Throwin’ A Brick At You!

Before I could go on my last long ride before IM New Orleans 70.3 yesterday, I needed to do a few things to my bike. During my virgin ride on Goldilocks on Sunday (see 2 posts down), I realized that the aero bars were tipped a little lower than I would have liked (tipped forward too much), and the aero bar pads were tilted a bit to the outside.

Here are the aero bars once I got one taken care of. The one on the right is good (aero bar pivoted up, and aero pad tilted more to the inside). It’s tough to see, but I thought this was a pretty big difference:

Then I took off my reflectors. I’m trying to think of the nicest way to say this... but reflectors are for pussies. EVERYONE needs to wear a helmet, but the reflectors gotta go. (Right?) Here are my reflectors off my bike:

I also mounted a CO2 pump and tightened both sets of brakes. When I took off my water bottle holder to mount the pump, I was thrilled to see this nice detail:

What does that photo show? The paint job goes over the threads in my frame. Sweet! (This might be pretty standard, but it’s the first I’ve noticed this on my bike, so I thought it was “hot sh*t!!”)

So I got dressed and headed out. It was hazy, moist, and 45 degrees. That’s a little chilly to ride in. But I didn’t need my skull cap or gloves, so it wasn’t TOO bad. After a few miles, I realized that my aero pad was STILL shifting downward, so I figured I’d better stop and take care of it. Here I am about 18 miles into the ride when I hopped off my bike:

Here’s the “snot-rocket” that I had shot a few miles before, but I missed and it hit my leg:

(Notice the Drymax Socks!!...)

I grabbed one last photo of Goldilocks all outfitted for the ride...

...then I looked around, saw no one, peed a little, and hopped back on my bike. I headed towards home. But a few miles from home, I turned around AGAIN, so I could do a sort of double out-and-back ride along the Greenway and the Cedar Lake Trail. I wanted to hit 60 miles!! Here were my averages at my turn-arounds:

- Mile 18: 18.0 mph
- Mile 31: 18.4 mph
- Mile 43: 18.3 mph
- End of trail (mile 58): 18.5 mph
- Home (up 2 big hills, mile 60): 18.4 mph

60 miles in 3:14:40
(And I did the first 56 miles in just under 3:02...)

That’s a DECENT pace for me!! Especially in 17 mph winds! And besides that quick bike repair at mile 18, I was never off my bike until the finish! This ride was the good sort of solid effort that I needed leading into IM NO 70.3!

But it had been a little bit of a chilly day. It started out around 45, and it was around 55 when I finished (and windy the whole time). So I was snotting all over the place. Here’s my left sleeve...

...and my right sleeve:

Here I am, feeling good when I was done:

I WASN’T DONE! I took 9 minutes to quickly slowly change into running shorts and pee. Then I was off on a run.

The bottom of my feet were REALLY numb from the bike shoes, so I thought the first mile or 2 could be rough. But I got through them OK. I ended up running 6 miles in 39:14 (which is 6:32 / mile pace). Oh, and I got REALLY hot on the run, so I ran the last 3 miles topless. Yep, mark your calendar. St. Patty’s Day 2009: Steve’s first topless run of the year:

After the run!
Notice the “vein of approval” in my forehead.

Sorry for my paleness. It IS Minnesota after all...

The good news is that I got through a GREAT brick workout yesterday!! The bad news was that I was “bonking” at the very end of my 6 mile run. I needed to eat more on the bike. Note to self.

I’ll be back tomorrow with 2 new “previously unpublished” stories from the “Tales of a Virgin Athlete” Contest. They’re 2 good ones! In the meantime, please CLICK HERE to read the Top 10 stories and to vote for your favorite story in the “Tales of a Virgin Athlete” Contest! Thanks everyone!