I've been a roadie for more than 25 years (with the exception of a rather spontaneous Ironman ten years ago in Germnay), but this year I decided I needed something new - and so I'm back to doing some tris with the Muskoka Ironman 70.3 being this years objective. This of course means the opportunity to get a new bike and when I reached out to Mike to ask for some support and we talked about the Ceepo Viper, I jumped at the chance.
One of the annoying things about being a roadie can be staying UCI compliant with your bike. It isn't so hard to build up a bike that's lighter than the limit, or more aero / comfortable than what's UCI legal. Since Ceepo isn't worried about being UCI compliant it's got some features that make it ideal for longer distance TT efforts. And of course, this bike just looks sick fast, but it does this without compromising comfort. First off, is the ability to get way more forward with a steeper seat tube angle - which for me does wonders. My lower back isn't so flexible and staying UCI compliant would always put me in a super uncomfortable position. Not so with the Viper. The seatpost flips giving you huge flexibility on position. A longer top-tube / wheelbase and lower bottom bracket and you also don't end up with a ride that's overly nervous when you're that far forward. After a few days of riding around with allen keys in my jersey pocket tweaking my position, I got comfortable enough to push things and take some corners at speed. Handling was great - bike was sufficiently stiff and stable. As I mentioned earlier, I've always had problems getting aero comfortably - but already things are feeling pretty good. The Fi'zi:k Arione Tri 2 saddle is one of the most comfortable saddles I've ridden. The front/tip is padded and a little wider, which means I was able to slide back and forth a few cms as I was riding changing position slightly - this will be important over 90+kms of TTing to keep from getting stiff. Being able to move around and change positioning slightly will make a big difference. And of course you want the bike most of all to be fast! I went out for 70k at a light tempo on a relatively rolling course and easily averaged 34km/hr - comparatively, I'd have averaged 30 or so over a similar ride on my road bike. Nice!!!
So far, I'm a big fan!!! Bryan
