I got my new bike!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. And here it is...

I'm trying to decide whether I should rename it. My Mom has always called it the "marinoni" which isn't terribly original but somehow I feel disloyal changing the name to anything else. If I think of something more fitting maybe I'll change it otherwise marinoni it is. I am super excited about getting out to ride. I hope the weather will be alright.

I also spent several hours with my Dad learning how to change the tires. Thanks Dad. Also as part of my birthday gift my parents bought new tires. I don't really know much about tired but my Dad tells me they are good tires and something about kevlar. I don't know it sounded impressive. It's amazing how much you learn though. I'm sure before long I will be spouting off info about this tire or that tire.

My new semester starts tomorrow. Man I just barely finished the last semester. I also found out that the Masters Swim club that I want to join starts next Tues on Sept 11. I'm super psyched but I'm kinda nervous too. I worry about whether I can keep up, and if it's too hard will I hate it? They told me that I can come for the first week to try it out before I commit to registering for the year.

The funny things is that I find the smell of the pool almost comforting, even a bit nostalgic. Sounds strange I know but I think it's because for several years through childhood and early teens I swam with a competitive swim club. You spend alot of time in that pool when you are a competitive swimmer. I can remember during peak season having practices every afternoon and a early morning practise twice a week. Of course there were the swim meets on weekends to. I have good memories of my time with the swim club. But that was a long time ago over 20 years ago. Eww I don't like the sound of that out loud.

Anyway lots of new things on the horizon.

what recovery week?

I had an AMAZING ride today. Okay granted it was supposed to be a rest/recovery week and I have up until today cut back my hours on Mon and Tues. I just felt so great and the weather was nice and I could smell the scent of flowers in the air. I didn't realize that I would travel quite as far as I had. I have to say Vancouver is a pretty good city to ride in, the streets are relatively bike friendly(cars are not as tolerant of cyclists but the streets are very nicely set up) I have started to explore different routes because I was getting very bored of circling around my neighbourhood and now that I can go out for 2 hours I can go lots of new places. As I was saying I ended up doing a 2 hour and 15 min ride. Although at 1 and 45 I knew I had probably overdone it a bit. My quads were burning and tired. Ooops.

In 12 days I get my new bike! Yipeee! My Dad is going to come over with it and we are going to set up the basement so that all three bikes can be hung up on the wall. I don't have tons of space so by hanging them it should work out quite well. It's pushed me into organize mode around here because I need to go through all my clutter down there (and all over the house really) and get ride of all the junk. I can't wait to get out on the road bike, I can imagine myself flying through my work out. Sometimes when I'm out on the Tank I feel pretty sl0w. I keep my cadence up but all too often I'm passed by some serious roadie on a tricked out lite speed bike. I console myself that it is not entirely my athletic ability to blame I am after all riding a pretty heavy mountain bike. Even my Brother who inherited a version of my Tank from my Dad is finding it difficult. In fact he has hardly gone out on his as he says not only is it heavy but the gearing isn't very smooth. So at least I have the perseverance to continue training even if I'm on a less than optimal bike.