all dressed and ready to go

here is the bike with its newest addition. a couple of weeks ago i got myself a brand spanking new pair of race wheels. the aerodynamic profile of the wheels is supposed to help me go faster. 2 weeks ago I raced an olympic distance and it felt as if i was going faster. maybe that is part of the advantage...just thinking that you are going faster.

but i think that there might really be something to these wheels. this morning i cleaned the bike. i wanted to get the chain nice and clean and re-lubricated and in the process took off a nice layer of dirt from the rest of the frame. once everything was nice and clean and put the new wheels on just to make sure they would rotate smootly. and smooth they were. i didn't time, but the bearings have very little resistance compared to my regular training wheels and just kept on spinning, and spinning, and spinning.

this weekend i will have another opportunity to see how these wheels work. i am racing up in Racine, wi at the spirit of racine half ironman. this race, like florida earlier in the year, is flat and fast. it looks like i am starting in the 3rd wave, which is nice because it is early, but it looks like there will be some serious potential for massive groups of people because all of the men under 40 are starting within 9 minutes of each other. my guess is that it is going to be rough to find some clean road for the first 20 miles or so...unless of course these wheels have some built in rocket boosters....

i'm looking forward to this race. its my last big race before wisconsin which follows 8 weeks later. i had a great week of training last week with 1.4 miles of swimming, 243 miles on the bike and 26 miles running for a total time of 19:30. this week has been a little slower, as i have tried to cut down the mileage today, and tomorrow will be an off day in preparation for the race. however, i will get some more miles on sunday with the race. then i hope for one more big week next week before going away for a week when ineveitably the numbers will be down.

well i have been a little derelict in posting updates to this blog. it is really hard work to be on vacation. hopefully an update from the race to come next week with pictures and then some intermittent updates leading up to madison part II.