Group Bike & Run Training - June 14th

I was looking forward to this training since, I had plenty of sleep the night before to support it. I was glad I had put my bike in the car the night before, so it made it easier to get out of bed and get ready to head out.

Todays training was at Kensington, and while its a hike, its a fun bike & run time. Apparently a lot of other people thought so too, because the parking lot where we usually park was packed and I had trouble finding a parking spot. Between all the confusion, half of the group had already left and some of us were still trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually we decided to hit the road, and no sooner had we gotten out of the parking lot that my troubles started with the gearing. I tried to fix it a little, but it just got worse by the time we hit the next traffic light. I got off my bike to adjust it, and told the others to keep going. The problem with fixing it was, that I needed to fix the derailer in front as well as the back to keep the alignment, but with me holding the bike and trying to pedal at the same time required atleast 4 arms.

I just did the best I could and started off again. Unfortuantely I had never paid attention to the route we were going, so I went off in the wrong direction. About a few miles into it, I realized none of this seemed familiar, so I turned around and went another direction. That did not appear to look familiar either, and I had turned back a mile when I though I saw what looked like Ron on the other side pedaling hard. There were a few cars coming that way, so I could not quickly turn around to catch him. By the time I turned around, Ron was already up the hill and out of sight. I did my best to catch up to him, but everytime I started getting close, we would hit a hill, and I would lose my momentum again. At one point, we went up a steep hill to an intersection, and I lost track of which way Ron went. I once again started going down the wrong road, and about two miles in realized this did not seem right either. So I went the other direction and saw signs for Metro Park, and figured this is the best way to go as it should eventually lead me back to the parking lot. My troubles were not over, beacuse as I started going down that road, I found it blocked with construction signs. I ended up jumping on the trail which was shared by runners, and generally not a good thing to do. Eventually I moved back on the road, only to find Nick and Kevin catching up. Between all this confusion, I had biked 20 miles, while the rest of the group had done a little under 25 miles with the proper course, so I did not feel too bad about missing out on that.

We followed up with a short 3 mile run, which just seemed to be giving me trouble, but it was probably because of the temperate than anything else.

I think I am in good condition to tackle the event this weekend, just keep praying for me! :)