Tri Bike Redo & an Expensive Run

Thank you everyone for your support after my first ride on the Slice.  My first "ride" could be described as short and interesting. In summary, I was sick, it was mega windy, I fell down and then I quit after one mile. On Saturday I made a second attempt at riding the bike.

After my crappy first ride I spent the next week knocked out by a nasty cold. After spending 4 days delirious on cold medicine with no endorphins I was going back and forth between thinking I should sell my beautiful new tri bike because I'm too much of a wimp to ride it and being determined not to let the bike beat me.

By Saturday I was feeling significantly better so we ventured out to Long Island to give it another go. We went to Heckscher State Park because it is a beautiful and, more importantly, empty park with a flat three mile loop. It was the perfect place to ride because I didn't have to worry about traffic or other cyclists while I figured out what the hell I was doing.

Sam was awesome and rode the first two loops with me. He gave me tons of tips and talked me through shifting and transitioning in and out of the aero position. I was nervous about the stability and moving back and forth between the breaks and the shifters, but Sam forced convinced me and I was glad he did. After about six miles he went off on his own and I continued to ride and practiced my shifting and transition in and out of aero.

It was very, very windy at the park and the longer we rode the more the wind picked up. At the worst part I was going 9 mph and felt like I was climbing a very steep hill. After 9 loops and 32 miles we called it quits.

I'm happy to report that this ride was much, much better. I actually love the feeling when I'm down in areo because I feel like I've got So.Much.Power. Plus, it's going to make for some great race photos ;) I'm still a little unsteady but I have confidence that with time and practice everything will be great!  

I wrapped up the weekend on Sunday morning with a swim at Asphalt Green and then a long run in Central Park. The swim was great and we did a killer ladder session with a tempo swim of 100, 150, 200, 250, 250, 200, 150, 100 in the 50 meter pool.

My original plan was to do a 12 mile run but I cut a bit short because I didn't want to push myself too much since I'm still recovering from the cold. I ended up doing about 10 miles. Overall it was a pretty good, but expensive run. I was running the 'correct' way through the park (clockwise) but most runners run in the opposite direction. At mile 7 I was getting tired of dodging runners who refused to stay to their right and leave room for runners going the other way. At one point I decided not to surrender my lane for the millionth time and I strongly 'brushed' shoulders with another runner. Unfortunately, about a minute later I looked down to check my pace and found that my Garmin 305 had popped out of my wrist band. I ran back to find it but it was already gone. Either someone picked it up for it fell into a grate, never to be seen again.

My personality is generally to be overly nice and accommodating (hence my back pain, hives and foot pain) but sometimes the crowds in New York City bring out the worst in me. Three years ago I would never have made contact like that on purpose... I think I need to find a bit of my 'Minnesota-nice' again because this aggressive move cost me $135...