Tribuddies are so cool

[Bluetree]

I love my tribuddies/mentors, the three guys who have adopted me as their "Leetle Seester" and I hope every new triathlete has at least one. This morning, David took me out for my first substantial climbing ride: long sustained grades, deceptive rollers, 11% rises, switchbacks, hairpin descents, you name it.

On the long climbs, he kept a close eye on my heart rate, telling me when to ease up or pick up the pace. On the switchbacks, he showed where to apply pressure to get the maximum ascent out of each effort. On the scary descents, he showed me "the line" to take to keep my braking at a minimum. On the rollers, he again watched my heart rate to teach me the race pace I should be going at, while still saving enough for the run.
And when I didn't think I could do one more climb, he encouraged me to do the whole loop AGAIN, which I surprised myself by finishing. All in all, 44 miles and about 4,000 ft. in a little over 4 hours.

David's training for Ironman, so it wasn't the workout for him as it was for me (plus, he was riding his fixie instead of his road bike). But I am so grateful... and tired... I don't know what else to say. Except that it's really, really wonderful to have friends support you that way.