108 Miles of smiles.

Yesterday three of my athletes joined me for a 108 mile ride. We began at 5:30am and it was incredibly strange to be bundled up in the middle of June, however there has been a bit of a "cool wave" in Upstate New York this week, and today we begin to heat things up.

So Glenn, Dennis, Bill and I set out at this early hour with a destination in mind. Napes and the Grainery. The Grainery is a terrific little coffee shop nestled in the heat of the small village of Naples, NY. The coffee is outstanding, and they are used to cyclists dropping in. The Grainery was about 50 miles from my house, down winding roads that slid along the east side of the Gorgeous Canindaigua Lake. My most amazing husband made an exception this morning. Typically my long workouts are done mid week, but this weekend treat was exactly that... a treat. Thank you Curt!

So much of my distance training this season has been done alone that I welcomed the opportunity to spend it with my athletes, who are now my friends. Dennis and I are preparing for Ironman Lake Placid. Glenn and Bill are preparing for Ironman Kentucky. We all needed to get this ride done as early as possible.

Less than an hour into the ride Bill began to complain that his legs were tired. The three of them did a 2+ hour run the previous day.

"That's to be expected" I told him, he did IMLP in 06 so he knows that. Then I remembered how cranky he gets with little calories. "EAT."

A few minutes later I noticed his rear tire was flat. "Maybe that's why." I laughed. So we had our first and luckily only flats of the day. I called ahead to Dennis and Glenn.

"Flat!" I cried.

"We know!" they answered. I began to laugh, knowing they thought I had called out Left!! As our next turn was approaching.

Nonetheless Bill was so cranky that I changed the damn tire for him and told him to eat.

Now my bike was making a rather interesting noise. Bike noises don't bother me so I tend to neglect them. Since Eagleman however each time I hit the rear brakes this horrible screeching noise begins. I see Jim from Handlebars this Friday so I don't worry about it. But the looks I get from my athletes..... priceless!

"I am new!" I told them. So during the ride I would occasionally hit the rear brakes to amuse the guys. It doesn't take much!

Depending on your theory of training, many say that you should never stop during a long ride. Or stop minimally. I am not one to have breakfast halfway through a ride but I am one to stop at the Grainery. 20 minutes for a cup of coffee with friends is a treasure.

"We won't be able to do this at the Ironman." I reminded them, as I pulled a massive bag of white powder out of my back pocket. We all began to laugh, as we knew how suspicious we appeared, or rather I appeared!

Today I was trying Infinit nutrition, and it was working well. My custom designed formula was great. I was feeling really good and it was going down easy.

We continued on after our coffee and things were going well for everyone. It was one of those rides where there is more silence than conversation, we rode our own paces but we kept an eye out for one another, and we only stopped one more time for refueling.

The effort was moderate, at time hard, and the day was perfect. These are the rides you remember. These are the days you reflect on during the bike leg of the Ironman. At least I will.

Four weeks to go, and these four weeks are emotion filled ones. Highs and lows, anticipation, fear, confidence. These four weeks have it all ending with one magical day.

The day we all toe the line together. The day we slap hands with one another a billion times on this course. The day when we are not just there for ourselves, we are there for one another.

That's what makes our Train-This team so special, and yes I am incredibly biased. We have done the miles together. We have done the hours together. We are truly a team and when we get to July 22nd...... we know that we got there together.

Thanks for stopping by.

:-) Mary Eggers