I'm in love!!!

No, this post is not about my husband....although I could say many things about how awesome he is. (Although as an aside, I'm proud of him - he's trying to get back on the running wagon and did two 5 mile runs in the past 3 days. :))

Meet my new sweetheart.....

I did some pricing online and at local stores, figured out what things I must have and what I could skimp on for now, and this bike was the most cost-effective option (because I can't afford a bike that's worth more than my car!!) And it's adorable....but that honestly is a bonus, not a priority. I PROMISE I didn't buy it because it's pink. :)

Then I took her out for a ride in the beautiful 80 degree weather (YAY!) HOLY CRAP was that fun. On my little department store boys' mountain bike, I could barely go over 11 miles an hour. I was FLYING on this bike with even less effort. I looked down and I was going over 17. SWEET. I covered 25 miles in 1:35, but that's a little off because there are a handful of stop signs on the bike trail, and I forgot to pause the Garmin at one especially long stop light.

I WAS PASSING PEOPLE!! I'm usually hearing "on your left" over and over, and *I* got to say "on your left"! I enjoyed this ride to no end. By the end of the 25 miles, yeah, I was tired, but for most of the ride, I felt like I could ride forever. It's amazing what a difference having a decent bike makes!!

(And also a little unfair, I can't help but think. The bike part of the tri seems to be a little unbalanced as far as the difference that spending money on equipment can make. But oh well....now I HAVE some decent equipment!)

That was sooooo worth every penny. I'm thinking I could actually do pretty well at a triathlon debut, once I get the swimming part down a bit better. And once I'm actually allowed to run, of course.

Oh yeah - that ride totally didn't hurt a bit.

Honestly, I may even love cycling as much as I love running. I haven't felt so awesome after a workout since the 15 mile run. Like I did that day, I feel like I could take on the whole entire world right now.

One final thing...I bought myself a pair of real padded cycling shorts. I'm so glad I did, because now I know it's going to be a challenge to run in them in a tri situation. They feel seriously diaper-like. My butt should be thankful though - it hurts now, and I'm only imagining how it would feel after 25 miles without the extra padding.

Next weekend, if it's nice, I'm going to ride to the place in Loveland (mentioned in a previous post, when I was training for the thanksgiving 10k) that has the awesome frozen bananas. I totally can't wait.