Sunday, April 27, 2008

The death grip of bicycle-related procrastination!

Well, I really am in the grip of it, I am not enjoying it one bit! And the worst thing is that I have literally spent the whole day in thrall to bicycle-related things, and have not ridden a single bit! (OR done any work.)

I could go into detail about how this came about, it was one thing and another resulting not entirely from my own miscalculations, but really it is pure procrastination, and I am not going to get out there for a ride today after all. ARGHHHHHHH!

On the bright side, the trainer has now been reunited with its true owner, so I will no longer be able to put off riding outside by riding inside.

(Just by not riding at all!)

And I had a great session with an altruistic CU triathlon team member who has fully illuminated me on tube-changing matters and various other things as well. I am now confident about taking off and putting back on the wheels, changing tubes, using various kinds of pump and CO2 and generally organizing all that stuff. I should write myself a real checklist of what order to do things in--it is amazing how it goes more smoothly if one does these little things in the correct order! We replaced both existing tubes with new ones and I now feel race-ready in that minimum sense at least...

Pedals were a bit more of a conundrum: turns out I need an 8mm hex wrench rather than a pedal wrench, and when we tried to use the 8mm attachment on the multitool it became clear that the pedals are screwed in so tightly that they are impossible to dislodge. Will go and obtain a self-standing (as it were) tool for the purpose and see if it lets me get greater leverage.

(In other words both the things I bought at the bike store the other week were wrong, not just the pump! A trip back there will be in order, though I am not sure they will take the wrench back now that I have opened the packaging...)

I am making some emergency calculations about what to do this week to remedy a slightly irretrievable training situation. (Right now I am drinking some tea in the hope it will clear my head--allergies and sleeplessness are continuing to make me feel dazed and confused!)

I think I will go to the gym this evening and do an intensive half-hour exercise bike workout so that I have not completely missed out on today. Tomorrow is no good because I already have an absurd number of exercise-related commitments that do not involve bicycles (early am swimming lesson, which will also hopefully involve some triaspirational morale-boosting [CU triathlon folks v. encouraging also!]; gym workout with M.; evening run with S.).

But I am going to shame myself into a serious bicycle commitment for the week:

Tues. am: 2.5 hours in Central Park come hell or high water! (The woman who cleans my apartment is coming at 9, and I like to leave her a clear field to work in, so I will leave with bicycle at 8:45 and come back at 11:15 when she is finished.)

Wednesday pm: one-hour bike ride in Riverside Park, followed by 3-4 miles run.

Thursday will be off instead of Friday, due to work stuff. On Friday I will do a short bike and swim. On Saturday I will do the Brooklyn half (as the last long training run) in the morning and swim in the afternoon. And on Sunday I will do a three-hour bike--that is a threat and a promise!

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