Friday, September 30, 2011

Going with Plan B

Tuesday I was supposed to meet my running partner for a hilly 5K run.  I really wasn't feeling well at all that day (allergies?). I ended up coming home early from work and taking a nap.  Plan B was a solo 2.2 mile run on Wednesday instead.  It wasn't what I had planned, but it was nice because I ran a route that I haven't run in a few months.

Thursday, I was going to meet said running partner at the same place to get the hilly run in that we missed on Tuesday.  She texted that she was stuck at work and couldn't make it.  Plan B was a group 4.0 mile run instead.  It wasn't what I had planned, but it was nice because I ran with the group for a change; I haven't been running much with them lately.

So no hilly run so far this week, which is a bummer, but Plan B hasn't been so bad.  Sometimes it's about going where life takes you.

"The bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you refuse to take the turn" - unknown.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Three Things Thursday

1) Short Long Runs - Can you believe it?  It's been six weeks since I've done a run longer than 5 miles!  I'm actually okay with that.  This is another tactic toward keeping my knee happy.  But it is really sinking in right now, because for several years, I've run the Duke City Half marathon in October and this is the time of year when I would normally be out there for 10+ mile runs and here I am doing long runs of 5 miles instead.   Anyway, I finally have a 6 mile run on tap for Saturday.

2) Delayed Registration - The 10K that I want to run at end of October hasn't opened registration yet.  This is the all terrain race that is partly on single track, partly on dirt levee road, and partly on road.  I guess they are waiting until October 1st.  It's a local race and very popular; doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that you can't register for it quite yet?  It makes me wonder if it's actually going to happen this year or not.

3) Fiesta Traffic - Balloon Fiesta starts this coming weekend.  There will be hundreds and hundreds of hot air balloons in the air. On the one hand, it *is* pretty spectacular.  On the other hand, it also means lots of traffic and bunches of drivers that get distracted by the pretty balloons in the air.  Makes it extra *unsafe* to be a cyclist out on the road.   Good thing the bulk of our scheduled 44 mile ride will occur on the multi-use trail rather than out on the road.    

Monday, September 26, 2011

Riding, running, and more riding

Knowing that I had a 40 mile ride on the calendar for Sunday, I went out on my bike Friday with the goal of at least 10 miles.  11.3 miles later, I was back home and feeling pretty good.  Short rides like this always leave me feeling refreshed.

Saturday morning, met with a running friend for 5 miles on a dirt trail.  Ahhhh, heaven!  It's no secret that I am a fan of running on dirt, and I think I've converted her to dirt over the summer.  The prior weekend, she ran a half-marathon road race and one of her first comments to me was how much pounding her body took from the hard surface.  She actually asked me if we could run exclusively on dirt for the next few weeks.  No argument from me!

Side note, it's been about 6 months since my last round of Euflexxa injections in my left knee.  It's considered successful by the doctors if it gives me at least 6 months of relief. I'm hoping to extend the time between treatments closer to a year.  Running on dirt seems to help.  So does keeping my run distance no longer than about 7 miles.  Fingers crossed that this magic combination will keep me going for another several months.  I'm very thankful to have a training partner that is happy with this combination as well.

Sunday afternoon Husband & I went out for our 40 mile ride.  We decided to stop ever 8 miles for just a few minutes for hydration/nutrition/stretching.  Felt good at the first stop, but of course I did.  Those were the easy miles.  Next stop happened about six tenths of a mile ahead of schedule so Husband could replace his rear tube due to a flat.  Third stop was short, and I was still feeling okay.  By the fourth stop (mile 32), we had exceeded our mileage from last weekend I needed a longer rest to get motivated to finish the distance.  I was hurting all over.  Just past mile 35 we came upon a restaurant and decided to stop for a snack.  We were there for about a half hour.  Re-energized, we completed the final 5 miles to home, bringing the total to 40.1.

Next weekend we are doing a loop that should give us ~44.  I hope the small increase is easier on my body than the jump from 30-40 was.  Then we have another weekend targeted at ~50 and after that, it will be the bike event (54mi) that we are training for.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Three Things Thursday

Garmin Love - Wouldn't you know it, after using a Garmin 205 for a good 5 years, I've finally figured out how to use some of the features.  Specifically, I have it now set up to chime every mile both while running and cycling.  I also set it up to auto pause.  The chiming every mile has really freed me from having to keep checking my Garmin on a 4 mile run when I want to turn at mile 2, for example.  I just run and listen for the chime!  I'm finding auto pause particularly helpful on bike rides.  I had a tendency to turn the Garmin off if we stopped for a break, then I would forget to turn it back on. D'oh!  Now it turns itself off and back on if I stop for a break.  I'm sure there are other cool features that I could take advantage of, but this is a start.  And they say you can't teach old dogs new tricks.  Hahahahahaha.

Yoga - After my epiphany about needing more strength/core work, I tried (and failed) to get motivated to go to the gym for some strength work.  I also tried (and succeeded) to get motivated for some yoga.  If you've followed me for a while, you may notice that I go in and out of love with yoga.  Anyway, I've done it twice so far this week.  It's not as intense for strength work as lifting weights, but it helps me work on my flexibility as well as some strength, so it's a good thing to so.  Yoga always reminds me how terribly uncoordinated I am though.

Animal - Doing yoga means being on the floor.  Being on the floor, means being reminded about how much dog/cat fur is on the carpet!  We have two dogs and two cats which means the entire house is basically covered in a layer of fur.  Anyway, we recently bought a refurbished Dyson DC25 Animal vacuum from Woot.  It had good reviews and is specifically meant for animal hair removal.  No, not from the animal itself, from the carpets.  Let me just tell you, this thing is AMAZING.  Yes, I am that excited about a vacuum.  What can I say?  I don't get out much...

Monday, September 19, 2011

This post brought to you by the letter S

Switching Brands: Our local Costco stopped carrying the 12-pack case of chobani greek yogurt.  At first this seemed like a panic situation, but quickly found a replacement strategy to get me through my daily Greek yogurt consumption needs.  Walmart has a large size vanilla Chobani that is perfect to scoop into my granola for breakfast.  Costco now carries a 12-pack case of Fage, which is different, but also very yummy, and perfect for a mid-morning or late afternoon snack.

Strength Training: Husband thought that my downfall on the 30mile bike ride was going to be saddle-soreness.  Oddly, the problem was actually shoulder-soreness.  Which I take as a sign that I need to revamp my core and upper body strengthening.  If my core was stronger, I wouldn’t carry weight on my shoulders.  If my upper body was stronger, I wouldn’t be sore from it even if I did.  So now I’m on a quest to add strength-work back into my routine.

September: September has got to be my all-time favorite month of the year.  It is cool enough to be comfortable for running, cycling, etc without the wind we get in the spring.  I just love it and wish it would last longer!

Speed work:  I'm just not feeling it right now.  I'm thinking of switching out all of the speed work sessions that were on my training plan for the next several weeks with some easy runs.  This is related to my recent decision to take road races off my schedule in the short term. I just want to run for the joy of running right now, and for me, speed work takes away the joy.

Signed Up:  After a successful 30 mile ride, Husband & I are now signed up for the 54 miler in mid-October.  I'm glad to have made the decision so that we could sign up before the rates go up.  We now have a 40 mile training  ride on the calendar for this weekend.  Fun stuff!

Stringing up Lights: All summer I have wanted to get some outside lights strung up on our back patio so that we could sit out there in the evenings and be able to see well enough not to trip over stuff.  We managed to get some hooks up, but never strung the lights because we didn’t’ need them during summer while the sun stayed up fairly late.  Now that it’s actually getting darker earlier, it seems like we might need to get this done sooner than later.  Just need to make time to do it.

Sweet Tooth: This weekend I was craving something sweet, so I decided to make my family famous chocolate/peppermint cookies.  So yummy!  Too yummy, actually, as I can't stop myself from eating them.  Sadly, I'm already thinking about making cookies again next weekend, this time modifying the recipe to make them chocolate/peanut butter cookies.

Swimming:  I have a hard time getting motivated to swim, mostly because I don't like getting up as early as necessary to swim before work.  This week I am hoping to schedule in a run-swim with my tri-training buddy.  I'm thinking that scheduling a workout with a run-buddy will get me to the pool.  Accountability helps!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

What's next?

All summer, I was training toward the two sprint triathlons that are now in the past.  So what's up next?

So far this week, I have run 14.1 miles, walked 6, cycled 15.7, and swam 400M. If all goes well, I'll be adding another 30 miles to my cycle total before calling it a week.  I'm hoping to accomplish these 30 miles without too much discomfort.  If that goes well, Husband & I will target the 54 mile ride for Day of the Tread in mid-October and work on increasing the riding distance between now and then.  If it doesn't go so well, we'll plan on the doing the 26 mile course.  I'm really hoping that the 54 is within my grasp, but since most of my rides this summer have been in the 12mi and under category with the longest so far being just 22. I'm just not sure if I can get there in the few weeks that we have between now and the event. [ updated to add:  We did it and it wasn't TOO bad.  Would have been better if we had actually beat the storm.  The last few miles were in some nasty wind and a bit of rain and the threat of lightning.  Otherwise, it went well.]

On the running front, I've removed every running event from my calendar for the next 7 weeks except for the Bosque Boogie 10K.  Originally, I had wanted to shoot for a sub-hour 10K at Duke City.  I've decided that now is not the time for that.  I'm more interested right now in running for the joy of running, not to hit some time goal.  The event that I left on my calendar is an all-terrain run, with part on road, part on dirt levee road, and part on single-track.  It's at the end of October when the leaves have turned golden yellow.  It was my favorite event last year and I'm looking forward to running it again simply for the joy of running, not as a PR course.

So those are my next target events:  Day of the Tread ride (26 or 54 mi, tbd) and Bosque Boogie 10K for FUN!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

This, that, and the other


  • Daughter went out for a bike ride with a friend yesterday.  I'm thinking they went somewhere between 6 and 8 miles.  I think this is the first she was out on her bike for at least 3 years.  I guess this means I cannot have her bike, but if my interest in her bike had anything to do with her re-sparking her interest in riding it, that's fine by me.
  • Tuesday is group run day, but I didn't want to do hills or speed work, so I met a friend and went on a four mile easy trail run instead.  It was perfect.  Being out there running for fun, solidified my decision to take the Duke City 10K off my schedule.  The next run I'm planning on is the Bosque Boogie, which is an 'all terrain' run with a section on single track.  I had so much fun at that race last year! I can't wait to do it again.
  • This morning I truly intended to get up and go for a bike ride. Really, I did. But now it is raining, and quite honestly, I'm really not in the mood to ride in the rain.  Maybe after work.  Or in a few days. Whatever.  No pressure, my bike will be ready when I am.
  • Planning on going for a 30+ mile bike ride this weekend with Husband.  Depending on how it goes, we will decide whether we are aiming for a half century or quarter century for Day of the Tread, which is about a month away.  I am sure I can do the quarter century route no problem, but not sure where my bike fitness is with regard with the longer route.  And as with all things around here, it's going to be hilly.  
  • Still haven't heard from the RD about race shirts, not that I'm too concerned, but I really had expected an email about that by now.  There was also an event photographer on site and I'm waiting to find out where to view the photos online.  I hope they got a good one of me on my bike.  I'm going to order an event photo from the other tri and would like one from this race as well if they got a good shot. Maybe we'll get an email about all that today?
  • A while back I won a pair of Brooks shoes from a giveaway on Adam's blog. I chose trail running shoes.  I'm happy to report that soon I will be able to share my thoughts on what I picked out. Yipppeeee!
  • Sometime in the last couple weeks, I found a site (and subsequently lost it, so I cannot share right now) that had you enter your current age and weight and then calculated speed for same race if you were a younger, lighter version of yourself (in this case, I think it goes to 23 yrs old and 110 lbs).  Of course, I wasn't running at that age, but it was interesting none-the-less.  I entered by 5K PR of just under 28 minutes from a few months ago and it spat out a time of something like 24 minutes.  I don't know how accurate it is, but somehow that made me feel much better about my running ability.  If I can find it, I'll share it for you other 'older' runners out there.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Patriot Sprint Race Report

Packet Pickup

I arrived at early packet pickup within about 15 minutes of when they opened.  This would be uneventful, except that there were no shirts.  Apparently they arrived late the day before and were still on a UPS truck.  The race director seemed stressed about this, and I’m sure it won’t be convenient for anyone who travelled in for the race, but shirts will be able to be picked up starting tomorrow.  I personally don't think it's a big deal.

It’s a seeded swim start based on estimated swim time.  I was assigned 186.  There were 385 participants.  Came home and put my number on my bike, gathered my stuff, and prepared for the next day.

PreRace

I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to do this or not, my back had been going in and out of spasm all week.  I gingerly got out of bed when my alarm went off, stretched a bit, and my back seemed okay.  So I decided that I was going to go for it!

I arrived about a half hour after Transition opened.  They were racking by Age Group, my group (F45-49) was way in the back near Bike In, but not very close to Swim In.  I knew this meant a longer than anticipated T1. 

As I mentioned in my summary, I thought it was very cool that they had a Heros division and that the proceeds were going to local fire and police depts.

Swim 400 yd pool  - 9:13, 74 of 122 women age groupers (not including special divisions and teams)

We lined up by number.  They started swimmers every 10 seconds.  For some reason, I was feeling very nervous and anxious as my start time approached.  My heart rate was up and my breathing was shallow.  This affected me tremendously in the water.  My form fell apart and I had a horrible swim.  It seemed like I was in survival mode.  This was unexpected; my swim is generally my strength and there was no reason to be nervous.   I guess it’s just another reminder that a large part of this sport is the mental aspect.   Even though it was a struggle, I was only 45 sec off my estimated time (and about 25 sec slower than 2008).  That’s really not a big deal for the overall race but certainly not a great way to get started.

Swimming (blue cap)
T1 3:16

Knowing that I had a longer trek to my transition area, I tried to hustle from the pool to my bike.  Put on a shirt, socks, cycling shoes, helmet, and glasses.  Took a swig from my bottle, grabbed my bike, and ran it over to bike out.

Running my bike out of T1
Bike 15.7 hilly miles - 01:03:38, 77 of 122 women

I was out of breath and still mentally defeated from the swim for the first mile.  After that, I got my head back in the game. I made it a point to shout a loud "thank you" the volunteers that were on the course, many of which who were police, fire, and military personnel.  I wasn't passed by a woman until mile 6.  That woman, however, ended up being my race twin.  She had the same color bike as me, same color shirt, was the same age, and similar shorts.  That made me smile.  Lots of guys passed me, as well as a few other women.  I managed to pass a grand total of 5 people (Hey, it’s better than nothing!).  

At the turn point, which was also at the top of the big climb, I was behind my predicted pace, but determined to dig in and give it my all.  I has a strong second half and ended up finishing ahead of my predicted time and also about six and a half minutes faster than my bike split from 2008.  I realized it is all relative, but when I first started triathlon, I was always way back of the pack with my cycling and now I’m working my way up closer to the middle.  I’ve come a long way, and I’m very pleased with my improvement in this aspect of the sport.

Off on the bike!
T2 02:03

I took a 3 yr break from triathlon, and during that time I must have forgotten how to really hustle in T2.  For one thing, no Yanx, so I had to tighten and tie my running shoes.  It seemed to take forever.  Also I put my hat on in T1, should have grabbed it and put it on while running.  Between T1 and T2 I was almost a minute slower than 2008.  Oh well.

T2 - putting on my hat *sigh*
Run 3.1 hilly miles - 33:44, 79 of 122 women

I was exhausted at this point and this run is killer hilly.  I really didn’t feel like running, but I had no good reason not to, so off I went. It felt like I was moving at a snail’s pace throughout the entire course. My pace was actually fairly close to my half-marathon pace and a bit faster than I expected.  I ended up about 4 and a half minutes faster than my 2008 time and I’m happy with the result.

Off and running!
Overall 01:51:54, 79 of 122 women, 14 of 22 F45-49

What can I say? Despite a rocky swim and less than speedy transitions, I ended up about 10 minutes faster than my time from 2008 and a few minutes faster than what I predicted.  There are some things I still need to work on, but overall I’m happy.  I’m particularly pleased with my cycling improvement.

Running through to the finish
Post-Race Thoughts

I’m glad this was the 2nd of the 2 sprints that I planned this year.  It was a challenging race, much more so than the one two weeks ago, and not as much fun.  I’m guessing part of the ‘less fun’ nature had to do with the fact that this was one of the first races in a long time where I didn’t know any of the other participants.  Everything is more fun with friends.  Anyway, I’m putting a bow on my tri season.  I am ready to move on to some fun rides with no race/time pressure and have my eyes set on a few charity events in October.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sprint Summary

Holy Heck that was a tough race!  Full race report tomorrow or Tuesday.  I am happy to report that my back cooperated and I was able to participate!  I am also happy to report that my finish time was 01:51:54.   That's a good 10 minutes faster than my time from 2008 and a few minutes faster than the 01:55:00 that I predicted.  Yay!

A few random tidbits from the race:

  • I was passed by a 73 yr old man wearing nothing but a speedo on the bike.  Think about that for a few moments.
  • I passed a 7 yr old kid on the bike course.  Not a typo.  SEVEN.  Oh, and he passed me back and left me in the dust on the run.
  • I saw a lady on the same color bike as mine, wearing the same color shirt, and similar shorts.  She was also my same age. I dubbed her my race twin.  She was faster than me, but it was still cool to have a race twin.
  • I thought it was very cool that this race had a HERO division for EMS, police, fire, and military personnel and that the proceeds went to the local police and fire departments.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks.  I'm exhausted and ready for a nap!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Four Things Friday

1) Regarding the race this weekend.  Because of issues with my back, it has been iffy all week as to whether or not I will actually be able to participate.  My back was acting up on Saturday, messing up my plans for a long run.  Sunday it was marginal, and I limited my activity to a short bike and short run.  It seemed better by Monday, and we rode the bike course.  Tuesday I had a great run at the track.  Wednesday was rest day.  Thursday, my back started acting up again! Ugg. Canceled my run plans and went to the chiropractor instead.  Also was able to be seen by the PT on site. I have another chiro/PT appt later this afternoon as well.  I really want to do this particular sprint tri, so you can bet I'll be at the race site ready to go as long as my body cooperates.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

2) Already modifying my plans for what's next.  I had originally thought that I would target a 10K mid-Oct and go for a PR.  However, I've really been enjoying my bike a lot recently.  In fact, originally I had some apprehension about signing up for the Patriot due to the hilly bike route, but now I'm looking forward to the bike portion of the course more than anything else!  And with this newly sparked re-interest in cycling, I'm leaning toward adding in a few charity rides instead of that 10K.  That's one of the benefits of triathlon training, allows me to really mix things up however I want.

3) I took the Giant (road bike that I'm thinking of selling) into the shop for a tune up because it was out of adjustment.  When I picked it up, the guy that helped me kept calling me "dear."  I don't know about you, but for some reason I find that horribly condescending.  It's one thing if someone I know calls me "dear," but something entirely different when a total stranger calls me that.  Am I over-reacting??

4) Our garden is coming along nicely.  Remember when the rabbits were eating my plants?  Well, the reinforced gate kept them out and after that, the garden really flourished.  Right now I'm eating some of my cantaloupe from the garden.  I've never grown that before and it really turned out delish!  I'm also excited to make eggplant parmesan this weekend from my first ever eggplants.  My standby veggies (chilies, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, beans, cucumbers) are doing well too, but these new additions are particularly exciting to try out.  It's amazing what seeds, sun, and water (plus compost and some TLC) turn into.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Predictions and Plans

So I have this hilly little sprint called the Patriot this weekend.  Actually, it's billed as the most difficult (or one of the most difficult, depending on who you ask) sprint in the state.  Lucky me!

Predictions:

I'm going to estimate to the nearest minute, not going to fiddle with seconds
  • Swim (400m serpentine pool swim) - 9:00.  This is roughly my time from 2008.  When I do a straight 400m swim, I can do it faster, but this accounts for lane changes.  This is faster than what I did at my last tri, because the seeded swim start should mean very little jockeying for position in the pool (theoretically, faster swimmers in front of me, slower ones behind me)
  • Transitions (T1+T2 combined) - 4:00.  In 2008, at this event, my transitions took 4 minutes.  A few weeks ago at a similar event, my transitions took 3 minutes.  I expect something closer to 2008 b/c  a few weeks ago we did a reverse which has faster transitions due to starting in running shoes.
  • Bike (15.5 mi hilly route) - 1:06:00.  In 2008 this took me 01:11:00.  My cycling is a bit better since then, but not as good as I'd like.  I rode the course this weekend and it took me ~1:06:00 ride time not counting a few stops to check the map.  This lines up with my performance at my recent tri, so I think it's a good estimate.
  • Run (3.1 mi hilly mixed terrain) - 35:00.  In 2008 it took me 38:00.  A few weeks ago, with the run first, I did it in 31:00.  I think I'm going to be tired and slow after the hilly bike ride, so I'm expecting something in between, but a little closer to the 2008 numbers.
What does it add up to?  If my predictions are close, I'm looking at a 01:55:00 finish vs. 2:02:00 from 2008, with most of the improvement coming from the bike.  If I can actually pull that off, I'll be happy.

Plans
  • I will freeze half my bottle the night before, and fill it the rest of the way up race morning.
  • I will arrive at the race site shortly after transition opens to get good parking and not be rushed.
  • I will wear my new tri shorts & a grey sports bra for the swim, and put on a bright green or yellow shirt so that I'm highly visible on the bike route (want to be sure the cars can see me!)
  • I will swim easy; I should be able to pull off a 9:00 400 without over-exerting myself.  Save energy for the bike and run.
  • I will hustle through transitions; no dawdling!
  • I will mount my Garmin on my bike for real time speed/distance feedback and use the Timex sports watch on my wrist for the rest of the race.
  • I will smile and have fun and thank the volunteers who are out there.
I think that about covers it!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Monday Meanderings

  1. My back hates me.  In mid-July, I experienced a back twinge that preceded two days of terrible-awful back spasms.  It was a good 10 days before I was running again.  Well, Saturday morning, as I was getting out of  car to meet my friend for a 10K hilly run, my back decided to act up again.  Twinge! Spasm! Ouch!  Thankfully, this time it wasn’t as bad as before and I here I am just a few days later and feeling well enough to run.  But I’m on guard.  If my back acts up again this week, I’m probably sitting out of the sprint tri that I have planned for the weekend (see #2))
  2. The Patriot is cursed!  Okay, I don’t really believe that, but it sure has been poorly timed for me.   In 2008 I did this race wearing a knee brace shortly after my DNF at a local half-marathon.  The following year, I was signed up to do it again, but the race was just a few days after my dad died and I wasn’t in the right mental place to race safely, so I DNS.  I wanted to do it in 2010, but I had just gotten the all clear to run after having my knee treated and simply wasn’t in shape for it.  Now this year, my back decides to act up one week before the race.  *sigh*
  3. I’m rethinking the remainder of my race calendar.  I have three potential events lined up in October, which is cool, but limits my actual training time and puts me into back-to-back races.  I"m now thinking that I may swap out one of my potential 10K races in October with something at the end of this month to spread things out a bit.  Stewing on that for a bit...
  4. I love September!  This is one of my favorite months, mostly due to the weather.  It’s starting out great too, yesterday the high was 77.  Can you believe that, only 77?!?!  First time in a long time that it was something other than 90s and many days last week crept over 100.  Of course it only lasted one day, but it’s a sign that cooler weather is on the horizon.  Yay!
  5. Husband & I rode the Patriot bike course today, or something close to it (not sure we turned around at exactly the right place, I measured it a little short). I thought the long climb in the middle would be the worst part, but instead, the worst part for me was actually the steep section between miles 12.5 & 13.0. Felt like I needed a grappling hook for that part. Yowzer!
    I now know that It's not going to be speedy, but I can do this.  I’ll post later this week about my expected splits and goals and such for the race.  
  6. Three day weekends rock!  Not only do they make the long weekend special, they make the upcoming weekend arrive even faster.  I might even like the 4 day week after a 3 day weekend more than the 3 day weekend itself.  Is that strange?
  7. I think orange Accelerade is my favorite because it reminds me of an orange dreamsicle or push-up treat, the kind I used to get from the ice cream truck when I was a kid.  Anyone with me on that?
  8. Discovered a new Chobani flavor that I love - black cherry.  Have you tried that one? Totally yummy!  I didn't even know they made that kind until Husband brought one home after seeing it in the store.  Love it!
  9. Sometime in the last month, I lost my camera.  Finally broke down and ordered a replacement, same model refurbished.  I was sure that ordering a new one would mean that the old one would turn up, but no luck.  At this point, I'm fairly sure I left it behind somewhere.  Bummer.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

That's how I roll

This weekend I decided to invest a little time in a bike project or two.  My first bike project involves getting an old 20+ yr old heavy, stiff Rockhopper ride-ready and eventually commute-worthy.  I haven't ridden this for a very long time, in fact, the last time it was ridden was by the kids when they were little.  I had to adjust the seat quite a bit to get it into a somewhat comfortable position for me.  I also think that I need to raise the handle bars.  Anyway, I took it out for a test ride after wiping it down, filling up the tires, and adjusting the seat height.  Wasn't a very comfortable ride, and I think something funky is going on with the front brakes, but otherwise, it seems to be in good condition and shifted smoothly.

1990 ChroMoly RockHopper replaced knobbies w/ Hemisphere EX tires
My daughter got a bike when she was maybe 12 yrs old (maybe younger) that has been sitting in the garage ever since she learned to drive.  I put air in the tires and took this out for a test ride also.  I don't like how it shifts compared to the bike above, but the brakes are better and the ride is much more comfortable, probably due to the front shocks.  I'm thinking about asking her whether she ever plans to ride this again, if not, I may abandon the project above and work to make this my commute bike.

Daughter's 2005? Women's Aluminum Hardrock Sport
The second project that I have going on involves my Giant OCR3.  This is the bike that I did my first 3 triathlons on (back in 2006-2007).  It needed new tires and the bike computer hasn't been working. I replaced the tires Friday and Husband figured out how to get the battery out of the computer (replacing it should fix the issue).  I have a friend who is potentially interested in buying this bike so I'm getting it ready to sell.  I was thinking that I would list it on Craigslist if she doesn't want it because I haven't ridden it at all for the past year and a half or so, but now I'm not so sure.  Getting rid of a bike is like getting rid of a good friend.  Anyway, I took it out for a test ride today and it needs a tune up.  Can't get to the small ring in front and it rattles on the large rings in back.

2006 Women's Aluminum Giant OCR3
Finally, the bike I like best.  In the photo below I had replaced the front tire (have since also replaced the rear).  What's funny is that I wasn't really bike shopping for myself when I found it; I was out shopping with Husband for a road bike for him.  They had this in one of that stores that we were shopping at, I took it out for a ride while he was test riding something else, and fell in love with it. He didn't end up buying a bike at that particular store, but I eventually went back and bought this one for myself.  This is the only bike that I truly love riding.

2007 Women's Carbon Lemond Versailles
So that's how I roll.  How about you??