Sunday "captains" ride

Summary: 15 mile easy (only a few gradual hills) bike ride.

Sundays are supposed to be mellower non-coached workouts led by team "captains". Since today was the first one, I think many of the coaches were there. Or maybe I can't tell the difference between a coach and a captain yet. Today was an easy out-and-back bike ride for a maximum of 15 miles (15 for the folks training for the half-iron man, less for olympic and sprint). We started at the Sycamore Valley Park and Ride and just road straight out Sycamore Valley Road (turns into Camino Tassajara) for 7.5 miles. Similar to yesterday's run it's a wide multi-lane boulevard through suburbia. But this one had a wide bike lane for most of it. My carpool buddy Dore (pronounced "Dory") and I were running late and were among the last to leave the the parking lot. We took a very easy pace and chatted most of the time. We did the full 15 miles. I hadn't been on my bike in months, but it felt really good. I wasn't working too hard, just spinning.

After the ride, I spoke with a few coaches and more and more I think that I will do the olympic distance tri and not the half-iron. At least for my first tri. The wildflower half-iron course is quite hilly and my bike doesn't have a front "grannie gear" cog. Our head coach Joe checked out my bike fit and said I'd be fine on the olympic course without a grannie gear, but not the half-iron-man course. So, if I really want to do the half, I'd need a new bike. I think I need to do at least one tri before I invest in a new road bike. The one I have "works ok" for me. (though I can't really ride the steep hills by our house!) At this point in my life, I would get much more use and pleasure out of a new pair skis or a new mountain bike than I would a road bike. I also learned of the Big Kahuna triathlon that's in September in Santa Cruz and that course is supposedly fairly flat and might be a good half-iron man for me to try out. we'll see.