Pre race course ride

Don, Bill and I all met up at Brackett Air Field this morning to ride around the course for the 1st Bonelli Tri event. I wanted to be able to know exactly where I should be going so when 2 weeks comes up I'm not racing on an unfamiliar route. The first Tri distance for me will be about 15 miles. For those that have been following my blog, I'll be completing the bike portion for Don.

We made one lap for warm up and the following 2 laps were at race pace. I have no idea what race pace is around there so naturally I blew myself out after the first lap. The second lap was still ok, but I lost time on my first lap and that isn't ok. My first lap time was right about 20 minutes even and my second lap time was 21 minutes and something.

I was surprised to have done those laps in those times anyway because my last rides out at Bonelli, on that route (which it turned out I knew) I was doing them in about 23 minutes. It's been months since I've ridden around Bonelli so of course the lap times have dropped.

Yesterday, Don and I replaced the cables and housing on the bike. Shifting was smooth while at his house on the trainer. Today, shifting was problematic. I couldn't get the chain to stay in the 2-3 middle gears. They kept hopping down to the next smaller gear which made things annoying and more difficult than they should have been. I also had dinner last night and I knew I should have eaten my typical pasta meal. Instead I really wanted to try out this recipe for honey dijon chicken, which I grilled instead of baking. With it I had steamed broccoli and whole grain 100% natural wild rice. This meal really was pretty good in protein but was insufficient in the quantity of carbs I should have taken in. Also, I have a horrible cough which has weakened my physical performance and made breathing a bit painful at times.