The dumb things I do

I am one week out from my race. Finished up two weeks of taper, starting the 3rd. We had some crazy weather the past few days so I juggled my workouts a little. Instead of riding Saturday in the wind, I rode Sunday in slightly less wind. I tagged along on a ride with Wynn, Teresa and Luis (Wynn's neighbor). The winds were coming from the west so naturally I would pick a route that starts out heading west and coming home with the wind. But Wynn's ride was different. They were heading east and then home into the wind. I figured there was safety in numbers so I just went their way. We cruised out to Mattituck and along the way did the hills near the oil tanks in Northville. I love riding it from west to east because it's mostly downhill and AWESOME!!! I can get up there in speed with very little effort. We made a pitstop at Iron Pier beach and I removed my leg warmers. I had arm and leg warmers on as it was under 60 degrees this morning when we started. I kept the arm warmers on the entire ride.

When you leave Iron Pier beach there is one last hill to climb. I felt pretty good climbing and was spinning the whole way up. From there we continued east into Mattituck. I kept my eye on the time because I had a two hour ride scheduled and I didn't want to mess with my last workouts. I can feel my recovery taking effect and I want all the 'freshness' I can get for my race. I knew coming back would be a beast. Oddly enough I found myself at the front coming back on Sound Ave. Luis was right behind me so I knew I had the group. Or so I thought. I was doing my best to cut through the wind without going all out. At one point Luis said "We lost them." I slowed down, looked back, and Wynn and Teresa were not behind us. Wynn stayed back to provide some cover for Teresa from the wind. They made it back up to us. At our turnaround earlier, Wynn mentioned they were going to do the hills near the oil tanks in reverse. This didn't appeal to me. My ride was supposed to be a 'flat' ride so when we turned onto Pier Ave, I told them I was skipping the hills and continuing west on Sound Ave. I had 8 miles of headwind to ride back in. I knew I would eventually get home so I just took it easy and rode at a comfortable pace. No gunning it.

When I met up with everyone this morning, they were all on road bikes. I was the only one on a tri bike. I had to ride the tri bike today. Aside from the dumb ride home into the wind, I was trying out a new saddle. For the last 6 weeks or so, I have been having a lot of difficulty staying comfortable on my tri saddles. I did a little research to find something and I think I found a solution. Cobb Saddles has a great money back guarantee. I ordered two saddles and am figuring out between the two which one I will keep. Looks like the one I used today is a keeper. The other one wasn't bad, but this one is more comfortable. Oh yeah, I highly recommend swapping out saddles one week before an 'A' race.

When I got home from the ride, I got a quick run in to complete my brick workout. Then I stood out on the back deck in the sun trying to warm up. I felt a little cold. While I was out there I called the Wingman and we chatted for a while.