Bike-Run Brick

Went out to Lake Wilcox with my triathlon buddy ML for the first time in what was supposed to be near-summer conditions; turned out it was chilly and extremely foggy. I had a hard time driving in, but even so, it seemed that everybody was there trying to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. The parking lot was full of muck, and the water hung in the air, but we set off to ride in slowly to our time trial location on Warden Avenue.

I was sporting my new Sugoi bike shorts and flashy yellow Bontrager jacket, and I slipped on my winter booties just in case - all-around comfort. But ML was definitely under-dressed, and did not bring gloves because it was supposed to be plus-a-million! After about 10-15mins, his hands were totally numb, and we had to turn back. He decided to catch a class at his gym instead, and I resigned myself to ... to trying to find something to do myself! I cleaned my bike as best as I could (having of course failed to clip out again and wiped out straight into the parking lot mud!), and I drove off into the fog. I was pretty bummed because I didn't have a replacement workout, I had driven all the way up there, and I really needed the practice time on the bike.

Just as I was about to hit the highway, I saw a herd of cyclists pull out of the fog in my direction. So many people were out there having fun. Goddangit, I had to go back! (: Given that visibility was so poor, and I had no flat-tire accoutrements, I wrote ML a message about my intention to ride alone, packed my phone and took off.

Route Link

The crazy fog actually cleared north of Bloomington, so that put me at ease. At this point, I only encountered 4 other cyclists up there, nice hellos and good mornings all-around. I wanted to see how much faster I would be on my Cervélo than on my regular city bike that I rode here last September ahead of my first Sprint.

Well, I was a few minutes faster on the 10.5K up, but the up-hillier way back was a disaster! I could not find the right gears to shift into, and I could hardly get up the little rollies, while I'd spin out my pedals on the downhills. Awful. I was 2mins slower over 21K than on my heavy-as-bricks commuter.

I got back glad that I'd gotten the ride in, but I was really dejected about the speed. I have to be doing something wrong.

I didn't feel like doing anything more, but heeding my multi-IM-finishing friend CLM's advice to "run every time you get off the bike," I shot a gel and went running. Did the 5K next to the lake in about 23:30, which was also hard to swallow. I think it was my mood...

--Distance: 47.5K
--Duration: ~2hrs

A few days later, my other friend CM put my bike on his trainer to see what the hell is the matter with my riding. Turns out that I was riding on the small front ring and should have stuck to the big ring for faster downhills. However he couldn't figure out why I couldn't get up those rollies - maybe shifting too soon? He knows the course very well and doesn't usually even change gears. He has the same gear ratio and basically the same bike. Shrug! He did give me one useful pointer: to stay away from the two extreme rear rings, as they end up stretching the chain. But also mentioned that some racers will switch out their cassettes for hillier courses. So there's an idea.