Three French Hens

I did my last triathlon (the Jingle Bell Triathlon) and most likely my last bike ride of 2008 today.

I was on a team, a most wonderful team. Cindy ran, I cycled, and Misty swam. It was a reverse triathlon and we all did great.

Cindy ran the 5k portion in 28ish minutes and Misty swam 400 meters in a little more than 8 minutes. And me, I tackled what was referred to as a “brutal” 25k bike ride. (It kind of really was brutal.)

We all know I prefer riding on flats and if I have to be on a hill, I prefer riding down it. This route, well, there was a lot of uphill.

I did good though, for being able to avoid hills while cycling the way I do, I did good. 25k in 1:15:39. Normally, well, even this time initially I thought that this wasn’t a great time, but then I factored in the hills, and this was a great time.

I only had to stop once and it wasn’t because the hills were causing me heartache, it’s because I was roasting and I had to strip down. I had a beanie on underneath my helmet and I was wearing a jacket but no jersey under that jacket so I thought I’d be ok since it was soooooo cold but I still managed to overheat. I ended up having my jacket flapping in the wind. I always wondered why the peeps in the Tour de France did it since it created drag and surely that wasn’t good for them, for me I didn’t care much.

I didn’t have my speedometer because I forgot it, and in a way I’m bummed because I don’t know how fast I was going down the hills that the helper people were yelling at me to slow down on because there were turns at the bottom. I love flying down the hills and then leaning into my turns. It’s exhilarating. But, it was also good to not have it because I wasn’t worried about my speed, or the time it was taking me, or how far I had to go…it was freeing in a way.

It was a good ride, it was a good triathlon, and I had a great team. I think after today my ideal triathlon consists of me only cycling. I really enjoyed it, I only had to worry about my blood sugar through one sport and it was less stressful…I really enjoyed it. Did I mention I had really great team mates, and that our team name was the Three French Hens, because that’s important.