Leading up to the duathlon, I was fairly content with the idea of doing it with my bike. I mean sure, it's not as good as a road bike but it works. I worked out on the stationary bike quite a bit and then few weekends ago, I biked 18 miles on that bike and even though it was really hard, mainly because it was kinda cold and windy, I decided that it was still passable. Well, after talking to a guy at work about it, he mentioned to me that there was a guy selling his used road bike and he was telling me how much difference it makes. So, I tried it out and I felt like it was a little different but because I didn't know what I was looking for, I still didn't think much of it.
Well, this past weekend, I decided to at least go check out a few bikes. I spent about 3-4 hrs at the bike shop, trying out maybe 5 or 6 different bikes, some totally out of my price range... and then I realized something. These bikes do make a difference. It felt so much smoother and easier. After doing price comparisons, I realized that the used bike that a coworker was offering was not that great of a price... eventually, I ended up purchasing this bike (a Fuji Roubaix Pro '09 - yes, like cars, they have the year of the model):
It's a decent bike for an entry level biker and it set me back like $1400 ($1100 for the bike, bike rack, shoes, pedals, etc). Yes, I know... it sounds insane... but that's like the low end of bikes too. Who knew, that these bikes that YOU pedal, cost so much. On Wednesday, I bought this bike and promptly went on a 20 mile bike ride (I mean the race is this Sunday so I don't have much time - yes, I'm a last minute guy) and oh my god... it was so much easier to do the 20 mile ride than it was to do the 18 mile on my other bike. I mean so much easier. I am now glad that I bought this bike because it will definitely help me on race day. And believe me, considering that so far, I have yet to run more than 6.2 miles, I have yet to bike more than 20 miles, and yet, the races is 6.2 mile run, 24 mile bike, AND 3.1 mile run, I will need every help I can get... but then again, I never do the entire distance of the race when I train (most I ran leading up to the 10k was 4.5 miles and that was only once) so we'll just see how I do. Who knows, on Sunday afternoon, I might be writing about how I couldn't finish the race (first two segments have to be completed within 2.5 hrs or they won't allow you to do the third segment)... it's supposed to be 90+ degrees on Sunday. Fuckin shit.
Maybe I shoulda spent longer than 3 weeks training for it... The joke amongst the guys I play ball with in the mornings was that by the time I signed up for the duathlon, I should be starting to ease off the training so I can peak at the right time. Since I signed up like 4-5 weeks ago and I think 4 weeks ago was the 10k race, yeah, I probably shoulda been better prepared but oh well. We shall see.
1 comment:
tl;dr will try to come back at a later date. pretty picture, though.
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