See Fox Climb!

Today was the first time I made it to a team bike workout!  It only took 2 months!  I was scared out of my mind.  I tend to be a pretty clumsy girl when walking in my runners...so just thinking of strapping my feet to pedals and let me glide downhill at 25 mph (or faster if I pedaled) makes me break out in a panic attack!

I was out of bed before 7 and rode with the coaches out to the starting point about an hour outside of DC.  We were riding in a rural part of Maryland that was beautiful...IF YOU LOVE HILLS!!!!  When I told people it was my first ride they all looked at me like I was crazy and a couple people asked why I picked this practice.  (Main reason:  Its the first one that wasn't slated to be 10 degrees!)  

Good news...I survived.  I dropped my chain right from the start so one of the main coaches stopped to help me which turned into a blessing....because before the end of the street she dropped her chain as well (just meaning the chain came off the gears) and so we started about 5 minutes behind the pack.  It gave me time with her to go over gearing...it gets complicated when you have about 23 gears.  Within 5 minutes my thighs were burning as I was climbing my first substantial hill.  My coach warned me as we started that I might have to walk it and to not get discouraged...but I wasn't having that...made it to the top and enjoyed the trip down the other side.   I was riding my breaks on a lot of the descents...but my focus for this practice was gearing...and I'm feeling great about it at this point!  Maybe next time I can focus on speed.

At the end of the Hour and 40 minute ride I took a couple minutes to strip off my jacket, helmet, etc and jumped out on a new trail to run 15 minutes!  It was a tough brick workout but a lot of fun at the same time.  Having a team to train with is encouraging and distracting and getting to meet someone new on the trail to talk to is always a nice way to zone out!  However after 15 minutes I was wondering how I could tack another 5 miles at the end of my workout.  Building up to this is tough...but I have faith that my team will get me there.  And for those of you who see me in Austin...prepare to be amazed!

I love you guys and I'm starting to love TRI's

send your love and pennies...

cfox

PS.  pictures coming soon!