"Can You Say, Padding? Mhm, I Knew You Could"

On Sunday, I went for my first, bike ride, and I do have a bit of difficulty calling it a bike ride because that to me sounds more leisurely like taking a stroll on the beach or something and to say, I went for my first cycle or cycling training, doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either. I guess since I'm writing about training for my first triathlon, if I say I went for my first ride, all y'all are supposed to know I'm on a bike and not a Harley although I'm thinkin' a Harley would probably be a helluva lot more comfortable, and, not to mention, I could be wearing one of those cool t-shirts that says, "If you can read this, the bitch fell off".

I made plans to meet friends, Connie & Mark, around 7:15 a.m., in the marina parking lot near Joe's Crabshack. They're in training for a "Metric Century" race, meaning, 100 kilometers or, in linear terms, a 63 mile "ride". Their goal for Sunday's training was 43 miles...ewe, ewe and double ewe! Greatly admire their ambition, but I'm so not there yet.

I did, however, manage to cover just under 8 miles. 7.72 to be exact. Lost them, or I should say, cut them loose around mile 1, because they were on their "road" bikes and mine is considered a hybrid, of sorts, in that it serves dual purpose as both a road and off-road bike. The cycling portion of my triathlon will be on gravel/dirt fire roads so I do need to train with this bike as opposed to my road bike. In other words, I couldn't keep up.

What's the difference? The tires on my hybrid are wide and fat with textured tread making road cycling slower-going as opposed to a road bike with its skinny, near zero-tread design. Less tire means less contact with the road, making for a faster ride.

Good thing about our route, I cut-off at the peninsula. Wearing my Garmin, I was able to calculate the distance of Saturday's swim. Estimating where I'd entered and exited the water, I'd covered a quarter of a mile! Who woulduh thunk?

Similar to Saturday's swim, I didn't want to push it too hard first day out so I rounded the peninsula and made my way to the bike path and then to the pier where my right, hamstring started giving me a little bit of trouble so I headed back.

It was a beautiful morning; I really enjoyed the ride, but it appears swimming is my new, favorite thing. The peacefulness of it is mesmerizing.

Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention, padded seat and cycle shorts combined, I'm sorry, cycling is still tough on the uh hum...er...inseam. Don't know if it's the same for women, but I'll find out and let yuh know. Oucha, oucha oucha!