Triple D 2014: Starting From Zero

My training partner

Last weekend I took ill. Very ill. I missed two days of work, had the worst headache I have ever had, and lost about all of my energy. Some sort of flu, is what Mrs. Guitar Ted says, and she should know. She had it worse than I did!

At any rate, I was off the bike for several days, and made only two commutes back and forth to work all week. I was running on near-empty both days, and it is only about a 5 mile ride. Of course, this doesn't bode well for Triple D, but these are the cards I have been dealt. My objective is to play them to the best of my abilities.

To that end, I decided a ride Saturday with my son would help me gauge my recovery and prevent me from pushing too hard if I was not ready. It was also going to be more experience on snow for him, so it was a good plan for both of us. Oh.......did I mention that I slept for 12 hours from Friday night to Saturday morning?  Yeah......I probably should note that as well.

So, it was icy, and yes, we both went down nearly simultaneously in an alley not long after we got rolling, which was later in the afternoon. No harm no foul. We both were laughing about it. Jacob was learning the ropes on riding in snow, which he was picking up on well. It was the starting again after a stop that was getting his goat. The bike......it is a wee bit too big, and so he was having a bit of a struggle he probably would have had less of with a bit more clearance. Snow makes it tougher in that regard. On dry grounds he is perfectly fine.

Knocked down-get back up again.

Ruts were where we had to ride. The other places were unpacked snow and were pretty much unrideable. Ruts are tough though. Mental focus and relaxing at the same time to let the bike just flow are not things that come easily, especially to someone wound kind of tight, as is my son. He got the hang of it though, and he did great. He hung in there and even in the hike-a-bike sections, he didn't complain at all.

I saw a couple of times where it was more the tire's fault than his though. Yes, those BFL's are my old, halfway worn out ones, and obviously, they do not have the grip that other tires would have. I think a new set of tires will be in order for him soon. Eventually, I think a set of lighter wheels will be coming as well. But hey- at least he has a starting point! I can't get too worried about what my perceived limitations for him are, and ya know- kids are pretty resilient folk, if you let them go, they can go. That said, I know he likes the bike, so upgrades will come when it seems appropriate.

2 miles of shuffling on glare ice into the night!

At any rate- we continued on until we got through to the bike path leading back home which the city of Waterloo clears. This is a great thing for walkers, runners, and cyclists, that is- unless there is freezing rain. Then the bare cement becomes an ice skating rink more than anything. Especially so since there are no provisions on the bike paths for drainage at all, which I find really stupid, but there it is.

I found a snowmobile track in a field to our right. Jacob was content to push/shuffle, so I took the snow and made good headway, but it was certainly higher resistance riding.  Eventually our paths came together again, and I was back to shuffling on the ice with Jacob. Probably two miles worth of that. Finally we were back to being able to ride, and we got back home with no further issues.

It seemed like a nice easy ride, and afterward I felt okay. However; Sunday I ended up sleeping late again, and all day I was lacking in energy and felt like going back to sleep. Yeah.....not recovered fully yet! So, Sunday was another totally off the bike, rest hard day. I will be putting in the commute miles and see where I am by Tuesday. Hopefully I get back on the upswing with my health.

This has forced me to review my goals. I won't set anything solid until later this week, but I definitely know my hand is a different hand than I have been dealt going into this race before.