Country Ride

My training schedule called for a 2 hour ride today. I left home, road down the hill into town and jumped on the Centennial Trail. First mile or two I just warmed up and then started to work on my cadence. Ran into friends Dick and Pete going the other way, chatted for a moment then continued on. Kept my rpm about 80s, have to guess, my bike computer battery is dead. I should note that I am riding a mountain style bike with large knobby tires and to get any speed at all is a chore. At any rate I pressed on to Lk. Cassidy which is about 14 miles from home. Fueled up on a power bar and some water and started home. The return trip I tried using the higher gears so I was able to push my overall speed, it really felt good. Stopped in Machias for a water break and then the last few miles home. Hooked up with George and we covered that last 3 miles together. We parted at the end of the trail and I continued to go through town to the highway leading to my house. By now I was pretty well gassed and the uphill was very hard; had to gear all the way down at one point. I also had to stop for a couple of minutes for a break in the traffic at the freeway on ramp. Made it up the hill and coasted in to the driveway at the end of 3 hours. It was longer than I expected but I did feel pretty good overall.

It is obvious that I need to upgrade my bike if I am going to make any serious times. I spent a good portion of the evening looking online for advice on whether to buy a road bike, a multi-sport bike, or a full on tri bike. Then I looked for classifieds with bikes for sale. Didn't find anything in my size, pretty sure I need a 58 cm frame. I read several articles about set up and I can tell that I must have someone who is familiar with triathalons to help fit the bike to get the optimum set up.

Tomorrow I am scheduled for a combination day: 30 min swim followed by a 20 min run. Should be good weather tomorrow so I will head outside for the run portion. My goal is to not spend too much time making the transition. Haven't done any resistance training for a few days so I will have to do that first. I don't think that it will affect my swim significantly.

Other than that I will just keep looking for the right bike. Keep on tri-ing and I'll see you on the road.