BIKE: 50 miles in 3:15ish. No Garmin.
My final weekend at New Town this season. And it was a hot one! No clouds, full sun, full humidity, and something like 95F with a 101F heat index. We burned through 80lbs of ice for the GE stuff!
The water was something like 80F, 80.1 I think I heard somewhere. I didn't even bring my wetsuit, I was determined to get an OWS in without one. CE and Piggie might be too warm! And I had no problems. In fact, aside from the relatively slow time, this might be one of my best swims ever. I didn't sight much at all, I didn't swim crooked, I didn't inhale water, and I barely stopped even at turns. I focused on not letting my shoulder drop, a nice hand entry, extending the hand after entry, and a feel of the water. Two loops would have been nice, but I had a late start.
The bike started off with maybe 15-20 riders! Unlike last week, the tailwind followed us to PdS meaning that a harsh headwind would slow our return. But that's for later. Now we have a tailwind. We held a quick pace out to PdS, I held on and enjoyed the ride. The HOT ride.
At PdS the group splintered a bit, but we still had about 10 people on the 50-mile route out to MTC and back. Two guys from last weekend found us again, and I rode again with one of them to be sure he knew the route. It didn't take long before the water tasted awful, warm and flat. Luckily the PdS store had cold water, but it didn't stay cold long. It was at this stop that I realized how much more effective the Zoot arm covers are when wet. WOW. Like A/C for the arms! Off into the headwind.
One problem I've had in the past is mashing into headwinds. I seem to think that if I just push harder I'll go as fast as I'd go without the headwind. This doesn't really get me any speed, it just wears me out and hurts my feet. I'm working on this to avoid the foot pain. Today was a good time as any. Big circles, throw the knees over the bars, light on the feet. It was doing good, but I was wearing down fast. Hot. Hot water. Hot skin. Hot wind.
And a tire with low air. I noticed something odd on the turn off the airport road onto P Union. Nuts. Wasn't until later I was sure, it had air but was just low. The group was ahead of me and I didn't yell up, the wind and my laryngitis wasn't helping any. I pumped it up with the hand pump and decided to test it. Luckily I ran into BH at this point and I rode with him. We saw the 3 girls going for the 4hr ride--they had another hr to go!
Sure enough, a few miles later I felt the low pressure again. Again I didn't yell up, but stopped to swap the tube out. A few mins lost, then back on the road. Oh man was it hot.
Finally I made it back to the truck, still feeling strong but overheated. The Infinit worked great today, I like it on the bike. All I ate was 500 calories of Inf and a Powerbar! And although I drank what seemed a LOT of water, I went 9hrs without a bathroom stop. And by the time I got home at 530pm I was naseaus, sick, hungry, dehydrated, and cooked. Yowza. No brick run for me.
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