I consider myself to be a fairly badass runner. This is not to say that I'm super fast (I'm not) or that I win a lot (I don't...I win never). This is merely to say that I know how to get it done (Let me stop right here and say [to address what I already know Brian is thinking] that this is not to say that I don't complain- I do... a lot...but I still get it done and I still manage to bring it on race day [this year's Chicago marathon being the exception...ugh]). I will run in negative degree weather if I have to to get a run in; I will run in blizzards (for those of you who were with me, again, I didn't say that I didn't complain); I will run in rain.
Despite considering myself a badass runner, I am not at all a badass biker. Last week, several of my classmates (teammates? fellow-insane-people?) started a really excited e-mail chain about an outdoor ride they found for St. Patrick's day. There are so many things wrong with this that it is hard to start counting.
One: St. Patrick's day in Illinois generally averages snow and about 32 degree weather. While that would actually make a fairly comfortable run, biking tends to create a little wind. That means that the ride is basically -32 degree windchill. If I have to put booties over my shoes so my shoes stay warm, I'm not going, let's put it that way.
Two: Now that I am almost 30 and get four day hangovers from drinking an O'Douls, there is a good chance that even a modest amount of green beer on Thursday will still have me hungover for this Sunday ride.
Three: (and I realize that this one is no one's fault but my own) I am clumsy. The chance (CHANCE) that there MIGHT be ice SOMEWHERE is too big of a risk to take. I have crashed running on ice (three times last year, to be exact); I certainly don't need to crash my bike on it (despite the fact that coach claimed on the first day of class that you are not a true ironman trainee until you've crashed your bike into a ditch [like one of her 2010 trainees who shall go unnamed in this blog]).
So, have fun on your ride, guys! I'll be the one who is warm and cozy (and without road-rash) watching Glee on my trainer.
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I completely agree, even if I was in town I wouldn't travel an HOUR for a 36 mile ride that I can do in the city. Maybe I'm snobby but I believe that there is plenty of time to ride out doors for this years IM. I cherish my weekends when I don't have to load the car up with bike gear and drive an hours to get an outdoor ride in. So yes, I agree with you completely!
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