4 More Days!

Day 4 was all about the bike! I did a slow bike ride around White Rock Lake to respect the memory of bike riders killed by motor vehicles. Riding the bike in a large group was definitely challenging, but the worst part was I had to ride in silence. Absolutely no talking for 11 miles. This was difficult for me. This last month of training has been so crazy with the ramped up training schedule. There are so many things I wanted to blog about -especially when it comes to the biking leg of this race, but there hasn't been enough time in the day to compose my thoughts. A big thing that happened in May was the training wheels came off my bike. Now I have those bike pedals that bike shoes can clip into. Since I'm all about brands and nothing but the best, these pedals are called Candy pedals designed by crankbrothers. I let the guy at the bike store assure me this is what I needed. I have no idea if he is right or not, but I'm guessing he saw a sucker and sold me an expensive pedal. This pedal claims to be the world's first 2-sided pedal with 4-sided entry. The design allows me to clip my foot in a variety of ways not possible with other pedals and they have 6 degrees of rotational float so my foot is not held in one solid position allowing less strain on my knees. My opinion on this -"Whatever!" I still have a hard time clipping into them and I've fallen off the bike enough times trying to unclip from the *&#@ pedals to have bruises all over my body. I know I would have this many coordination issues no matter what brand of pedals I have.

At least I got to buy new shoes. I've gone from Gucci to Sidi. Things these shoes have in common: their designer names rhyme, they both come with a brochure telling you what an amazing pair of shoes they are in two languages; they are both made in Italy of the finest Italian leather; they are both really expensive and they can only be worn to compliment specific outfits. Speaking of outfits - the bicycle shirts are mind blowing. It's like a watching a psychedelic t-shirt collection in motion. I've seen some super cool shirts. Some of my favorites depict images & logos of: Martha's Vineyard Black Dog Wharf; Sutter Home, Lone Star and Shiner Bock (I'm sensing a theme here.) I still hate working out, so I will do anything to distract me from the pain. I've been training in different bike rides with large groups of people. I have to try really hard to focus on my extreme lack of bicycle handling techniques because all the vivid colors, designs & styles of these shirts and in some cases the matching bike shorts are very distracting. One thing that I quickly came familiar with are brand names of triathlon gear that encompasses the swim, the run, and the bike. It goes way beyond the familiar ones everyone knows like Nike, Addidas and Speedo. Unlike my familiar circle of gal pals, you can't walk up to these athletes and casually ask, "Who are you wearing?" So I've educated myself on the best places to shop (it's not Neiman's) and I'm now familiar with designers like Tyr, Bell, Shimano, LGI (Louis Garneau), Pearl Izumi, Specialized, Moving Comfort, DeSoto, Zoot and Brooks. Most importantly, I now own something from all of these designers. So, don't hesitate to ask me, "Who Are You Wearing?" I'll gladly answer and in return would like the Paris Hilton approval of "That's Hot!"