Triathlon training is going very well these days. I have a new riding pal we will refer to as Dr. McBikey because he’s a doctor and he’s attractive enough to warrant the reference. This is just a biking thing so don’t get excited. The thing about Dr. McBikey that’s nice is that he wants to ride at 6:15 AM and that works for me and it is MUCH easier to get out there at the butt crack of dawn if someone is expecting you than if you lack that particular incentive.

Anyhow, on Thursday I had mentioned that I would probably climb Mt. Diablo on Saturday and he asked if he could come so I said sure! As it turns out no one else was available so it was just us. Friday night I noticed that my rear tire was completely flat so Saturday I got up extra early so I could change it (we didn’t start until 8 AM on Saturday). I got it changed, took off, connected with Dr. McB and off we went. About 10 miiles later I could hear that things weren’t right and I checked it and sure enough, the tire was mushy. I loaded it up with some CO2 and we started climbing.

OMG – climbing has never been so difficult! I got about 1500 feet up the mountain and I was red and sweaty and my HR was through the roof, I’m sure (only I don’t wear a HRM so I don’t really know). I could see McB way up ahead but I had to stop and sure enough the rear tire was totally squishy again. Pumped it up, rode on, met up with McB who was waiting and was happy enough to take a rest and then on we went. Lather, rinse, repeat once more and it this was getting annoying.

Here’s the good news, though. My recollection is that the last 2 hills before you get to where the roads that head up the 2 sides of the mountain join are steep and hard to climb. They were not. I was stunned to realized that I had reached the junction when I did so I declare VICTORY! I love it when the hills get easier because it means I really am getting stronger – yeah!

All thoughts of going higher got dumped due to my equipment issues so we headed down the north side, stopped for an iced latte and headed to the Sports Basement for some more CO2. Dr. McBikey got a flat on the way and was glad I was with him because he has no experience changing a tire although to his credit he had everything he needed (levers, tire and pump).

After I got home the big msytery was why, oh why did 2 tubes go flat? I took off the tire and checked every bit of the inner surface. I found 1 tiny slit but it was nothing that would puncture a tube. I checked the rim – nothing. Then I pumped up the tubes and submerged them only to discover that there were tiny rends in the seam of each. Cheap tubes? Poor installation? What’s your guess?

PSA –

I’d like to introduce you to a program called SportsTracks in the event you’ve never heard of it. It works with your Garmin and the cool thing it does is let you break the workout into pieces. You sort of have to get the hang of how to get the thing to break where you want it to but once you do it’s awesome! I was able to break up the run and ride portions of the Golden Bear Triathlon. Once I broke them up I exported them to GPX format and then imported them into MotionBased so that I now have this:

Ride:

Run:

Okay- so that’s a lot of work to be able to look at an elevation map but I love it! I’m a geek and technology that lets me play with numbers works for me.