Yesterday afternoon was spent tracking up and down Smyer Road, my personal but much smaller version of Alp D'Huez, for the weekly hill repeats. Afterwards, while sitting in the parking lot, I decided to make good use of the large flat surface to work on my mount and dismount for transitions. Note: a vacant parking lot is a much more preferred location over the road in front of my house for the simple fact that my neighbors aren't around to poke fun and ask questions. I do my best not to be THAT guy that does weird stuff in front of his house. I'm already THAT guy that wears spandex and sweats a lot.
The parking lot was great. Long flat surface provided plenty of room to practice. I've got the dismount down. Velco straps off. Feet on top. Right leg over the bike. Dismount on the run. Easy. Now getting on the bike. A different story.
I should mention that I don't have "Tri" specific shoes. This means that I have 3 individual straps and no loop on the back of the shoe. So for a while I practiced starting off with my feet on top of my shoes then getting in to the shoes and getting them strapped. Easy. Now how do I get to this point?
I got off the bike, left my shoes in the clips, and jogged with it for a bit waiting for the best chance to jump on. I felt like a kid that's standing on top of the highest diving board at the city pool yet he can't find the nerve to jump. That was me. I kept looking at the seat and thinking, "I can't get up there! I'm only wearing a thin layer of padded spandex on the boys. They could get crushed!" I can't do this now while no one is watching how am I going to do this when I'm wet and in a race? So, I tried. I misjudged the jump and landed a bit awkwardly on my stomach. Don't ask. It wasn't pretty. It was anything but athletic or cool. I pretty much lost my nerve after that. But after writing this, I realized that I was being a big ole sissy and that I'm going to have to go try again tonight. Stay tuned.
Black and Blue signing off....
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4 comments:
The picture of being in a parking lot jumping on and off the bike...ahh the weird things we all practice for this sport.
Can't you ask neighbors to take a video so you can post the sweaty spandex mount/dismount?
hilarious!
another reason i like the longer races - those 10 seconds saved with the running mount/dismount just don't matter!
I watched the Waterfront tri today and several atampts at a running bike mount (I really did not know what you meant b/4 this morning) and I have to say that the extra 30 seconds it takes to "clip in" can not really be worth the potentional pain involved in the running bike mount.
Take Care!
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