SBR TV

First, my car breaks and will be out of commission for another week…

Then, I decide to suck it up take the bike to work for a few days to get some training in while commuting. Judging by the soreness in my quads, it was doing a pretty good job for my training, but not so great when I flat on my last tube 7 miles from home. Thankfully, my kick-ass girlfriend saved me from the side of the road and brought me home. 🙂

So a note to all you tri-studs out there. a patch kit and a bike pump will only get you so far! Now that my only two modes of transportation broke-down… I’ve gotta head to the LBS tomorrow and pick up some new tubes and better tires. Maybe some nice kevlar to keep me rolling..

Its been a rough few days, but hey, at least the pool is still open and I’ve got some great running weather, right?!

Originally uploaded by Bidulos.
Bad news: I was in a little car accident on Thursday and the car is out of commission for a few more days until the body shop can set her back to normal. Fortunately, everyone is okay.

Good news: Immediately after the accident, the clouds parted and suddenly it was spring time in Boston. The week-long streak of rain that we had been getting faded away and before I knew it, it was 70 degrees outside.

It was a great opportunity to use my bike to make the 11 mile trek to work, and get some training done during the commute. I have not been able to get too much time on the road this spring, but losingn access to a car did help jump start that.

I kept it down to under 15 avg mph ( I didn’t want to be the stinky guy at work, but just wanted to spin the legs for a while). It was actually really fun explaining to all my co-workers that i really did use the bike parked in the corner of my cube to make the 11 mile trek to work. I guess that is a pretty huge distance for non-triathletes, haha.

Pumping out 40 miles into two days when my legs are so used the the trainer has made me SORE! I went down to Fanieul Hall in downtown Boston to visit some college friends and I felt so old. I had to sit down most of t he time just because standing for too long was so painful.

I’ve been very fearful that I am not going to be fully prepared for Mooseman in just over a month, and that the workouts that I’ve been doing have not been at a hard enough intensity, but I gues we’ll find out soon enough!

Originally uploaded by Magnus Glantz.

I’ve invested in some new gear!

My bike leg is clearly my weakness, and I needed a little boost from trading in my old cage pedals to my first set of clipless pedals that I picked up on sale from the LBS last weekend.

I love ’em to death so far! I have just been using them on the trainer so far, so I can get confident enough clipping in/out of them first before heading out on the road, but I can really feel my pedal stroke getting more efficient and powerful.

Next I’ve just got to invest in a wetsuit, to brave the frigid waters of Newfound lake at the Mooseman, and I’ll be all set!

New toys sure get me pumped, but not as much as seeing myself get faster and stronger as the weeks of training fly by. I’ve already lost almost 10 pounds in just over a month since I first started Tri training again, and can see my body changing and getting ready for a new season.

Move video to come later this week, I promise. Please forgive.

I wanted to shout out and let all the Boston-area tri studs out there know about the event that the WheelWorks Multisport team is puttin on in a few weeks: Tri-Night 2007

Tri-Night will have some cool guest speakers, vendors to show off some cool new gear and answer questions, presentation by an elite athlete, who has yet to be announced (last year I believe they had 3-time Ironman World Champion Peter Reid) food, drinks, good company, and of course… some killer raffles. I’m looking forward to meeting a few new peeps there, and definitely let me know if you are interested in grabbing a hold of some raffle tickets (but don’t get your hopes up about the Zoot wetsuit, I’ve got dibbs on it) email me at sbrtelevision@gmail.com to get a hold of a few tickets.

Location: Wheelworks Bike Shop

• 480 Trapelo Road, Belmont, MA
• Tel: 617 489 3577

Date: Friday, April 16, 20076:30 p.m. Guest Speakers, Meet Team Sponsors, Food, Prizes…

7:15 p.m. Presentation by an Elite triathlete (TBA)… but I’m anxiously awaiting the announcement and will share as soon as it is available.

8:00 p.m. Grand Prize Drawing

Tickets for the Grand Prize Drawings are $10 and put you in the running for:

• Specialized bike frame
• Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheelset
• Zoot wetsuit

Tickets for the other prises are $5 and put you in the running for gear from:

• Oakley
• Vittoria
• Tri-Hard
• Fila
• PR Running
• ClifBar
• Wheelworks

UPDATE:

Candy Angle and Andy Noble will be speakers at this year’s Wheelworks Multisport Tri-Night. Candy is the 2002 Xterra World Champion and has numerous top 5 finishes in the last few years. Andy is the 1996 Duathlon World Champion and is also a professional Xterra athlete, ranked 3rd in 2006 in the Xterra U.S. Pro Series.

I had a nice long brick workout this afternoon. (1:20 trainer ride to a free Spinnervals DVD I snagged at the Multisport Expo followed by a 3 mile run). Then decided to poke around technorati to see who else was blogging about Mooseman.

In my rummaging around the net, I found this blog post from a fellow Connecticut-er who showed off a topographic map of the bike course for Mooseman. Granted I had heard some stories about how the course was really hilly, and started off with a pretty aggressive climb right from the start… but actually seeing it mapped out visually on my computer shocked me a little! (well, actually quite a lot…)

Check out the full route profile here:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=810129 

It looks like I’m going to be doing some hill repeats in the next few weeks to prep my quads for Mooseman! Who’s with me!?!