12.21.12

Well, the Mayans were wrong and we are still here so I better keep training.  Wednesday was a boot camp day.  Had a long day at work so I came home and didn't do anything else.  My vacation for the rest of the year started yesterday so I had lots of time on my hands.  I went to the pool yesterday morning.  First time in the water is quite some time.  Felt good to swim again and I really felt strong in the water.  I was turning over 1:40 hundreds really easy.  When I got out of the water, I decided to rest for a few minutes and then run on the treadmill at the Rec Center.  Treadmills suck by the way.  That was a long hour.  I ran 6 miles and then walked the remaining time as a cool down.  I was running 8:57 miles on the treadmill.  I had an appointment at Bicycles Plus at 1pm to look at Triathlon bikes.  JT was going to get a few set up for me to try.  The wind was blowing 25-30 yesterday and is was about 50 degrees.  I rode two bikes.  A Cannondale Slice 4 and a BMC TM02 105.

Cannondale Slice 4:

BMC TM02 105:

I rode each on a 10 mile loop.  Straight into the wind going out and with the wind coming back.  The Cannondale has SRAM Rival components and carbon shifters.  The BMC had Shimano 105s.  The BMC seemed like it had a longer top tube and wasn't quite as comfortable as the Cannondale.  The BMC seemed a little heavy and was harder to manage into the wind and uphill but was pretty damn fast with the wind and downhill.  The shifting was a little clunky with the 105 components.  I run Ultegra on my road bike so I guess it was maybe a little hard to take a step back.  The SRAM shifting was really smooth.  The Cannondale also cut through the wind and was really smooth through the hills.  In the end, I chose the Cannondale.  A better package, fit me better and felt like a rocketship compared to my Trek Madone.  I'm anxious to get some longer mileage on my Cannondale and see how it goes.  JT at the bike shop didn't have time to do the fitting so I'll go back after Christmas sometime and get that done.  I'm very excited about getting a real Tri Bike.  I moved my Mavic Ksyrium SL's over to the Cannondale so I have some excellent wheels on it as well.  Should be fun.

Last, I went to boot camp today.  My knees were a little sore from all of the work I put in yesterday but it went well.  I had my monthly injection for my arthritis this morning so I should start to feel alot better pretty soon with my joints.