I should talk first about why I'm headed for Lakehurst, NJ this weekend. I'm going to compete in my first duathlon, the 15th Annual Lighter than Air Duathlon. The race consists of a three mile run, twenty mile bike ride, and two mile run. This being my first ever race on a bike, I intend to respect the race early on. I think twenty miles of bike racing will be excruciating if I run those first three miles like a 5K race. My goal is fairly simple and I think attainable: win my age group of 20-24. There aren't many entrants in the group. My second goal is to bike at least an average of 35 kmph and run a mile pace of 5:30. I'm not sure exactly how realistic either of these goal are.

As for today's training, it was only the typical biking. I rode mostly very easy with the exception of one terrific stretch in the usual powerhouse section. I spotted a guy riding a tri-bike pull onto the trail just past Maple Ave. He looked like a lot of guys look with expensive bikes. I wasn't moving all that fast, so I settled in right behind him. All of a sudden, he dropped the hammer and we were really flying. He gapped me a bit at the beginning because I couldn't believe I was going to have to use the third chainring to keep up with him. With the air being as cool as it was, when I really stomped on the pedals and pulled back into his slipstream, I could feel my quads just radiating heat. Taxing myself like I did probably isn't the smartest thing to do a few days before the race, but I was so happy to have someone to ride with I couldn't help myself! I think we rode together from about mile 11.5 to just past 14.5. That means we were riding above 40 kmph for three miles. Of course, when we hit Hunter Mill Rd., he was done and turned around. No hills for him. He said something to me that I didn't quite understand and I just told him thanks for pulling me along. I chilled out the rest of the way, enjoying the cool air and just being out getting a great workout before starting my day.

I had to take my clothes back home today, so I rode with a backpack full of old underwear, socks, pants, and shirts. I didn't have any luck picking up riders on the way back home to ride with and that was very disappionting. I didn't feel like riding all that fast anyways and I was back using my iPod for music. Today the soundtrack was Big River, probably my favorite musical.



It should be noted that Jess rode in to work today, so together we are avoiding the high gas prices. How unfortunate it is that we won't be biking to Lakehurst! I forgot to mention that yesterday I cracked the 1000km barrier. One fifth of the way to shopping for a new bike.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Odo
37.65 / 1:23:14 / 27.1 / 47.2 / 1053.0
38.04 / 1:21:15 / 28.1 / 46.6 / 1091.0