I feel like we learned a few very good things about race day, course snafu's and tricks of the trade that will all benefit us in the long run. I did intend to bike the 18 miles though (run & bike course) so one of my teammates and I did the bike course after we realized that they were going to go over the run course instead and in our opinions, the run course is pretty self explanatory. Plus, won't we just be watching the people in front of us? ha ha ha! I promise, I will NOT be the leader of this pack.
In order to participate, we had to have a helmet. Wearing a helmet while biking is crucial to this race. While you may look/feel like an idiot with sweat running down your face because the majority of your body heat is unable to escape through the big plastic dome on your head, you will get DQ'd without it or not be able to participate. Since this is my first tri, I went ahead and bought myself an el'cheapo from Target. It has a fancy print on it though, so I figured at least I can look like a fool in style :)
This was my first ride ever with a helmet. I learned very quickly that a) it is HOT b) the straps will collect your sweat and c) my neck ached more than normal because of this added weight/wind resistor. I know, I know, for all of you bike afficionado's out there this annoying little thing may very well save my life...I am just not on board with it yet...give me some time!
My bike, is my mother's from the 1990's. I remember when my dad got it for her it was considered a very nice mountain bike. I was excited to be able to use if for this triathlon. I am going to have to go and get it tuned up since it has started making this very annoying squealing noise when I am in certain gears(which ones you ask??? I have no idea!)and the gears seem to switch by themselves which is a major pain in my butt (literally) as it seems to happen when I am in a high gear, pumping hard and fast and BOOM! I get switched to a super low gear that has me looking like the road runner on a bike!
This is the only picture I have of the bike. It is like 100% humidity outside and the camera just doesn't like it one bit. I am thinking that I should give this bike a name, however I am not quite sure what to call it. Any suggestions? I did have a teenager scream at me yesterday that, "I love your bike, it is so bright and beautiful!" It pretty much cracked me up and I gave him what I thought was the rock on symbol, only to then realize I did I love you in sign language instead! Hopefully he got the picture.
My college roomate Melissa is one of my teammates. Her and I were the two that decided to go for our ride last night. I cannot stress enough how important it is for me to have adult time with my friends. This triathlon has really allowed me to spend some great, uninterrupted girl time with some of my favorite women and I have cherished every second of it.
15 miles talking with Melissa was absolutely amazing. I remember exactly why we are still friends to this day, why we were such great roomates and even though we are not exactly alike we still have a lot in common all of these years later. One time in college, she gave me a gift for my birthday. It was a journal that she had sporadically decorated so that I could write in the pages in between. One of the things she wrote said that even though we do not see each other all that often, when we do, we simply pick up where we left off as if there had never been an absence of one another to begin with. I am not sure if any of you have friends like this out there, but it sure is nice to have someone who knows you and holds you dear even if you don't get to see them but once a month or even once a year.
All things considered, I am glad that I attended the course preview. Was it worht paying for? Probably not, but we will see if my opinion on that changes come race time!
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