Bricks and motorcycles

This was a crazy busy weekend for me! Since I decided to do a duathlon, I've been curious about how the transition would go from running to biking. So on Saturday, I did my first run + bike brick workout. I ran 3 miles out and back from my garage, then changed my shoes and hopped on my bike for a 12 mile ride. My legs were definitely tired for the first couple miles of pedalling, but the fatigue seemed to work itself out over time. Of course, I couldn't really push the bike consistently like I would in a time trial since my bike path crosses a lot of roads, but it gave me a good picture of what I'll be dealing with on race day.

(Blue = Run, Red = Bike)

This brick workout also gave me a chance to test out my new triathlon shorts. During my lunch break on Friday, I went back to Gazelle Sports and talked to one of the sales people about tri shorts. I told him that I'd tried on several pairs and found the model that I liked - the CW-X Compression Wear triathlon short - but that I wasn't sure of the sizing. I felt like I was between sizes. Fortunately, he is a triathlete and he works with other tri customers all the time. So he suggested that with the compression shorts, if you're between sizes, unless they cut off circulation, you should go with the smaller size to get the full benefit of the compression properties. So I tried on the two sizes again and decided that the smaller size felt right.

During the workout, the shorts felt great. It definitely felt like they tightened up the muscles in my glut/hip/upper leg area. I'll have to run in them more to fully decide how I like that. More importantly, though, they were comfortable on the bike. Even with the thin fleece pad, it seemed like the tightness of the shorts kept everything from getting smashed or pinched funny on the saddle. I think I'll be very happy to wear these for a 17 mile ride - or more.

After the brick workout, I was pretty tired! But my day was far from finished. A couple hours later, I was off to 6 hours of field motorcycle training. My hubby and I have been riding mopeds for a couple summers now, and we love it. But we've both gradually become ready to upgrade to motorcycles. So we got into a basic rider course this week and successfully finished the classroom portion on Wednesday night. Then this weekend, we spent 6 hours each on Saturday and Sunday learning hands-on motorcycle handling skills out on the range. We both passed the skills evaluation and can now get our motorcycle endorsements at the secretary of state! We're both proud of ourselves and super excited!

Expanding my world of two wheeled transportation once again. Woo hoo!

Note: If you know my grandmother, don't tell her that I'm getting a motorcycle endorsement. She'll have a heart attack! I'll tell her after I've got some more experience under my belt. lol