Saturday morning at Lake Pleasant getting ready for the 4,000 meter swim put on by DCB Adventures. Is it really mid October? 102 degrees today? The water temp was 70 degrees, wet suit for sure, but have you ever tried putting on a wet suit when your already wet from sweat? No amount of body glide helps at that point. The course was a 1,000 meter triangle that always seems to look twice as far as it's supposed to be. So four laps around. Lap one, I got into a good rhythm, finding some open space to swim in, maybe a little too open as I sometimes wander a little off line. The water was very clear, and it was a pleasant change to be able to see someone next to you before you started bumper cars off them. It was a little odd to see bushes and the bottom going by at certain points, but I used the opportunity to look for bass hiding in the trees, but unsuccessfully. Lap two and three I was really feeling the effects of the lunges from Thursday. By lap four, I was feeling stronger again, so I started to try to push my pace a little. I finished at 1:23:05, almost 9 minutes faster than the swim at Saguaro Lake last month. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my daughter, carving pumpkins and playing games, just relaxing.



    Sunday morning I drove to Tempe Town Lake for a long brick. The plan to ride the beeline, then run a lap around the lake. I was on the bike by 6:30, and it was evident it was going to be another warm day. It was also a windy day out on the highway. I was on my way down the hill on my third of four laps, when disaster struck....again. They have been repaving the highway there, and where the new asphalt meets the old, there is approximately a one inch lip. I have been riding up and over this for weeks, and had this same spot twice already that morning. This time, riding along in the aerobars, at 25+ mph, the front tire didn't climb the lip, but slid along the side of it, and before I knew it I was tar surfing. My head and my shoulder bounced hard, the helmet really doing it's job, and by bouncing my shoulder, I jammed it pretty hard, but it prevented road rash in that area. I do have some nasty road rash though, three on my knee, a large one on my hip, and three on my elbow/forearm. I'm gonna have some more gravity tattoos from this one....I picked up my bike and all my gear scattered around like a yard sale, and was amazed first off that I was standing up and appeared to have not broken anything, and secondly, there wasn't much damage to the bike. I had to put the front tire between my knees to line up the handle bars again, but after repacking my stuff, I didn't even have a flat tire. One rider rode by, asked if I was ok, and kept going when I replied I wasn't sure yet. Thanks for asking though.... I climbed on the bike and resumed down the highway. I briefly considered finishing my ride as I was at mile 68 already, but I thought better of it and just headed back to the truck, some 12+ miles away. Once home, I went straight to the shower. My jersey and shorts had black tar marks all down the right side. I gritted my teeth and scrubbed out the wounds, then added antibiotic ointment and an ice pack to my shoulder. I did succumb to the allure of pain killers that night when I went to bed, after putting down an old sheet I use as a drop cloth when I paint, as I knew I was going to have some level of bed stick with all my road rash. I had my shoulder x-rayed yesterday, just to be sure, and nothing is broken, luckily. It's still really sore today, though, so it will be a few days before I can get back in the pool again. Just as I was gaining confidence in my swim too. I hope to be back on the bike and running again within a few days though. It is somewhat amazing to me to have such a violent and hard crash and ride away from it. Thank you Lord.

Todays funny: (two fer Tuesday)

What's the hardest thing about learning to ride a bicycle? The road. ( I can vouch for that)


Mark Twain's Wisdom on Cycling

"Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live."