Crazy Idea! Triathlon! That means bike!

Crazy Idea!  Triathlon!  That means bike!

It occurred to me that since I could run a 5K and swim a mile, the only thing I was missing for a triathlon was the bike.  As an experiment, I swam a mile, immediately got out of the water and ran two miles.  I was exhausted, but I had done it.  So, I didn't tell anyone but made it my private goal to do a triathlon.  I read a lot and discovered that there were different triathlon distances.  I adjusted my goal to be a sprint triathlon.  The distances vary depending on the course, but it's basically 400-750 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and a 5K run.

BIKE

I didn't own a bike.  I hadn't been on a bike for 40 years.  But . . . the gym where I did my bootcamp had a spin class so I signed up.

Oh my gosh, is SPIN ever hard.  At my first class, the instructor was so nice and patient.  She helped me adjust my bike and I suspect she made the class a little easier that night.  But, it was the hardest thing I've ever done.  When I got off the bike at the end of the hour, my legs would not support me.  They literally buckled and I had to support myself with the bike.  When I stepped off the curb on the way to my car, they buckled again.  For four days, I could barely walk and going up and down stairs was out of the question.  But . . . I recovered and was there the next week for a second attempt.

My biggest challenge was getting "out of the saddle" which means you are standing as you pedal.  My first goal was to be out of the saddle for 20 seconds before my rear end came crashing down on the saddle.  Our instructor told us to control the transition from standing to sitting.  Fat chance.  I crashed every time.  But with time, I mastered 20 seconds, then a minute, then five minutes.  It still isn't easy, but I'm doing it every week.