As of last Wednesday I am finally a proud owner of the Cannondale Synapse. w00t!

This is me and my new ride. *Those of you who follow Fatty's blog will recognize the jersey. Proceeds from it go to support his wife Susan's cancer treatment. Go Susan!!



After my husband's bike pedal was lodged in the spokes of my Mnt. bike tire during the car ride home from our last triathlon, riding has been wobbly & rough. I didn't see much point in getting the tires "trued" again when I knew this bike would be off lay-away in a few weeks.

Anywho, so far I have 25miles on the Tangerine and I am thrilled with it. Getting used to riding a road bike wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. Then again I had a few months to mentally prepare myself, something I am now thankful for. Learning how to shift and get my shoes into the baskets is an adjustment though.

If I didn't have to taper for my next triathlon on Sunday I would be out riding every spare moment my schedule allowed. Yay! for a fast & agile bike.

Now for the OWS... Either my swim buddy (my DH) loves me & knows I need to be pushed or wants me dead. I haven't decided yet.

Since this weekend's triathlon will have an OWS we took advantage of the only opportunity we had to train in a lake last Saturday. There were 20+ mph winds and plenty of whitecaps.

Three things I learned during my first real OWS...

1.) Swimming out far from the shore is a bit un-nerving especially when your
swimming skills leave much to be desired.

2.) When it is that wavy "sighting" more often to avoid zig-zagging is prudent.

3.) Learning how to inhale some water without your body instinctively
freaking out and wasting valuable energy is necessary.

And the two things I definitely didn't expect...

1.) Appreciating my husband telling me I was doing good or fine and encouraging me to swim out further. Mind you I'm coughing from just inhaling the tip of a whitecap when he (having no notable difficulties swimming himself) says this.

2.)The desire to try again and again despite having "breathed" water (several times) & needing to do the recovery stroke or tread water in order to catch my breath on the previous attempts.

It was very very hard, but good training. Hopefully the conditions wont be so poor on Sunday when it really matters and I can make it thru.

A few more trips to the pool with no wall stops are in store for me before this weekend rolls around I think.

I will keep you updated.

It's good to be back! With only 2days of from work last month I am ready to kick back into gear for what is remaining of this year's tri-season.