Finally, A Good One!

Seabiscuit is fast.

I have had three bikes in my life as a triathlete. My first bike, Little Red, was a (comparatively) inexpensive Canondale road bike. I only rode her one season, but I learned to ride on her, so she remains fondly remembered. Little Red now belongs to Jordan.

Jordan hasn't really figured out shifting yet. That is the only problem. Little Red is patient, so it's okay.

Then there was Mrs. Z (Mrs. Zebra) who became my first real triathlon bike. I rode her to train for four Ironman events.  Mrs. Z was a rockstar in her day. But I rode her pretty hard over the last four years, and she was in need of retirement.

Here is Mrs. Z in Kona. She looks good even though when this photo was shot she was on her 4th Ironman.
And now there is Seabiscuit. I ordered her last fall, and it took all winter to get her. I tried to be patient. Mrs Z and I spent the winter riding outside getting dirty and cold and waiting for her arrival.

I have not been riding well lately. I'm not sure why this is; I suspect is has something to do with the natural course of triathlon training. It seems I always only have one discipline of three going very well. Right now it's swimming. Both riding and running have been sub par lately, but biking has been especially discouraging. Until the arrival of Seabiscuit.

Yesterday I took her out for 60 miles. And we cruised! Although the watts I put out were not much different than what I have been producing lately, my speed was so much faster. Is this just because she is sparkly and new? Could be. But who cares! I'll take it! I felt awesome the whole ride, and completed the ride faster than I have ever completed 60 + miles in this area before--with the same watt output. Amazing!
I'm grateful. After riding quite a few miles this week I am sad that today I am not riding. This is good... since for the last few months I haven't wanted to ride at all.

Last week the kids were home for April vacation. It was a good week. It was a long week.

They rode bikes, had multiple lemonade stands, fought a lot. We went to see Mirror Mirror (average at best), we went out to brunch twice for diner food (which we all love), walked the dogs for hours in the woods and let Hazel fetch sticks we tossed into the pond, and we read books. The kids also watched copious amounts of TV and played video games ad nauseum and made elaborate lunches in the kitchen that took me forever to clean up.

Here they are, bored, waiting for customers at one of the many lemonade stands they had this week.

 

And here, finally, they served a few customers--two young guys who had been doing lawn work down the street. (They were really sweet and bought like 5 cupcakes and 5 cups of lemonade... I think they felt bad because they saw the kids looked so bored and discouraged.)

There was also quite a lot of riding bikes this week. Here Jordan and Lara get ready to ride.

 And here's Lara on her mini-bike.

Early in the week Lara made this poster detailing the week's agenda:

Now that's my kind of list!