First things first. It has been about a week and a half since I last visited the doctor. Everything seems to be O.K. I am feeling good and I am getting back into a nice routine with my workouts. Two weekends ago I ran 12 miles and followed that with a 43 mile ride in Galveston. (The headwind was brutal) I did a fairly long brick last Thursday and all seems back to normal. (Finally). I am happy to be getting back on track.
Last Sunday I rode the Tour de Houston. As some of you may remember I started this event last year but had to pull out 2 miles into the ride due to that bad crash Norma had on her bike which landed her in the hospital for 3 days. So as you can imagine I was a little anxious about this year's ride. The ride started around 7:20 and I was in the second wave to get started and everything was going good. It was a little cold but I knew it would soon be plenty warm. It didn't take long to start getting a little worried about this ride. There were around 5000 riders and the roads were a mess. Lots of pot holes and cracks made it very tough to stay in an aero position but I did my best. At mile 8 I hit a bump in the road very hard and I lost one of my water bottles.(My Longhorn 70.3 bottle =/). 
I was surprised I did not blow out a tire but I also knew it was only a matter of time before I got a flat. So true to form at mile 10 my back wheel went flat. I got the tire off and tube changed pretty quick but as I was inflating my tire my inflator broke. I wasn't sure what to do. A Ride Marshall helped me out and I was soon back on the road. I was making good time despite the road conditions and the amount of riders and I felt good on the bike. 
There were a few spots where traffic control should have been better, specifically anywhere the Mobility Response Team was, but overall it was a decent ride and I finished the 70 mile route in 3:26:00, pretty good considering I have done very little long riding this year.
After I finished the ride I ran a little under 6 miles and I'm feeling a whole lot better about my training.The Lone Star half-iron team did its last long ride prior to race day. I took the team down to Galveston so they could ride the race route. The wind was not as bad as the day that I rode out there but it was still pretty rough. The team did well despite the fact that we had 5 flat tires on the route.
The team has just three total practices prior to race day and I think people are tired. Attendance at practice has been down the last two weeks and I know many of them are anxious to get the race over with. I feel pretty good about everyone and their training and I am confident that they will all do well.
2 comments:
Bum deal on the tire and losing a good water bottle.
Next weekend is going to be fun. Let me know where on the bike course you want me. I was going to ride down to the turn around and take a cow bell.
Were you down in Galveston riding when it was 43 degrees, super windy, and it started to rain??? I was there and I was glad I finished before the rain.
nice job on the bike ride..and glad your feeling better!!
see ya soon!!
rockon`
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