Part II: TBT - Biking

For the next 2 TBT (Throwback Thursdays), I will be sharing my background and thoughts of each of the 3 sports (swimming, biking, running) of which I am about to embark on for my first Olympic Triathlon distance (1500m swim, 25mile bike, 10K run) sharing my excitement and nervousness along the way. Part I: Swimming was posted last week. 

  The majority of the race will be spent on the good old bicycle. This is typically the longest - both timewise and in distance for the race. 
  I started riding my bike when I was 5 or 6 and learned on our rocky driveway out in the country with one of those bikes that had a banana seat which mine just happened to be yellow. I remember trying to keep up with my older brother with the ramps and on the trails we made through the woods. Fast forward to college, I rode my bike to classes and then after graduating college I would go an occasional bike ride for fun - either off-road or road. It was always for fun. Never really cared about technique or how fast I was going.

my bike used for my first race

 In 2001, I was talking to a colleague from my first 'real' job about a race over in Ohio - the West Milton Triathlon. This was a canoe-run-bike that sounded like fun. He was game to be my partner and off to my first official race with a bike portion in it without really putting much training or thought into what I was going into. I just had my mountain bike with no cages or cycle shoes. Biking was the last part of this race and had a steep climb up a hill right at the beginning followed by a long gently sloped hill. There were a few other hills throughout the 17mile course, but not as bad as the first 2 hills. Another killer thing about the course was the headwind! I feel like the wind is pushing me back so hard that I could walk faster. This was my first experience in bike racing. Not for sure if I would want to ride a bike in a race again. But sure enough, I did several more times at West Milton bringing more friends and family along to race with me. The headwind always showed up. 
 Jump ahead to present day. I still find hills intimidating and headwinds discouraging, but try to use the mantra that this will make me a better biker for race day and realize everyone is facing these same conditions.  I have been doing spin classes once a week which has helped tremendously.  My pedaling technique has improved through this classes as well as learning to keep the toes up, pull up as well as push down, and keep the shoulders relaxed. I will also either ride outside or at the YMCA (depending if I have kid with me or not) at least one other day. I know I have not ridden outside nearly as much as I wanted, but you do what you got to do and for me that is often just biking at the Y. 
 The past few months of training, I have felt myself get stronger and faster, but I still find biking challenging with the hills and headwinds as I mentioned before. I totally can relate to 3x Tour De France winner, Greg LeMond's quote, 

                "It never gets easier, you just go faster."

The retired 'racing' Nishiki bike

 I have progressed in the bikes I have ridden that has helped me to get a little faster. I moved from my Specialized mountain bike to my first road bike - Nishiki- which someone gave me that is about 25lbs and over 25 years old. The Nishiki is now retired from my fun races and is our Burrito Riders bike with the saddle bags. I now have a Giant road bike (easy lift with one hand!) that I got off of Craig's list AND invested in a pair of cycling shoes when VO2 Multisport was having a crazy sale back in January. It is amazing the difference bicycling can feel with the bikes you ride. I am still getting used to the cycle shoes and waiting for my first crash because I can not unclip my shoes fast enough - just hoping it is when I am going slow so the road rash will not be too bad! But through all the training, I still find myself as the "fun, watch the scenery go by" bike rider and I am A-OK with that! 

current road bike

"Not everyone will understand your journey. That's fine. It's not their journey to make sense of. It's yours."