I'm at the point where all this training by myself is really starting to get to me. When I signed up for IMTX, I had grand visions of training with my friends on the home course and having a great time. And then I moved to Colorado, which is triathlong mecca... just not right now. I am off schedule with EVERYONE. There are very few group rides - the few that I found are cyclists and not nearly enough miles for me. I've joined a few of the rides, but its still a bit awkward (hi, you don't know me and I don't know the area, but I need to add 30 miles to your course... and don't wait around for me). I had high hopes for making friends on my swim team. Turns out they're very competitive and not very friendly. And I did find a running group, but my training plan doesn't seem to have much in the way of long runs, and when I do have them, they're on Sunday (the groups all run on Saturday).
I typically have 5-6 hours of training each day on Saturday and Sunday, all my my lonesome. Or Lonesome Ranger as my friend put it. For a while, it was fun, as I was discovering new areas of Denver and having a lot of "me" time. Lately, though, its just become tiresome and well, lonely. I'm still not very familiar with ride that do NOT involve hills. I've ridden quite a few times NE of Denver, but its nice to see new scenery. So this past Sunday, I went and tried again to ride around Parker. Did the Map My Ride thing, picked out an 85 mile route that appeared to be all pavement. More hills and some wind, especially at the beginning of my ride... not really awesome for a warmup but ok. The plan was to follow county roads to Strausburg then head back down to Parker. 20 miles in, I encountered this:
 |
| sand and washboard + tri bike = scary surfing. not cool |
I was hoping that this dirt would end over the next hill, but 2 hills later and nope, still dirt. So, I turned around, hoping to find an alternate route, only to find more dirt roads that should have been paved. So, at 2 hrs, I decided to make a pit stop at a gas station and try another road. As I got underway, I got a flat tire (front wheel). No biggie, I can change a tire. I set up on the side of the road, happy that I had just bought new tubes. Dumbass here rode 700 miles, including a 95 mile solo ride, WITH NO SPARE TUBES. After the 95 mile ride, I realized how dumb I was and promptly got 3 spare tubes. What I didn't realize, even though the guy at the store warned me, that the stems on the tubes were freakishly short. So I'm changing my tire, bust out my CO2 kit, then realize that I lost the presta adaptor. But I realized this AFTER I punctured a CO2 cartridge. Boo. Oh, no problem, I have my hand pump. The ONLY reason I had the hand pump, because you know, I'm super smart and never carry it normally b/c I have CO2, was due to Will making a smart ass comment as I was leaving about said hand pump. I decided that he jinxed me and took it along. Good thing, as he was fixing the radiator in my truck, which meant I did not have a rescue option. So, I'm working with the hand pump and realize that the stupid stem is too short for the pump to really attach to very well and the best I can do is inflate the tube to half pressure. ugh. I decide to limp back to the car, which was fortunately only 6 miles away.
And then I drove back home to do 2.5 hours of riding on the trainer.
Sad part is, I was actually kind of excited to be on the trainer because that meant I wouldn't be riding alone. I had my kitties, Will, and Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to keep me company.
No comments:
Post a Comment