Gentlepersons, Your Ride Reports Please!

[dauwhe]

I don't think I've seen many ride reports lately, and it seems like a good time to revive an old tradition. I'll go first, even though mine is pretty boring ;)

Today was the Connecticut Valley Century (COVAC), which starts around 20 miles from my house. I treat it as "build your own ride day". I ride to the start, and then ride as much of the course (or variations on the course) as I feel like, and then just head home. One year that turned out to be 157 miles, but I had no desire for an epic today.

The weather forecast had scared away many people, and kept me in bed later than I planned. I left home around 7:30AM in a gentle mist; it was actually quite pleasant riding. I just had to wipe my glasses every mile or two, to clear off the tiny droplets. There was no wind, and I was feeling fast for me, riding 18mph on the flats! By the time I arrived at the start, almost everyone else had left. I registered and headed down the road. I saw no one for the next twenty miles, but the solitude was refreshing. Pulled into the first sag stop, and was relieved to see they were still there! Had a bite to eat, and ran into Patrick, who rides with the local club. We ended up riding together for the next 20 miles--solitude is nice, and so is company. I decided 100k would be enough for the day, so I said goodbye and turned for home and the baby.

Nothing exciting, or really worth writing about, but it was a good day on the bike. I only wish there was more rain, as I was ready for anything, having brought my fenders, saddle cover, shoe covers, hat, helmet cover, and best of all my RainLegs!

Dave

[whitecda]

Rode 25 in rain yesterday. I like it after the first 2 minutes if it's a warm rain. Cold and gross...not so much.

Today, 40 mi easy spin. Knees have been killing me and I've been pushing too hard, so today was easy. 80 degrees and sunny. Nice ride but nothing heart-stopping, UNTIL I passed a local watering hole and saw 6-7 Austin Healy 3000's, and an MGA. All were in great shape and beautiful. Had to stop and drool. Didn't take the camera today :crap:

[johnnymossville]

Two days off the bike, which is killing me at the moment. Tomorrow (Sunday) should look better.

It has given me the time to work on building up my new race bike for next year though. Getting Close.

[Blue Jays]

Glorious weather predicted for Sunday, September 7th.
Anticipating seventy-five miles on rolling hills. Not too steep, not too flat.

[Karin Kirk]

I had a special ride yesterday. After 3 days of meetings at Carleton College, I spent the day with my brother who lives in MN. He has a Kirk road bike and his wife does too. She and I are very close to the same size so I can ride her bike when I visit.

My brother arranged a lovely ride with his pals. We had a group of 5 and perfect weather. We started the ride in Hudson, WI and explored the verdant rolling hills of western WI. That is enviable riding territory! We did 50 miles and it was one of those lovely, idyllic rides. I wasn't entirely comfy on the borrowed bike, so next time I need to bring my own shoes and saddle, and then I'll be good to go all day.

I flew home late last night and it's 45 degrees and raining this morning. Probably no rides today.

[TMB]

I left early yesterday morning, decided to do a loop out around a local "hill" that would bring me back home.

about 50 miles in total. The first 20 were pretty easy going until I hit the gravel, 11 kms of it - roughly 6.5 miles.

Then an up and over. The up part is the killer - as the hill in question runs 10.8 kms and averages just around 11% grade ( heads up into the bush and I don't think was ever meant to be paved), up past the turn off for the Kettle Valley Rail line and all those beautiful trestles.

From the top of the hill the run home is pretty much through a tunnel of trees, pretty dark most of the way.

Nice morning to ride.

[jmeloy]

Man every time I see BC it slays me.

Had a very nice charity ride in KC this morning as a prelude to the Tour of Missouri tomorrow. Did a nice 36 miles with 300 or so others on part of the route the teams will use tomorrow. Killer morning.... 65 degrees nearly no wind. AND Boulevard beer + breakfast burritos donated at the end by a great restaurant!

[johnnymossville]

Toomany, Wow, that's some nice riding country you have there! :)


Today's Ride, After yesterday's hurricane remnants and no riding, today was one of those absolutely perfect September days. Deep blue sky, warm with a cool breeze. I headed out for 2.5-3hrs and ran into a nice gentleman on a Seven and we chatted for awhile about racing, strategy, time-trialing, track, etc,...

Yep, one of those perfect Late Morning rides.

[CNY rider]

I had a special ride yesterday. After 3 days of meetings at Carleton College, I spent the day with my brother who lives in MN. He has a Kirk road bike and his wife does too. She and I are very close to the same size so I can ride her bike when I visit.

My brother arranged a lovely ride with his pals. We had a group of 5 and perfect weather. We started the ride in Hudson, WI and explored the verdant rolling hills of western WI. That is enviable riding territory! We did 50 miles and it was one of those lovely, idyllic rides. I wasn't entirely comfy on the borrowed bike, so next time I need to bring my own shoes and saddle, and then I'll be good to go all day.

I flew home late last night and it's 45 degrees and raining this morning. Probably no rides today.

When I was in college we "initiated" the new Carleton chapter of our national fraternity.
Basically a bunch of them came all the way to upstate NY and we had a booze fueled weekend of debauchery. That and a weekend with the UVM chapter stand out as "highlights" or probably more accurately "low-lights" of my college career.

As far as rides go: About 2 hours yesterday with manet. We were on the edge of Hanna and the rain started soon after we went out. It was warm and tropical-steamy and we knew it was coming so we took the effin cross bikes (got to see his new Zank) and hit the dirt roads. Much fun. Several times had to decide on wearing the totally steamed, opaque glasses or going without and taking the pelting rain right in the eyes. Had to use the Force a few times on the downhills because I simply couldn't see..........

Today, a nice rolling 30 miles or so on the legend; a classic beautiful fall day. Then listened to the Bills walk all over the Seahawks with my baby girl bouncing on my lap. What more could a guy ask for? :beer:

[rwsaunders]

Two nice days of riding in western PA. It was a little bit cloudy yesterday, but we didn't get any rain from the storm as promised. We had the usual coffee stop ride and then it was off to the soccer matches...the Fall season has started.

Today's ride called for the arm warmers, as it was a brisk in the valleys near our home. Is it really starting to be Fall? It turned out to be a nice day as well and it ended in the backyard with a cookout, complete with Smores.

[Jack Brunk]

Saturday did a 45 mile mountain bike ride that was epic and just a ton of fun with close to 5000 feet of climbing. Today did a 40 mile road ride, put the bike in the garage and did a 5 mile trail run. A fun weekend for sure.

Side note:
The Look 986 mountain bike is without a doubt one of the best bikes I've ever thrown a leg over either mountain or road. I can see why it won the world championship last year. It makes climbing against guys using FS bikes not even fair.

[WadePatton]

http://www.elkrivercentury.org/images/68_profile_lg.jpg
There's the bump in the ride I did Saturday. Weather was damn near almost perfect. The fast riders still had a wet descent but by the time I got there the road was only damp and sweet. Rode up near the front for a bit and then smartly dropped back to my buds toward the rear. It was my first time for this climb and didn't know if it was going to kick me or if I was going to kick it. It was sweet, can't wait to go back and hit it for repeats. JUST happens to be a bike shop up top. Back to the ride: 35th annual, which makes it the oldest ride I've participated in. Not a real big crowd--less than 300 I'm sure. Ran into guys I sagged off the local century a couple of weeks ago. The were doing the 50 this time. Smart boys. So it was cloudy and drizzle rainy before daybreak. Drizzle slowed and only damped us a little in the first 20 miles. Clouds stayed and that was great. I had regrouped with the locals before the climb and then pulled away from all but one going up. We all regrouped at the bike shop feed station ("manned" by Boy Scouts). I knew I'd be faster than some of them on the descent so I led out...and tucked...and rolled. They eventually came in to view behind me on the flats, but never started catching up, so I was feeling good and just hammered on it. 20 freaking miles solo. Finally caught some guys not feeling good and chatted with them a bit, recovered, and pounded cranks on in to waiting brats and beer! Will pedal for FOOD!

While not a real impressive ride in this crowd, I quite enjoyed it and am continuing to improve. :D

The sweet climb is from Alto, TN up to Sewanee Campus.

[TMB]

Toomany, Wow, that's some nice riding country you have there! :)


.

Thank you, I sometimes take it for granted.

I went out again this morning for a couple of hours of loafing around.

This afternoon, I took the family up to the Kettle Valley Railbed. It has all been rebuilt after the fires of 2003. There are 18 trestles up there and 16 of them burnt.

They had to have sawmills gear up for special runs to cut the timbers.

4 years of work, but it all re-opened this summer.

I'm riding up to it next weekend. The parking lot for access to the railbed, is excatly 12 km from the front door of my house. ( this partly explains why during the fires we were evacuated 3 times)

My 'hood, hope you enjoy ( and sorry for gobbling the disk space!)

[bironi]

The hilly fixed route with five fixed and 2 geared on Saturday was great. We did about 45-50 miles, and socialized after. Sunday, I rode up the east side of Mt St Helens. I have not been in the mountains much this year, and did not have the right cassette on. It was painful, but beautiful. :beer:

[William]

Thursday:
Thursday was one of “those” rides. Beautiful day. Jumped on the Effin Zanc and got about 4 – 5 miles from the house when I got a rear flat (haven’t had a flat in quite a while). Got off and removed the back wheel, pulled out the tube, grabbed the spare and went to put it in the rim….frack!!! The valve stem is too short!!! How the heck did I grab this tube???. Deep section rims and I need an extended valve. I dig out the patch kit, find the hole and patch it. I put it back on and re-seat the tire, grab the CO2 and start to fill the tube….except something doesn’t feel right. Gas is going in, yet some is escaping as well. I go to adjust the seal slightly and the presta valve just pops off….Pfffffffffffffffffffffff. I stand up and I’m about to shout ***!!! When hear a squeak, squeak, squeak and look up to see a young woman wearing shorts and a tee shirt, pedaling by on a bike that is too small wearing an old Specialized bucket helmet that’s a bit too big and canted to one side. She gives me a little wave and a smile and continues on her way (squeak, squeak, squeak….). AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Good thing I was wearing my mtb shoes because I was crap outta luck. I hoisted my bike cross style onto my shoulder and started walking. Being big and scary looking has draw backs too….no one will offer you a ride. I live in a somewhat rural area so on that 4 – 5 mile walk only about 5 cars….and one UPS truck passed me. A couple miles in I see a cyclist round the corner up ahead and for a brief moment I’m thinking about help when I hear a faint squeak, squeak, squeak and realize it’s the young woman wearing shorts and a tee shirt, pedaling up on a bike that is too small, wearing an old Specialized bucket helmet that’s a bit too big and canted to one side. She gives me a little wave and a smile as she passes and continues on her way (squeak, squeak, squeak….). AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Friday:
I said frack it and I rode the Recycler single for about 60+ miles. Beautiful day and no hassles.

Saturday:
With the storm bearing down and heavy rain hitting the roof, I decided to go out anyway and get some miles in. Jumped on the Recycler again and headed out into the pouring rain. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It was a warm rain and it felt good, especially after the humid conditions that had moved in earlier in the day. I found myself heading for, and riding through all the big puddles I came across. I did put the rear fender on since I didn’t want spray up my back side. I ended up doing between 40 – 50 miles.

Sunday:
Woke up to a beautiful morning after a stormy night. I had a number of Honey-do’s to take care of but later in the day young William and myself went out on a ride together (again rode the single). There were quite a few downed branches and leaves on the roads, but otherwise fairly smooth sailing. We had a nice leisurely ride (about 25 or so). Only incident was near home when we came to a four way stop. A soccer mom type driving a big Ford Expedition blasted through the intersection without stopping. About halfway across she looked my way as I pointed to the stop sign and silently mouthed “Stop arsehole”.



William

[RABikes2]

At 6:00 a.m. Saturday, I decided to stay here and be responsible. I didn't get two messages from my neighbor until late Friday that he could come over Saturday with his backhoe and chainsaw to work on taking down some big trees and do cleanup from TS Fay. I didn't have to be here since the neighbor and I had already talked about what trees needed to be taken down, but felt I should be here. I also didn't feel up to the 130 miles I was scheduled to do (decided to do it on Sunday). Instead, I biked 52 miles with my other neighbors. Felt good for about 40 miles and whether it was the heat or what, boy, felt like crap by the end of the ride. Struggled all afternoon while outside helping my backhoe neighbor. The heat and my stomach were wearing me down.

I got a decent night of sleep and headed 90 miles west on Sunday to do my monthly Permanent (RUSA) by myself. There's 5250' of climbing in the 130 miles, so it's not exactly flat. The nice part was with it being Sunday, the ride is through rather rural areas, so the traffic was minimal. I physically felt good, but the bad part was my stomach just didn't do well the entire ride. It warmed up rather quickly, in the mid-90's by midday, and humid as crud. I'm not sure what to attribute all the complaints to, maybe it was a combination of a few, but it turned out to be a survival ride. Once out on the road, there was no way of getting back to my Jeep except going forward and this was the only weekend in September I was able to do the Permanent. Cutting the course short would violate the rules of the Permanent; I would miss an information control at 118 miles.

At 90 miles, I stopped at the M&M General Store, the "Biggest Store in Leonia" for water and a Coke. (This general store is so small, if 10 people were inside at one time, it would be crowded.) I've been stopping at this place for over 4 years and the same sign has always been on the door. "Rattlesnakes Wanted" Dead or Alive. ('Or Alive' is now crossed out.) Apparently, they pay $1.50 a foot for a rattler. So, I'm sitting outside on a bench, sipping the Coke, and trying to convince myself the next 40 miles will go by easier. Up drives this petite older lady (she's 76), very nicely dressed (Sunday clothes), and goes into the store. Dwayne comes out with another guy and they go to her car. She had a dead 4' rattler in the trunk. She tells me, "I opened my back door and it was right there, I couldn't pass it up." She killed it with her hoe. Then she tells us about two weeks ago she killed a 3.5' alligator that was at her house ... again, with her hoe. Note ... don't mess with little old ladies from Leonia, FL. (I was going to say, "you might meet with a hoe.", but that just didn't sound right. :p ) When I took off again, about 7 miles down the road I'm climbing a hill. I could see something up ahead on the side, half in the grass and half on the road, but couldn't focus on it yet. As I got closer, I saw the rapid movement of the tongue. Whoa, I went wide on that one, it was a good size rattler. Where was the lady with the hoe?! :D

My mind was working in small increments; 5 miles to the next point on the cue sheet, 4 miles to the next turn, etc.; it was too taxing to think over 5 miles at a time. It was so flipping hot, but I got in, glad to be safe and done. My stomach was goony and even as much fluid as I was consuming (seven water bottles w/ CarboPro and Motor Tabs and filled the 50 oz. Camelbak twice), I had dehydration chills twice during the ride. Bike time of 8:39, overall time of 10:49; I was slower than crud and don't care. Ninth consecutive monthly 209k ... three more to go for the R12 award. Dang, I don't want to repeat that experience again.

Always looking for something good, the weather was beautiful (just hot), traffic was minimal, and folks along the way were nice. Rural north Florida is so different in a good way.

Two days of riding for 182 miles.

RA

[Bruce K]

Sunflower Revolution Weekend in Cincinati.

Saturday, 31 mile "spirited" ride with the 7 Hills Race Club gang plus CinciJim and a couple of others.

Sunday, 2 times 'round the 40K loop. The first time chasing the 100K gang for 50% and then solo for 50% to get back to the start line and accompany Davis Phinney, Dr. Tew, and some other folks for a second lap.

Other than a few sprinkles that led to wet roads and a couple of skidding accidents (bikes only, no cars), it was a great day, well organized and lots of fun.

Now I am back home in MA, job hunting and prepping for my first cross race of the season on Sunday.

BK

[Elefantino]

Saturday: 25 miles of conversation about politics.

Sunday: Another century, very flat, 19.3 average, pretty easy, a friend fell and broke his collarbone in two places, stuff like that.

[mwaldhopkins]

The NM State RR was held yesterday in beautiful Tijeras. The p/1/2 race started out hard and aggressive and stayed that way. I slobbered on myself, went through a few bouts of cramping, almost got pushed into a ditch by a Mexican (national), did some cursing, and wound up finishing mid-field which by the end of the race was completely shattered- much like me. 24hrs later and I'm still wasted.

I'm happy the race season is over. Now on to fun Fall rides.

[WadePatton]

Sorry 'bout your friend. Heal up fast. AFIK nobody went down Saturday at the Elk River. Did have a couple at the HOT 100.

[malcolm]

Wade, what hot 100 did you ride?

[Steelhead]

I had a great ride Sat AM... I've been trying hard all year to keep up with the front guys on my regular Sat AM club ride and Sat. I did it. I don't know if they were all hungover or what but I rolled into the shop with the guys at the front, legit for the first time this year ! :banana: And I had thrown in an extra 16 miles before the start due to getting ready for the LiveStong.

:)

[Cdub]

2 weeks with Bronchitis, finally got out on the road yesterday. 54 miles with a friend. My dad joined us for 28 of it. We used to play a ton of golf, now, bikes. Good stuff to be rolling again.

[MarySunshine]

This was the second Ironman Louisville for me and my lovely Titantium Serotta named Bessie. Such a great bike! Love Kathleen and Dave from Oakley in Cinci!


Ironman Louisville 2008 Race Report

Had trouble sleeping the night before the race but was determined to be grateful for the 4 or so hours I actually got. I also could not seem to take a full deep breath. I believe this was just due to allergies and apprehension about the race and my hip/ability to execute my plan that I had practiced.

Saw Dusty, Jess, Quinn, and Todd! Such great bodymarkers! My confidence started kicking in knowing they were there.

Lined up on the ramp with Krissy and Kim and felt ready to go. I started at about 7:08.

My plan, per the article from Inside Triathlon magazine, was to take the line to the far right of the buoys and closest to the shore to have the least current to fight and then hit the middle of the river after the turn. This ended up swimming me right into the ground—had a hand dig right into the bottom of the river with a couple hundred meters to the turn buoy. The swim towards this buoy seemed to take forever and there was a significant amount of angry congestion around the buoy. I felt that for all my effort and trying to get good pulls, I was going nowhere. My back began to hurt and I kept remembering the accounts of people who had thrown up during the swim in the previous year and was starting to make myself nauseous not being able to suppress these thoughts. After I went under the first bridge, I picked up and the rest of the swim went more quickly.

I ran as quickly as I could into T1 and everything went according to plan there.

At the start of the bike I felt ok and reasonably smooth although breathing was still difficult and I coughed/spit a lot. The flat section and out n back went per plan and I was easily JRA. I kept on plan for fueling and all the bottle handups went perfectly except for one of the last ones where Heather Gollnick charged up on my left yelling for Gatorade and threw her half-used Gatorade bottle down within inches of my front wheel. I thought for sure I would hit her bottle but did not. Then I watched her let some powdered substance fly(I wonder what that was?) and trash land on the road in front of me. I didn’t know it was Heather at the time(I’m a HUGE fan of hers)—just saw the yellow tag and knew it was one of the pros and I wondered why the rules that applied to me did not seem to apply to her. I passed her on the left and then headed onto the 2nd loop. She was headed back to Louisville.

On the second loop, I started to feel very warm and my back and feet hurt a lot. I continued to fuel per plan but felt both hungry and very nauseous. I soaked myself with water at every opportunity but could not get water onto my head due to the aero helmet. I had purposely decided NOT to find out the predicted temp because it had changed so much and I didn’t know what to believe. I also thought that if the forecast was in the 90s, I would feel stressed with this knowledge. This was not a good move. It was much warmer this year. I should have worn the more open helmet like I did last year. The heat and foot/lower back pain really did me in and I could not continue with the planned pace. I rather lost heart somewhere shortly before the final turn back onto 42. I thought that I would like to call it a day and maybe just be with friends and family and watch other people finish the race…

I wobbled into T2 and my back hurt even more when I stood up. When I removed my shoes my feet were blue and wrinkled and very painful to touch. Jess and an amazing volunteer convinced me to at least get changed and go outside and move along. I did what they told me to do.

It was a spiritual boost to get up on the bridge and I set my goal on rehydrating and getting my money’s worth of food at the aid stations. I would try to run on the downhill portion of the bridge…then I saw my friends and family and I started to recover.

I decided to jog and refuel and gut it out.

And I did.

The huge welcome at the finish line from Cincy Express, friends, and family was completely worth it. THANK YOU!

My feet/ankles are badly blistered and my head hurts along with other vague aches and pains. I have some odd bleeding that comes and goes that I’ll get checked tomorrow. No desire to eat and not able to find a comfortable position for sleeping…but the aches and pains will pass. And there will be other races including Portage on Sunday and more cycling time trials and crits.

I’m looking forward to training with everyone for next year’s Ironman races. Delores going to CDA, Jess and Kevin and others—for IMLOU—but I’m not signing up for anymore triathlons of this distance. I’ve had a great time. I’m stronger and smarter than I was…but Ironman racing, for me, is over. Love the training and the people, though, and I’m quite sure that there are so many great times to come!

[rwsaunders]

RA ttlesnake Bikes2. :cool:

[TAW]

Got in a group ride on Saturday. This is a typically fast ride that will go for 40-50 miles. On the way back, we stopped by the hotel where the pros from the Tour of Missouri are staying. They were all just getting up and around, so we hung out in the parking lot and got to talk to some guys, look at all the gear, and lead a team out to the spot where they were riding that day. Made for a fun ride.

[Dekonick]

This was the second Ironman Louisville for me and my lovely Titantium Serotta named Bessie. Such a great bike! Love Kathleen and Dave from Oakley in Cinci!


Ironman Louisville 2008 Race Report

Had trouble sleeping the night before the race but was determined to be grateful for the 4 or so hours I actually got. I also could not seem to take a full deep breath. I believe this was just due to allergies and apprehension about the race and my hip/ability to execute my plan that I had practiced.

Saw Dusty, Jess, Quinn, and Todd! Such great bodymarkers! My confidence started kicking in knowing they were there.

Lined up on the ramp with Krissy and Kim and felt ready to go. I started at about 7:08.

My plan, per the article from Inside Triathlon magazine, was to take the line to the far right of the buoys and closest to the shore to have the least current to fight and then hit the middle of the river after the turn. This ended up swimming me right into the ground—had a hand dig right into the bottom of the river with a couple hundred meters to the turn buoy. The swim towards this buoy seemed to take forever and there was a significant amount of angry congestion around the buoy. I felt that for all my effort and trying to get good pulls, I was going nowhere. My back began to hurt and I kept remembering the accounts of people who had thrown up during the swim in the previous year and was starting to make myself nauseous not being able to suppress these thoughts. After I went under the first bridge, I picked up and the rest of the swim went more quickly.

I ran as quickly as I could into T1 and everything went according to plan there.

At the start of the bike I felt ok and reasonably smooth although breathing was still difficult and I coughed/spit a lot. The flat section and out n back went per plan and I was easily JRA. I kept on plan for fueling and all the bottle handups went perfectly except for one of the last ones where Heather Gollnick charged up on my left yelling for Gatorade and threw her half-used Gatorade bottle down within inches of my front wheel. I thought for sure I would hit her bottle but did not. Then I watched her let some powdered substance fly(I wonder what that was?) and trash land on the road in front of me. I didn’t know it was Heather at the time(I’m a HUGE fan of hers)—just saw the yellow tag and knew it was one of the pros and I wondered why the rules that applied to me did not seem to apply to her. I passed her on the left and then headed onto the 2nd loop. She was headed back to Louisville.

On the second loop, I started to feel very warm and my back and feet hurt a lot. I continued to fuel per plan but felt both hungry and very nauseous. I soaked myself with water at every opportunity but could not get water onto my head due to the aero helmet. I had purposely decided NOT to find out the predicted temp because it had changed so much and I didn’t know what to believe. I also thought that if the forecast was in the 90s, I would feel stressed with this knowledge. This was not a good move. It was much warmer this year. I should have worn the more open helmet like I did last year. The heat and foot/lower back pain really did me in and I could not continue with the planned pace. I rather lost heart somewhere shortly before the final turn back onto 42. I thought that I would like to call it a day and maybe just be with friends and family and watch other people finish the race…

I wobbled into T2 and my back hurt even more when I stood up. When I removed my shoes my feet were blue and wrinkled and very painful to touch. Jess and an amazing volunteer convinced me to at least get changed and go outside and move along. I did what they told me to do.

It was a spiritual boost to get up on the bridge and I set my goal on rehydrating and getting my money’s worth of food at the aid stations. I would try to run on the downhill portion of the bridge…then I saw my friends and family and I started to recover.

I decided to jog and refuel and gut it out.

And I did.

The huge welcome at the finish line from Cincy Express, friends, and family was completely worth it. THANK YOU!

My feet/ankles are badly blistered and my head hurts along with other vague aches and pains. I have some odd bleeding that comes and goes that I’ll get checked tomorrow. No desire to eat and not able to find a comfortable position for sleeping…but the aches and pains will pass. And there will be other races including Portage on Sunday and more cycling time trials and crits.

I’m looking forward to training with everyone for next year’s Ironman races. Delores going to CDA, Jess and Kevin and others—for IMLOU—but I’m not signing up for anymore triathlons of this distance. I’ve had a great time. I’m stronger and smarter than I was…but Ironman racing, for me, is over. Love the training and the people, though, and I’m quite sure that there are so many great times to come!


A memory and accomplishment for a lifetime.

Congrats!

[Dekonick]

I have been working almost non-stop - soaking all of the overtime I can get at work because the future looks grim...(overtime wise)

So -

No bike time for over a week. Between 30-60 minutes every day on either a treadmill (I still hate running) - an elliptical trainer - or - a stair stepper.

Unfortunately, we have no spinning bikes at work - sucks. Why they buy the recumbent crap is beyond me...

at least it is going to help pay for some new wheels...
:banana:

Work sure is overrated. At least we are allowed to work out while on duty.