I had decided to mix things up a bit on Saturday and dust down my road bike, I’ve not been on it for about 6 months of so, but then my wife suggested I ran Cheeseboro trails, she’d been hiking there on Friday and said it was gorgeous with all the spring flowers…undecided I did what every sensible person would do I posted the question on Twitter:
To which I got the following responses:
or the less verbose…
Perfect I thought, and so Friday night I dusted down my steed, got the rubber up to 120psi and dug out my cycling garb. Saturday morning I had no plan but I wanted to get in some rolling hills so I headed out towards the foothills of the Santa Monica’s, I had about 90 minutes to play with and rode a route that I knew to a point, although I had never gone beyond a certain bend and so I followed my nose…a few bends later I saw this:
Hmm that will be rolling for sure, I toyed with turning around…for a nano second! I gingerly made my way down, this is about halfway…
And finally I got to more or less the bottom and turned around…
Ohhh that’s a big hill I thought! I set off. Now remember that bit it about not riding on the roads in probably six months! Well I do ride a triple and boy did I need it, I ground up the hill wondering exactly how slow could I go before I fell over sideways and when should I unclip? The final 300 yards was the worst a big pot hole and no verge edged me out into the middle of the road on a blind corner, I held my breath, metaphorically, physically I was puffing nineteen to the dozen! I nabbed this photo just at the top.
I topped out and headed home! Phew! I changed into some runners and more comfortable shorts in fact I was trying out some Piston Compression shorts from Sugoi (review to follow), I don’t think I will win any prizes for my transition. Thirty three minutes and four miles later I was done! A quick Recoverite Strawberry smoothie (Recoverite Powder, Acai juice, FF Frozen Yogurt and frozen Strawberries) and a shower later I was heading off to The Little Gym with our youngest, an hour later I was heading off to the “Big Gym”, to meet my wife and our eldest who was finishing up Karate; divide and conquer is the order of the day at the weekend! Two kids checked into the kids club and I was in the pool. I think this is a candidate for the longest transition evah! Thirty five minutes and 1000 yards later I was done! Oh apart from the 14 laps around Costco that came after lunch! So there was my dyslexic Tri; Bike, Run, Swim!
I finally downloaded all my Garmin data this morning and, well I’ll let the graph from my ride speak for itself…
Today I am off to see the finish of the Tour de California…more on that later!
A dyslexic tri deserves an unusual transition to go with it. Well done! Impressed you can take a picture of yourself while riding a bike- I think I'd get all sorts out of balance!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap that's a drop and a half.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading, I was SURE you were going to topple over on the hill. I have those exact same thoughts as I climb steep hills. And of course, I am not afraid to tip - three times already.
ReplyDeleteGood job! ;)
Gulp.... those are some scary hills. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe there's not one drop of sweat on your face in that photo!! You must not have been working hard enough! ;)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe there's no one drop of sweat on your face in that photo!! You must not have been working hard enough! ;)
ReplyDeleteumm yeah. i probably would've been walking the bike up those mountains.
ReplyDeletenice job on the dyslexia! :)
I can relate to the holding of the breath, while heavily breathing, that made me laugh. Glad you got some seat time back in!!
ReplyDeleteWas that a hill or the Grand Canyon!!!! You know - I've lived here in L.A. my whole life and have *never* been to the Santa Monicas.....
ReplyDeleteGreat ride Stuart!
Cheeseboro! That's near my old hood. :)
ReplyDeleteHoly mackeral that garmin profile is scary...well done!