two weeks

And somehow we now arrive at being only 2 weeks...okay, technically 13 days, from Ironman Canada.

On some level...damn, how did that happen?

And on so many other levels....it's about damn time.

The first week of taper is finished.  And although the training time didn't fall off quite as dramatically as I had hoped (or as my motivation to get the workouts done has), a 4 hour ride on Sunday as opposed to 112 or even 115 miles was a piece of cake.  Mmmm......cake.  Sadly, no, my appetite has not shrunk yet in response to the lessened training load.  Going to have to keep an eye on that so I don't pack on the pounds prior to race day.  No more cake.

Today Molly, her husband Jeff, George and I met up for a ride through Niles Canyon and up Calaveras.  I had a rough idea of where we'd go, but changed things up when the morning turned out a bit foggier than I had anticipated.  Not so great for riding out to the bay for a quick loop, but perfect for riding over to the warmer side of the east bay.  I didn't plan the finishing loop so well and wound up shorting Molly out of about 20 minutes of her ride.  She didn't look *too* upset by it tho. :)

Two great things about this ride?  1:  I was the only one who had ridden it before.  Kind of fun to introduce friends to a new route.  And as much as I whine about always riding Niles, also kind of fun to just plan on the fly.   Turn left here, right here, let's do this instead.  Easy peasy.  2:  It's nice to ride a route I haven't ridden in quite a while.  And to see how much easier it seems, relatively.  And if it seemed that easy of a climb on tired, trashed, Ironman trained legs, I must have indeed made some biking progress in the last year.  Nice.

Starting off into the canyon.

Yeah, too bad the route was so hideous.

Calaveras Reservoir....more awful scenery to admire.

Note to self....I need larger tri-friends.  Tiny people just
make me look bigger.

Moi, Molly, George (drafting...AGAIN... ;)

Thanks to Molly, Jeff, and George for all the fun group rides this year!  And of course to Molly for being the official photographer of this blog. ;)  Hopefully we can do some off season riding for fun.  Oh, I kind of remember riding a bike just for fun......

Now....the final week of TAPER.  Next week...race week.  The weather forecast is looking good for race day, she whispered so as not to jinx it.  My head and heart are ready to just get going.  My legs are asking for a few more days to gather strength.  Soon.......