Another beautiful day; another awesome bike ride. It was in the high 50's here today. My friend Eric and I went out after work and did the same flat ride (with a small extension of climbing) that we did last Friday. I managed to negotiate the railroad tracks without incident this time.
Eric and I have been riding, running, and swimming together for almost ten years. There was a short hiatus when he spent two years in Taiwan. Eric was one of the people responsible for getting me into triathlons.
When I first arrived at Corning, I was looking for a group to run with. I started running with the group including Eric and others. They were also triathlon training, so they were swimming and biking as well. They said, "Hey Karl, you should come swimming with us." or " Hey Karl, you should come biking with us. I have a bike you can borrow." Growing up near the ocean, I cannot remember not being able to swim, so I thought, "Sure, I am a strong swimmer. I'll be there." I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that swimming laps in a pool is much different from negotiating waves in the ocean.
It was early Spring that first year I was training with the group, when they were planning to go up to Albany for a sprint triathlon. I wasn't ready to commit to competing, because I lacked confidence. However, one by one, each of the training partners backed out, due to injuries, other commitments, ..., until Eric was the only one left. He was lamenting to me about having to go up to Albany all by himself or back out. I decided that I would go and compete in the masters class (usually, more competitive than the open class, but what the heck; It was in Albany, nobody would know me there!).
It was a great trip; the bike leg of that trip is really what got me hooked on biking. I had been training on a older heavy steel bike (compliments of Eric), but for the race a friend had loaned me a real road bike. I came out of the water and started the bike leg, which began with a small climb out of the lake's basin, when it felt like the bike was shooting out from under me. It was a tremendous feeling. Later in the race, when I was cooking along, I saw a group of riders up ahead of me passing each other in something that looked like drafting (not allowed in triathlons). I blew by them and none of them could stay in contact. Another thing that made me want to get a bike like that. A few months later, while visiting Bill and Carolyn, I visited Mike's shop, at the time thinking I would just get advice on what to look for in buying a bike, when I ended up shipping a beautiful aluminum Specialized Allez back home. I have been loving it (the bike and biking itself) ever since.
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Thanks for sharing that story. I did my first sprint triathlon when I was 65 because the year before I had gone to watch Kirsten, Tamara and Alina compete and when I saw some of the people who were competing, including one woman with one leg, I decided I could do it too. That woman stood at the waters edge with crutches waiting for the swim to begin. At the end of the swim someone was standing there with her prosthetic leg and she went on from there.
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