Well at long last I managed to purchase a ladies tri specific bike a Felt B16W. However as the weather in Wiltshire has been wild – wet, windy and extra chilly the said new bike has remained next to the fire-place to keep warm and dry for the week  !

This week has seen an abundance of new technology and gear arrive at home with a few nice surprises and great customer service from all. Customer is King again !

First of course the new bike, with computer I brought home on Monday. Later The Triathlon Shop, Bristol were good enough to send me 3 spare inner tubes as old bike a 700 wheel, the Felt 650. Great customer service and the guys know their stuff, all triathletes.

Whilst browsing in store I came across Gripper laces for my running shoes – once in place never tie again but have full bows like laces rather than elastic. After two runs I can say I’m just as happy with these as elastics. Easy to get in and out, fully adjustable and don’t come loose or undone – simple as that.

Garmin was next up for great customer service, my Forerunner 405 GPS watch was losing battery power after a few hours and completely flat in 48 hours. I called Garmin who said send it back, well this is the second watch as first was replaced after 6 months so not sure if warranty was from original purchase date or replacement date. As it turns out I was a month within and got a fully working Garmin back just 3 days after I sent it off. Just in case it didn’t get repaired I took advantage of Sweatshops 50% off Garmin 110’s as offer finished at midnight Sunday. The new 110 arrived same day as replacement 405. Decided to keep both watches as 110 can be used for travel, races and doesn’t seems to be affected by the cold as much as 405. The 405 is still feature packed but a sensitive sole and will be my preferred training watch.

I ran 8 miles on Sunday with Karen wearing both just in case 405 didn’t like the cold ! Both in perfect sync and agreed with each other at end of run.

Then Apple topped the customer service list by replacing a 6 year old iPod nano 1st generation – black and white screen, only 2GB with the latest 6th gen. touch screen nano with eight times capacity of original nano, radio, Nike+,  and a full 12 months warranty (just incase I wash it ! ). All because there may have been a battery failure with the original – I wouldn’t know its been in the drawer for 4 years and upgraded  at least twice. So that will be used on my solo runs to keep me company.

Amazon continued to delivery almost as quick as you hit one-click purchase. A couple of books to fill in my training blanks.

The majority of this week has been setting up new tech, now I’m ready to roll. Pool opens Mondays so swimming and my Poolmate watch can come out to play. Haven’t been in the pool since October so Masters will be a challenge and toughie.