2012 - the year of the bike

When I decided to pursue this triathlon thing, it was without any experience running, and no ability to swim.  The one discipline I had some experience in was the bike.  I knew how to ride a bike and even occassionally took my kids out with me on my hybrid and them in the bike trailer.

So in May of 2010 when I decided to do a triathlon, I jumped headfirst into C25K, while simultaneously taking my first swimming lessons.  I think it's fair to say that running was my focus that year.  I did my first two 5k races and my first 10k race.

Then in 2011, I continued to make huge amounts of progress in my running.  I started a coached swim program, which has probably been one of the best things I could have done.  I increased my swim speed by about 20% and discovered that I am not actually destined to be a "slow runner".

Meanwhile, I did get a road bike, Bella.  And, I did ride it.

I did some okay mileage.  I got almost all my long bikes in, but at best, I usually rode twice a week, while I ran 3-4 times and swam 3.

Whenever something had to give, it was a bike ride.  If I had to miss a run, I'd make it up during the time I would normally do my next bike.  I already knew how to ride, I'd tell myself.

For some reason, it just didn't hold the same priority for me as running and swimming.

Yet, oddly enough, in a triathlon, the bike is important.  Very important.  Generally comprising about half the time of the triathlon.  If there is a discipline that it's the worst to be weak in, it's the bike.

Oddly enough, almost two years after starting this journey, my weakest discipline is the only one I was capable of when I began.  The bike.

So, with that in mind, I declare 2012 the year of the bike.  Since it's February, and I'm in Alberta, Canada, it's trainer time.  I still have a month before my HIM plan officially starts, and that will include 4 rides a week (one of them a brick).  

The plan for right now?  Be ready to start that plan.  Go to spin classes once a week, and spin on my own 3 other days.  Keep my posture strong, and my arms soft.  Push myself at times, and give a steady effort at others.

The long term plan?  Get those rides in.  Give up the death grip I still sometimes have on the handlebars.  Reach the point where it feels natural to keep my cadence up.  Become stronger on the uphills and braver on the downs.

There's a term in cycling known as T.I.T.S - "time in the saddle" (I assume it's a cycling term, even though I know about it from tri circles).  Basically, there's no substitute for it, and the more you can get of it, the better.

Bella and me are going to become good friends this year.

Sweetpea's new ride

My babies are growing up. It's been a while since I've been a mother to an actual baby, and soon, my littlest one, Sweetpea, will be turning three.

We got Spud a bike for his third birthday, and wanted to do the same for Sweetpea. I've gained a better appreciation for bikes since then. Rather then get the Canadian tire special this time, I scoured the used bike ads for something. (Whether they're good bikes or not, I still can't bring myself to spend $200 for a bike my child will grow out of in a year or two.)

I was in luck! An unbelievably good deal on a little norco bike in fabulous condition. My stay at home mom status gave me an edge on the competition for the bike. I could get it during the day, as opposed to seeing it that evening, like the seller told me a couple people were interested in doing.

There were two downsides: 1. Getting it during the day meant that Sweetpea would be with me, so no real surprise. 2. The bike was blue.

No surprise? That's life. I explained that it would be for her birthday, and she gets that. The blue part? Oh vey... My little princess informed me "I no like blue bikes. I just like pink bikes."

Now, I couldn't bring myself to spend the same amount (or more) on a crappy quality barbie bike then I would on this great find - even if it was blue. A compromise had to be reached, and fortunately, the compromise was in the details.

Sweetpea agreed that she would accept a blue bike as long as she could have a pink basket...

My little girl's new ride

I have to admit that I can feel the difference in quality over Spud's bike (which we bought new for quite a bit more.) While it's still heavy (it is steel, after all), it's a heck of a lot lighter then his, even taking into account it's a smaller size. Future bike purchases for my kids are going to follow this pattern - going for good quality second hand, rather then poor quality new.

It might get decked out even more for my princess. When we were looking at baskets, Spud informed me that he wanted to get bike streamers for Sweetpea's birthday. Previously when I've tried to get him to pick gifts for her, he had trouble focusing on the fact that we weren't shopping for him. It's neat to see that he now recognizes the way gifts work now, so I'll probably let him get them for her.

Three things Thursday

2 days until my first triathlon. Current weather forecast: Variable cloudiness with a high of 16c (61f).

1. Yesterday I was at the pool. I'd just jumped into the one empty lane. There are 4 lanes at my pool and the other lanes just had one person each. As I was fiddling with my goggles, a bunch of newbies came out of the change rooms.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind sharing a lane - if the person has a basic understanding and respect of lane etiquette. Even when I was a newbie (not so long ago), I made sure I had that. Two of the people coming out, I have seen swimming before, and they certainly lacked any kind of etiquette. The others were question marks, but I knew I would rather not have them in the same lane as me if I wanted to have a smooth workout.

The woman beside me obviously observed the same thing. She's a nice lady whom I have chatted with occasionally. She's also a triathlete, and an ironman. Without missing a beat she smiled at me and asked if I would join her lane. I am not even close to being an ironman, and can't (yet) claim the title of triathlete, but it was neat to see that I am now considered a good lane partner by one.

2. I took mine and my son's bike in for the bike check today. The upcoming triathlon is seeming very real. I forgot to re-engage the front brake after I took my bike out of the car. (I have to take the wheels off to get it in the back of the car.

Note to self: make sure to re-engage brakes on race day. Otherwise, I might end up even faster then intended...

This is an old picture, from a time period when my apple of choice was golden delicious.

3. I am currently addicted to apples with peanut butter. It satisfies most of the cravings I get. It's sweet, but still has a richness to it. The peanut butter is natural, so there's no added salt, but somehow it also satisfies me if I am craving something salty. My apple of choice right now is gala apples. What is your favourite kind of apple?

Bike repair course

Yesterday, I loaded Bella (my road bike) up and headed to the University to learn how to take care of her. The most complicated maintenance I'd done prior to this course was pumping up bike tires. Although I'd been shown how to change a flat, I had little confidence in my ability to actually do it if I needed to.

My husband had suggested bringing Heidi (my hybrid) along instead, but I figured that Bella was the one that I really needed to know how to take care of. I could still apply everything to Heidi later.

When I got there, I ran into Nicole and her husband, Jarrett.

Nicole and I. I wasn't having a very photogenic day, but she looks great.

Nicole was taking the course because she had about the same level of repair experience as I did, and Jarrett was taking the course because he wanted to see how fast he could change a flat. ;)

Turns out my fears of being the only female and the only one over the age of 22 were quite unfounded. Aside from Nicole and I, there was one other female in the class of 7. I would guess that nobody was under the age of 25, let alone 22. This wasn't a class of university students.

When the instuctor, DJ, started, I wasn't too sure initially. He seemed really nervous and I wondered if this was the first class he'd ever taught. Within a few minutes though, he got into a groove and seemed more comfortable. He knew his stuff, and was good at explaining it. I asked all kinds of basic questions while he was showing us how to change a tire. Possibly annoying some others in the class, but such is life.

The lights kept going out. They were on a motion sensor, so whenever there wasn't enough movement, they'd turn off. They required large movements of people walking around, rather then just smaller movements of us bent over our bikes working on them. Whenever they'd go out, we'd all wave our arms in the air and they'd go back on.

It took me a bit of time to change my tire. I had to redo it, as I was almost done and DJ came over and did something that pulled the valve out a bit. I didn't mind though. I don't remember things from seeing them. Doing them is what cements it in my mind. I actually believe myself capable of fixing a flat now, and since I still have a trainer tire on my bike, I'll practice at least one more time before taking Bella on the road.

After that, we were shown how to break and put back together a chain. Then on to cleaning and lubing.

I'm glad we covered this, as I really had no idea what you lube other then the chain. Again, one of those basic things that I needed to know. The bike he showed us on had Shimano Ultegra components. They were shinier and more expensive then my 105 components, but they looked basically the same, so I was able to clearly see and understand what he was talking about.

I kind of got lazy on the degreasing job. Since Bella has never been on the road, she's pretty darn clean. I didn't bother using the chain cleaner and only did a very basic job on the gears. I'll practice this job on Heidi though, since she's not nearly that clean.

Me pretending to degrease Bella with a rather crazed look on my face.

Overall, I'm really glad I did the course. Basic? Yes. But exactly what I needed. In many ways, bikes aren't really that complicated and I'd like to gain the ability to take care of my own. For now, this course will get me through the season and let me deal with emergencies on the road. In the future, I hope to learn more and possibly take a more in depth courses.

Three things Thursday

1. I signed up for the bike maintenance course!

Truthfully, I can't say it will put me that far out of my comfort zone anymore, because Jen and Nicole signed up for it with me. I'm good with that though. I can go outside of my comfort zone by swimming in open water sometime. I'm happy with feeling comfortable taking a class I need, with a couple of awesome buddies.

2. I went to McDonald's today

It wasn't planned. I was going to do lunch at a local cafe with a couple friends, but when we walked in, it was PACKED. Since we had 6 children between the three of us, we couldn't just squeeze into a corner, so we ended up walking down the street to the local McDonalds.

I have to say, I was so unimpressed. It's been a long time since I've been there. First of all, they don't even display the majority of their menu. What's the deal with that? Do they make an assumption that everyone has it memorized? Their french fries were super heavily salted. Their "grilled cheese" is disgusting. My kids like grilled cheese, but I make it with real cheese and actual bread. At McDonald's it's just a bit of melted, processed cheese between two pieces of tasteless bun. I could go on, like mentioning how incredibly dirty the the play area was, but I'm done.

I know this may sound really judgy, and I don't mean it that way. Fast food has it's place and I truly think that for most people, it's fine in limited quantities. Has McDonald's just grown too big for it's britches though? Have they sacrificed the last vestiges of quality and service because people have just made it a habit to go there?

3. My run yesterday was a trudge

Some days you have great runs, others not so much. I was running at the track and hadn't been able to talk any of my running buddies into coming with me. I only intended to do 6km, so it should have been easy. I can actually get decent speed most of the time when I do shorter distances now. Lap after lap, I was going so slow. And, it was just hard to keep going. I felt like I could have gone faster speed walking.

Going outside your comfort zone

So, I've decided that I need to learn how to maintain my own bike. At least for the basic stuff. I've got a year of free service, and then I'd like to learn some of the less basic stuff as well.

Lots of bike shops in Calgary run classes, but they're basically only over the winter and won't be offered again until the fall - when their mechanics are less busy. The university however, does offer a class that still runs this time of year.

My hold back? I'm convinced I'll be the only person in the class that is: A - female and B - over the age of 22. Chances are also good that it will be taught by somebody approximately half my age. Maybe I'll be really lucky and it will be a former student of mine... (I run into those on a semi-regular basis. The last time it was a pharmacist that was filling my son's prescription. Weird...)

Ridiculous really.

There is no good reason to avoid taking the class for any of these reasons. I just think I might be somewhat uncomfortable. Then again, I've always been happy to learn something from somebody able to teach it.

And sure, I could also learn this stuff from a book, but if I'm going to start tinkering around with my very expensive and pretty road bike, I'd like somebody there to reassure me that I'm not breaking it.

I guess that means I'm signing up for the class.

When is the last time you went outside your comfort zone?

Santa came early...

...and brought me something pretty darn fabulous.

That folks, is a 2010 Marin Stelvio 105. She has a full carbon frame and shimano 105 components. Once I switched out the seat (torture device) that came with her, she felt great. I also got a trainer, but I can't wait until I can ride her outside.

The thing I didn't get yet was shoes and pedals (just have cheap platform pedals on her at the moment). The shop where I got her didn't have any shoes I liked, so I decided to hold off on the pedals until I get shoes. What type of clipless pedals do you use on your road bike? What do you like/dislike about them?