This weekend was a mix of being super active and super lazy.
Saturday: Run or Dye (with the addition of pushing a wheelchair)
Sunday: Bike the Drive/ Binge watching season 4 of Arrested Development
It was a great weekend and since I'm off today I decided to blog about the Ride before I forgot the details. I didn't meticulously log my day like I did last year but I promise I wasn't any less excited. I'm actually grateful for my record keeping of last year because I thought I got up at 10 to four last year not 10 to five. I checked and decided to wake up at 4:35(AM). I didn't prepack the car like last year so I gave myself some extra minutes to remember how to jam my bike in the car because trust me, every time is a struggle. So I got ready and made sure I had everything and made it to the train by 5:20ish.
The main difference between this year and last year? Holy shit was it BRISK out yesterday. I froze my buns off. I wore my tri shorts because the only pants I have a jeans or black dress pants and the chafe that the jeans would have produced on a 30 mile ride would have been outrageous. Ouch. So I wore a long sleeve shirt under my Bike the Drive tshirt and I was still pretty damn cold. I brought a thin hooded "sweater" in my bag as well and I put that on after the first 7 miles. The only good part about the first 7 miles was the duo of older dudes who apparently only bike ride together to bitch about their wives and such. They were lighthearted about it and it was funny to listen to. They also kept trying to block the other from the photographers. Silly guys.
I started out at 6:10 and decided that because of the crazy leg cramps I got last year, I would tackle the hills on the north side loop first. I'll be honest, the first 7 miles were pretty awful. I was cold and tired and the sun wasn't exactly shining. The hills, which were a glorious source of cool breeze last year, were awful blasts of freezing cold air this year. I was literally cringing on the big downhill rides. So after stopping at the turn around, I extra layered up and set out to retackle the hills.
I am proud to report that I did not have to get off my bike at all to walk up the hills. I barrelled through and felt great until the down hill ride started. The ride back to the start was a little better but I was still lacking the amazing feeling that I had starting out last year. I saw less bike jerseys this year (because everyone was layered up) but I did see a SPAM one and that was weird. Healthy long bike rides and exercise aren't exactly coupled with SPAM very often. It had a picture of a giant can of SPAM on it and the pocket that hangs over the guys butt said "Super Tasty"...I hope he meant the SPAM...
After 15 miles the sun started to warm me, a little bit, and the wind died down, a little bit, and the flat course made me happier. I was finally really enjoying myself and my pace was increasing. I made to the Museum of Science and Industry in no time (about 30 minutes). I think it might have been because of the intimidating EliptiGo gang. There were 6 people riding in a pack and they were on those mobile elipticals. They make a weird scrapey whooshing noise and it sorta sounds like you're being chased by a broken robot. When I got to the rest stop I filled up my water bottle and grabbed a cookie and braved the line for the bathroom. I was probably at the turn around for a good 15-20 minutes but I needed the time to walk around and wiggle my toes because some of them were a bit numb.
So I headed out to finish the last of my miles and I finally felt great. The sun was really coming out (of course it would come out as I'm finishing - jerk sun) and I got back to the festival and actually didn't feel exhausted. Funny thing is I must have been hungry when I signed up for the ride because when I got my packet I had a ticket for breakfast included in my paper work. Oh past me, you know better then present me because I was pretty hungry when I finished. I found a sturdy tree and locked up my bike and went in search of the breakfast tent.
Now, if you know me, you know I'm not really a breakfasty person. Unless it's Eggs Benedict (one of my absolute FAVORITE things ever) with some very crispy bacon, I usually opt for lunch. So I was happier than a normal person would have been to discover that they had hot dogs. Woo Hot dogs! Since this is Chicago, they had all the fixins to make a proper Chicago dog which was a nice touch. The festival was crazy packed and since I was alone it wasn't really that fun wandering around. Plus, there are a bunch of idiots that don't bike valet or bring a bike lock so they drag their bikes with them through the fest and you get scraped by pedals and tires and jerks run your feet over without saying sorry or anything. Stupid jerks.
Roughly, It took me about 2 hours and 40 minutes to finish biking 30 miles. If you consider me taking the two breaks (about 25 mins total) that breaks down to about 4.5 minutes a mile. Not too bad. Despite the cold I really did have a great time. I love biking and it's always lovely to do it somewhere beautiful and traffic free. I really should try to drag my butt down to the lakefront trail more often.
Now that I'm feeling better (for the most part), it's time for me to really get into the swing of training. 2 months is gonna fly by and it'll be time to start my second triathlon before I know it. Before that happens, I still have 4 more episodes left of Arrested Development to watch so laziness for another 2 hours it is!
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