Thursday, April 17, 2008

Epic Ride I

I am not sure if I have been busy or lazy this week. I have been busy and I have gotten a lot of training in, but then I have been lazy and had my butt glued in front of the TV for two nights watching my "Guilty Pleasure" Dancing With the Stars. Yes, I know, a hard core tri chick like me who abhors make-up, high heels, and sequins should be able to resist the hip swivels of the Cha Cha and the bare chest of Christian de la Fuente. BUT NO!!! I must have more Jason Taylor and Christian de la Fuente in bum hugging pants!!!

Wait, I was supposed to be talking about last weekend's Epic Ride after the Blue Bell 10K. Sorry for getting side tracked. So last Saturday morning, I had my TEAM out there in Brenham, TX getting it done and looking good doing it. I made a special purchase of a pair of "Fast Shorts" earlier in the week and had worn them for a training run to see how they would do. I would rename my "Fast Shorts" to "Smokin' HOT Shorts".

The guy handing out awards took a painfully long time, so we did not get out on the road until 2 FRICKIN' HOURS after I had wanted to get going. I had one of those gut feelings that I needed to work as a SAG driver rather than ride with the TEAM. That gut feeling proved to be correct. Everyone did a great job, but the winds were crazy and we have an new expecting mommy in our group that I just found out about and I did have to provide SAG for her as well as make several quick pull overs on the shoulder to keep the inside of my Honda Element barf free. The combination of the chip seal, the hills, and the wind made this ride extra challenging. There were more people who needed the SAG on the way back. One of my TEAM is 72 year old John. John ran a 1:06 10K that morning and after laboring 18 miles on his hybrid bike, decided to call it a day. What an AWESOME job, John! Anna is a returning Alumni TEAM member and I was so proud of her hanging with the fast guys up near the front. She is proud of herself as well since she really never considered herself to be an athlete. Notice that cool yellow Trek Hilo she is riding. That is one of the ponies from Coach Liz's bike stable that she is riding. Hey, all my bikes need love even if they cannot get it from me. Drew had his longest ride and actually put more miles on his bike on that ride than the bikes total number of miles it had on it since he bought it. Skylar put in Bonus Miles and rode past the turn into the school parking lot where we were parked and his sister Heather had to go pick him up 3 miles down the road. He was too exhausted to ride back 3 miles.

It was a great breakthrough workout for this TEAM. On Saturday, we have Epic Ride II with more hills, chip seal, and probably wind for another 40 miles plus a 4 mile run tacked on. I promise this time to make sure to get pictures of the wildflowers.

Have a great training weekend!

Liz

7 comments:

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TNTcoach Ken said...

You have warm weather, I’m jealous. Great idea to SAG, I’ve done that with my running team on occasion. Tivo unglued me from the couch!

greyhound said...

Hey, Coach. What time are you guys rolling out this weekend? And do you want to go long after your peeps finish up? Let me know and I might ride shotgun.

Paul said...

Looks like some fun training!

Tiggs said...

Liz- what is your group training for right now?

Rainmaker said...

Hello. This post is likeable... just kidding, I got the same stupid spam. Evil-spam people. Anyway.

Looks like a great group. I need a bike stable. My horse is lonely.

Viv said...

The bike rides look challenging yet fun. I totally need to find some riding peeps. I joined the local tri group but I feel a bit weird about it. Like I would be too slow. Anywhoo, great pics