of Plano is a little far from where I live to go to go three days a week.

Best bargain found was all their winter gear was 40% off.  Normal prices are right at MSRPs which is not unusual for this type of independent store.  So I picked up a pair of Louis Garneau knee warmers for $17.39+tax.  I'm not a huge fan of piling on layer after layer of winter clothing (see Rule #5) but I have suffered some occasional pain in my aging knees on recent group rides, so an extra layer of insulation probably won't go amiss there.  They had a selection of winter clothing too also 40% but selection was a little limited for me.

I'm still trying to get used to the price of tri and cycling gear - I suffer regular sticker-shock at the price of seemingly uncomplicated garments.  I tore my 2XU trisuit during my last race so I'm on the lookout for a new outfit.  In the Tri Shop they had a nice looking collection of red/white Tri Shop-branded Louis Garneau gear but around $100 each for tri shorts and singlets made me think I'd rather spend that kind of money and not have to compete looking like a Tri Shop bill board.  At Richardson Bike Mart I get store team-branded Louis Garneau gear at a significant discount (approx $120 for cycling shorts and short-sleeve top) plus a decent 10% discount plus support at bike races by being part of the RBM Matrix team - a good benefit in return for promoting the store when I race.  So I baulk at paying such prices for store-branded gear especially when a quick scan online showed all LG tri gear at cheaper prices.

I also picked up a new TYR swim cap for $10 - my cheap Speedo one finally disintegrated after a year.  I also had a look at some new Speedo budgie-smugglers (my swimwear of choice for training) - but $38? Ouch.

Anyway - despite all my complaining at the price of tri and cycling gear, it is important to support your local bike shop (and tri shop too!) so I will definitely be returning regularly.

Day 4

Missed my planned bike training session today due to fun and games trying to get Windows 8 onto my daughters laptop.  More the fault of the laptop configuration than Windows 8 software which eventually went on very easily and got a reaction of "coooooooooool" from my 10 year old daughter this morning.  $40 on the upgrade hopefully will breathe life into an aging laptop for her.  In a few days she will also be showing me all the cool things in Windows 8.

I will be replacing the Thursday 45 mins cycling with a group road-ride on Saturday.

Day 5

Weigh-in: 228.8lbs

Stuck to the Attack Phase of the Dukan Diet all week and weight has come off in small steady amounts each day.  Eaten lots of chicken, crab sticks and steak. Baked turkey meatballs spiced with Indian spices and served with a sauce made from reduced stock, chilli sauce and soy sauce was awesome.