I used to call a riding buddy that whenever he either didn't show up for a ride in less than ideal conditions or hiked his MTB rather than risk life and limb.
Now that applies quite firmly to me. I was scheduled to do my first triathlon this weekend, the Powow Triathlon in amesbury, ma. The swim scared me off. I don't swim to begin with. I _can_ swim, and do, just not often, and with no intent of training when I do. So, based on the lack of training, and the daunting task of a 1/2 mile swim, I bailed. I signed up for two masters crit at Attleboro instead.
Riding in this morning, my attitude was at a disturbing low. The lack of training, the cold temps, the rain....as the descriptor of this blog states - 'my descent into madness'. Between my life and the weather, I managed _ONE_ cbtt* this month. I had intended a weekly attendance. I've attended the BOB tuesday night fights once since the beginning of june. I mean, I was wearing arm warmers this morning and my hands still got cold. IT'S FUCKING JULY ALREADY!!!!!!!
So, I'm not sure how I'll fair saturday at attleboro. I'm confident I won't get dropped, but whether I'll be able to have an impact on the race remains to be seen.
Hey, atleast I won't drown.
(* for kicks, try googling "cbt" instead of "cbtt" with your filter off, don't say I didn't warn ya!)
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5 comments:
You made the right choice not racing PowWow. Given your lack of swimming fitness, you undoubtedly would have been one of the last exiting the water. Which meant you would then ride through the field on the bike leg, since even with your supposed lack of fitness right now you would still post one of the fastest bike times. If you haven't already read this, enjoy.
Triathlon Bicycling Handling – Oxymoron or Naïve Pipe Dream
Trust me, you don't want to associate with those people.
I've done enough duathlons recently to experience the lack of cycling prowess on the part of multi-sport athletes first hand. Even dressed in my full viking warrior outfit two years ago at the lowell monsterdash, I blasted by people whose descending skills consist of successfully getting out of their driveways without falling down. I can only imagine how demoralizing it must have been to have a guy wearing a helmet with 24 inch wide ram horns and a 4 foot broadsword strapped to his back come by them up hill.
Good to finally hear from you after all this time, kerry.
Nice descriptive title.
Maybe some day you'll man up and face your fears of drowning :)
Blogger Amanda said...
"Nice descriptive title. Maybe some day you'll man up and face your fears of drowning"
think they might be related?
Duathlon doesn't begin to describe the atrocities known as 'triathlon bike handling'. I know that you are a more than capable runner, which means you are getting into and out of transition long before the majority of the field in duathlons. Sure, you have to maneuver around the "fast" guys out on the bike leg but you haven't seen anything until you observe from the back of the back. Because I am a suck ass swimmer (usually bottom 1/3 in my field and bottom 15% overall) I am one of the last to exit the water. This means when I get into transition there are, like, 10 bikes left. Then I go out and hunt them down, and I typically post a bike split that is in the top 3-5% of everyone (men and women). This means I get to see it all out there. However, I still was not fully prepared for said atrocities until I spectated at two triathlons last year (Mill Cities and Timberman 1/2). What you do not see when you are racing is the absurdity of people trying to get on their bikes. The description in the link that I sent you is amazingly accurate. I don't understand why the average 11 year old kid in my neighborhood with a BMX bike can ride his bike in a straight line, no hands, skidding out and going over sweet jumps and the average triathlete ban barely clip in.
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