Last night I was in the throes of just-kill-me-now cramps and a particularly bad bout of bitch-moster-from-hell / look-at-the-cute-kitty-I'm-gonna-cry. Because of this I blew off calling Swim Coach Marcy to confirm this morning's ride because I knew if I called I'd cancel, and there was always a chance I'd wake up in the morning and not want to use my bike as a murder weapon.
By some miracle I woke up this morning eager to ride. Called SCM and thankfully she was still up for it; I'd have been a lot less motivated to go alone with temps already approaching 80 and the first sign of returning cramps. I mentioned we could start out from my house and I'd be happy to top off her tires if she needed.
She said 'yeah, they probably need it, I haven't ridden my bike in like 2 years.'
Dude, I sooooo thought she was kidding! She's signed up for a race in 4 weeks!
Not kidding. She was a little late because she'd forgotten how to use her bike rack. She found a Wisconsin State Park receipt on the bike that was stamped September 2004, which truly was the last time she rode it. Rust was starting to form on the handlebars and the tires were so flat I had to pump for a while to bring them up to zero. I made her lube the chain too, once I found out she'd never put anything on it in the five years since she bought it. I was pretty worried she'd drop that creaky chain or blow a flat and, with her lack of gear and experience, end up with a bad case of road rash.
She was looking adorable in a spaghetti tank sans bra, cute little coordinated shorts, movie-star sunglasses and no sunscreen. Oh, and she skipped breakfast and only had a bottle of water with her. No helmet either, she's gonna borrow my old one for the race (just ordered my Atmos!).
I was fully decked out: tri shorts, bike jersey, cycling shoes, Road ID, wrap-around shades, a helmet and SPF 50. I'd eaten a solid pre-workout breakfast of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, part of a banana, some of that slimy green healthy juice concoction and had a bike bottle of sports drink ready to go. I felt ridiculous next to her, she just looked so darn cute and relaxed... but then I remembered that I was actually prepared for what we were about to do.
I tried hard to remind myself I was once that clueless and it's great to help introduce newbies to the sport... but I truly don't think I was ever THAT clueless. And she's really smart and extremely athletic... guess biking has just never been on her priority list.
Once I grasped the full extent of her bike unpreparedness I quickly revised my original plan and suggested we ride out for 20 - 30 minutes and turn around. She said no, she'd be fine, do whatever I'd planned on. I couldn't imagine dragging her 20 miles, especially in the impending heat without proper fuel or hydration. But by the time we got her bike set up it was nearly 10 and she had to teach a swim lesson at 11:30; she went along with the revised plan so as not to be late for work. Good thing, too.
We did the predictable loop from my neighborhood and down part of the bike trial; made it just shy of 12 miles in about an hour (not too bad considering her speed and that some was spent waiting forever to cross a couple of busy roads). She was hurting on the (miiiiild) hills and near the end was clearly starting to struggle, but in general I was blown away by how easily she managed it.
I'm still a bit worried about her for the race. (It was pretty funny, every time we made it up a hill she asked "seriously, are there hills in Naperville?" There's not.) Luckily she's got a very realistic goal of just finishing, so I think she'll be fine. I already know she's going to come out of the water at the front of her wave and she's a pretty solid runner. I expect she's gonna blow my time away.
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