Boretti Cycling Amsterdam

Yesterday's bike entry


I had such a fabulous time I don't know where to start.  

Basics: 2.5 hrs
55 km (had some issues with the watch, so I don't know the whole distance - it shut itself off while I was waiting for the drawbridge to finish).
AVR Speed:  22 km/hr
Avr HR 149

Cool, overcast and wet. I will have to invent a better way to eat on the bike.  I goofed around and produced a video short from the photos I took.  Hopefully I will be able to upload it!  Voila! I made a goofy video and uploaded it here.  It's about 90 seconds. 

Now you'll have a voice to match the face.  I felt strong the whole ride. I tried to keep my heart rate down, since I will be training by heart rate. It's hard to do!  My legs are so much stronger from running that cycling feels very different.  Most of the time I was riding alone. Sometimes I was in a pack and drafted behind a group. I could tell from the drop in my heart rate how much easier it is to ride at the same pace when others are in front leading the way.  

Cyclists are very friendly, I think. I stopped to put on my booties because my feet were cold, and immediately another cyclist stopped to see if I needed any help. Another cyclist stopped when I paused to get some food out of my riding bag.  I stopped to help another fellow, who unfortunately had to drop out when his back wheel stopped turning properly. There was nothing I could do, so I continued on after checking that he had a mobile phone and the aid number to call. 

I rode the end of the tour with a young woman who had just bought her first road bike and was out for her second ride.  It was fun to have her company, although we both got lost and took a couple wrong turns at the end. The route was marked with small pink cardboard square that seemed to have disappeared at the last 10 km of the ride!  I certainly would enjoy doing a ride like this again. 

Like at a foot race, the atmosphere was very exciting. I know very little about bike racing. I didn't stay to watch the afternoon's events in the velodrome. N is playing at a friend's house, E's on a bike trip for a couple days and J's away for the weekend racing sail boats. I had said I would pick up N in the late afternoon, so I came back. As it turns out, he's been invited to stay for dinner. I'll have the whole afternoon to myself. All I want to do right now is NAP!  Oh, and eat.

I am just so excited to begin tri- training. I love learning new things, and exploring my potential.  I really enjoyed the sprint tri's I did back in Oregon, and cycling was where I felt strongest.  Now that I'm a runner too, this will be even more fun.

I started listening to We Might as Well Win by John Bruynell about winning the Tour de France with Lance. He's a fabulous coach and the book got great reviews, even from people who don't like bike racing.
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Well, I am going to close here.  I want to eat some more and do the dishes and so on. I have a lot of reading to do about the training program. It's fabulous!  And there's a dog  snoring on the couch who wants some snuggles. 

Oh! I forgot. I got bike clothes. Boretti had a table of great technical riding clothing for sale at cheeeeap prices. I don't have a proper riding coat and wished the whole morning for one. Plus my favorite bike pants are too big now that I am smaller. They pinch.  Problem solved:  They had a special for a whole set of gear --- long pants, shorts, leggings, wind jacket, shirts, arm warmers, and even a coat that has removable sleeves. All kinds of stuff to help me ride in the mornings this summer  (when , as it is here, it will be windy and cool).   I laid them out and snapped a photo. I also got a gigantic gear bag to hold all the triathlon stuff:

It is just way too cool.