Day Twenty-three - Father's Day Workout

There is a God. And he finally smiled down on us by filling the sky with sun. At least I think that's what that big round yellow thing in the sky was. And we had blue skies. I got up early and drove out to the lake.

As I was leaving the parking lot at the lake on my bike, I saw a woman puttering about in the side doors of her van. She had a racing bike on a rack on the back of the van. She was wearing triathlon shorts. She was lean and athletic looking. I said hello and she returned the hello along with a big smile.

I biked up to the road and started the timer on my watch. I expected to be passed by the woman from the van at any time. The wind was bihind me and it didn't seem very strong. I did the St Mary's Street segment quickly. Didn't even have to change gears until I was well over half way up the biggest hill.

The climb up the Ring Road hill was another matter. The wind was fierce and unforgiving. I was crawling by the time I reached the crest. Even the trip down as a struggle because of the wind.

When I got to Brookside Drive, the wind seemed to change direction so that I was biking straight into it still. Even with trees lining both sides of the road, the wind was merciless, but I finished the first 10 K lap just two minutes under my previous time.

I stopped a short way into the second lap for some water. Just as I was about to get on my bike, I saw the woman from the van biking toward me. I got on my bike and started biking, expecting her to pass me at any moment, but it wasn't until we were well into the first stretch that I sensed something to my left and looked just in time to see her glide by me with a big smile on her face.

I should have yelled: "Hey! You just beat a 58-year old fart on a mountain bike! Ya proud!" But I'm not sure if it was that kind of smile on her fact, so I kept my mouth shut and just admired the way she biked so quickly, gracefully, and seemingly effortlessly.

She stayed a few hundred feet ahead of me for most of the second lap, which was my last lap, having decided to do just 20 K of biking and 5 K of running.

As I biked into the parking lot at the lake, I saw her walking toward the beach and and then she broke into a slow, graceful run, unlike the awkward, gangly style I display while my brain tries to convince my legs that the biking is over and the running has started.

I expected her to lap me sometime into the third lap, but it looks like she was out for just one bike lap and one running lap. A quick Sunday morning workout.

Later in the day, I saw a group of people in triathlon shorts and on racing bikes going up the Ring Road. Looks like the heat's on. Glad I'm in this just to finish and get my research done.

Gotta stop blogging now and go watch Grease with my daughter.