Spring is in the air -

The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine. - John Howard

*** New resolution at 13resolutions ***

I had some bicycle seat time to make up from last week so I got on the trainer yesterday morning. I churned out 20 miles in right around an hour. It was nice to get it out of the way early. I was going to ride the bike outdoors when the weather warmed up a little but I did not want to just mill around the house waiting for the sun.

I did meet up with Chris and Sam for an afternoon ride. There was a little confusion of where we were going to meet so we ended up crossing paths about half way through the ride. So I was on my road bike on and off the trace hitting the hills. These are the hills that I found just last week with the group ride. I was able to power up them and it felt good. The air was brisk but the sun was out. The heat of the sun felt good on my black arm warmers.

I started to head back after about 16 miles and that is when I crossed Chris and Sam. They were both on their race bikes (Sam even had his race wheels on his bike - I don't think they ever come off of the race bike). These guys are fast. I was having to draft off of Sam just to stay up with them. There were stretches of road where he was maintaining 27 MPH. Sure he was on his tricked out race bike with tricked out race wheels - but still, maintaining 27 MPH. This is an area of the trace that is relatively flat (maybe a very slight down hill) that I can, if I push it, maintain 22 - 23 MPH. Sam was flying. Sam is the local fast guy (that just happens to be the same age as me). If he shows up at the 5k's or any other race that just means I am racing for second in my age group. Sam is also a great coach and is quick to help you out in your training. He helped me out a lot last year. He was sizing me up for the race season and asking me what I averaged on the bike last year in my races. I told him that it was 21 - 22 MPH. Being that this is only my second full season of triathlon he believes that I will make great strides.

I had to go back and double check my bike splits for a few races to make sure that I was not exaggerating. I had four races last year and the last two I averaged more than 22 MPH (Sunfish - 18 miles in 47:41 for 22.65 MPH and the Heart of Dixie - 27.5 miles in 1:13:50 for 22.35 MPH). FYI - I love athlinks! I ended up getting about 53 miles for the day.

Today I am anxious to get out my race bike and get some seat time. Time Trial / triathlon bikes feel much different than road bikes.