A Couple of Long Bricks

I just got back from a 5 day marathon of wedding festivities for my sister and Borsch. It was so much work but so much fun. I am super behind on posts. Hopefully my Gear West Du race report will be up in the next day or 2. It went really well.

Last week's long brick by the numbers:

Temperature: nearly 90 degrees
Humidity: 30%
Number of miles ridden: 72
Number of miles run afterward: 4.5
Number of water bottles consumed on the bike: 7
Number of water stops on the run: 1
Number of NUUN tablets: 4
Amount of Chocolate milk consumed before hitting my door: 2 cups
Number of pounds lost despite all of those liquids: 1.5
Number of times I almost got killed on the bike: one - I was headed down hill and had a green light. The guy in the opposite direction decided to make a left turn. I screamed, slammed on my breaks, and popped out of my pedals, and managed to miss being hit by just a couple of feet.
Average on the bike: 15.2 mph- I need to get this up if I'm going to succeed at Liberty. I know the 6 detours (3 out, 3 back) on my bike trail didn't help the average, but I need to see better...
Average min/mile on the run: 9:10. I'm hoping for at least sub 10s for Liberty.
Length of nap that ensued afterward: 1 hour
Number of sunscreen applications: 3 - had to keep the tan lines in check for Steph's wedding!

Today's Brick:

I met Steve's swimming buddies at Square Lake for our second OWS of the year. The water is warming up quickly - it was 74 degrees today, WAY ahead of where it was last year. Steve drove us out there, and we brought my bike along so that I could get in some hills. After my 56 minute swim, I changed my clothes, slathered on a lot of sunscreen, and waved goodbye to the gang. The plan was to ride out in the the Stillwater area before taking the Gateway 25 miles to get home. At mile 5, I hit a small bump in the trail, and I heard a huge noise. I stopped and saw that my rear water bottle cage had fallen off. Closer inspection revealed the the screws holding it together had snapped off. I had 65 miles left to go and knew I couldn't just leave the bottle cage, the water bottle, and my emergency pack out on the trail. After some creative shuffling, I managed to jury-rig my pack and cages onto my aero bars and shuffle all of my food, keys, phone, etc onto one side of my top to make room for the extra water bottle on the other side. It was a little annoying, but it did the trick.

My legs felt a little heavy from the 5 hour dance marathon on Saturday at Steph and Jon's wedding, but I was happy to be out there with such beautiful weather. The Liberty course is pretty hilly, and I was trying to find lots of them today. At mile 35, I was on my way down a HUGE hill when I hit a small crack in the road and heard a loud noise. I knew it was my tire. Turns out it was my back tire. Boo. I blew a hole right in the side of the tube. It must have been a combination of the speed and the bump because there was no visible damage to the tire, just the tube seam... It wasn't until I got the new tube in that I realized that my old bike pump is no longer functional. I had to wait around for 5-10 minutes until someone with a pump rode by. The lady seemed a little annoyed that I didn't have a pump (I tried to explain that mine just wasn't working), but her husband was super helpful and had it inflated in no time. Thankfully, the next 20 miles were pretty uneventful. At first, I was bummed about all of my mechanical snafus, but then I realized that it could have been so much worse. I can fix the cage before Liberty. I'm so thankful that it didn't wait till the race to snap off. Also, when I flatted, I did it in a well-traveled bike area. I very easily could have done it 25 minutes earlier when I was on a low bike traffic road. I may not have finished my ride if that had happened. It was a gorgeous day, and I even made a friend on the way home! I passed a guy with about 13 miles left, and when he kept up with me, we started talking. It turned out that he only lives a mile from Steve and me, and we pushed each other all the way home. I'd like to get in a few hard workouts yet this week, then it's taper time! Goals for liberty to come. They're a little lofty...