More pain with a roadie

We shared dinner with friends twice in two days so that has kept me busy and kept me from blogging. Last night we were up chatting until 11 pm! The dog was hilarious, at 10 he came over and put his chin on my leg and then moved over to our guest and nudged her as if to say, "Hey, it's bed time."
Today was a little insane, at noon I got in a short swim and then rushed home with baby so I could get to the dentist by 2, and then rushed home so I could get myself together for a 4pm bike ride with a friend. As you can see in the photos, Liam and Daddy were busy at work while mommy was running around.

Today's ride partner is a roadie, for the non-geeks reading this, a roadie is someone who rides a road bike which is the type of bike that is used in bike racing. Typically, roadies ride in packs and take turns pulling and drafting. In triathlon, we ride time trial bikes and when riding with other triathletes, we typically don't draft or pull, we ride far enough apart so there is no drafting effect. Riding with roadies is challenging for a triathlete because instead of keeping one steady pace, the riding is more of an interval workout. Good for speed but hard on a triathlete's legs.

Today was a roadie's delight, after a scant 2 miles we turned into a vicious headwind. My roadie girl friend turned up the heat and I tried to stay on her back wheel but it hurt. My heart rate was over 150 and just as I was getting used to sight of her tire tread, it was my turn to pull. OUCH. OH OUCH. Luckily she was patient with me and let me take shorter pulls. About 20 minutes later we were able to turn out of the headwind and didn't face it again until later in the ride. This is good for me, right? I don't know that I've ever challenged myself on the bike this consistently. I hope this work results in a better bike split. If not, I guess I'll just have gained a lot of knowledge about the tire tread on my roadie friend's bike.

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