RONA MS 150 Bike Tour - Leduc to Camrose - Day 1

So, last weekend Ed and I rode in the MS Bike Tour, a total of about 160 km over 2 days. Our friend Alan was part of Team Pronto, so we sort of hung out with some of the team members at various times - they seemed a lot of fun. And Alan's friend that he was riding for, Michele, flew out from New York to be there for the start and finish, which was inspiring to see.

First impressions - a bit scary with the traffic jam to get into the parking area, but then registration/check-in was really well organized for such a large event (1500 cyclists). Saturday was a sunny warm day, but not too hot, so it was great cycling weather. I know now that if you want to get an early start, you get there really early and put your bike at the start line first thing - we didn't get to start until about 35 minutes after the official start time of 8 am. Which meant that Ed and I were passing people almost constantly, but particularly at the start and up the first hill. We stopped only briefly at the first checkpoint, and a bit longer at the second so I could stretch my back (as I could feel it a bit).

We made it to the lunch stop at the Wetaskiwin Hospital Grounds by 10:30 am, took a 30 minute break to eat something (but not a full lunch), and were on our way again. Now we were on a primary rather than secondary highway, which meant a much wider shoulder - but that was actually scarier as I think then there were more inconsiderate cyclists who figured they could ride side-by-side (meaning if I needed to pass someone, I had to pull onto the busy highway!) The number of people wearing MP3 players (or in one case talking on a cell phone) while riding on the highway was also quite scary.

We skipped the third checkpoint (other than to stand up briefly and grab a drink at the top of a hill), but again I had to get off my bike and stretch (ie. lying on my back on the grass) at the final checkpoint before Camrose. Ed pulled ahead of me coming into town and probably finished about 10-15 minutes before me at the Augustana Campus, about 12:30 pm. 3hr 10 min for 80.4 km.

Again, it was well-organized regarding check-in and the bike lock-up (other than all the signs seemed to show the other set of dorms to where we were located). We finally found Ronning Hall across the bridge (mini-ravine/creek across the property) - I remember staying in one of those dorms with Nicole for MusiCamrose band camp in the summer of 1986 or so. I'm not sure there's really been any improvement in them since then - our door lock was incredibly finicky to the point of initially not working at all, the main room light didn't work, the curtain was falling off the curtain hooks - lol. Still better than tenting though, especially when it rained that afternoon a bit and a lot in the evening.

We checked to see how Team Pronto was doing (Alan got in at around 2pm), then pretty much napped until dinner. The dinner at the community centre was again well-organized, and afterwards, an early night for us.

Longest ride so far

A few Saturdays ago, I did what was my longest ride ever, so far - 76.2 km. Ed and I went out with Alex Stieda and some others, starting just on the outskirts of Edmonton and heading west basically - looking at a map afterwards, we were as far west (Range Road 10) as Stony Plain actually (just further south). We started at Woodbend Hall, looped around by Blackhawk golf course somehow, then headed west on Graminia Road crossing Highway 60 and kept going. I'm sure the rest of the group could have gone faster without me, but it was nice that Alex kept everyone together - even made me ride out front at times. I got some good tips - I know I should be spinning more but it's hard sometimes to resist pushing a bigger gear to try to keep up better, but in the end I think I was less tired thanks to the reminders to keep spinning at a higher cadence.

A few tense moments (for me at least) with some dogs trying to chase us on one road ... then we headed back along Garden Valley Road and that's where everyone went their own speed. Except my back was really starting to hurt by then (it was sore the night before while sitting, but seemed to be okay initially that morning), so I really slowed down and at one point even stopped. Ed waited for me :-) and was supportive and encouraging when I thought I wasn't going to be able to ride again - but just getting off the bike and stretching a bit seemed to help (so I did that a few more times before we finished).

Somehow I had in my head that Winterburn Road = Range Road 231, so I was getting quite discouraged that we were in the 260's for range roads - but then we were at the turn and back again. (Winterburn Road = Range Road 260 actually I think it was).

Other than my back concerns (which didn't improve the next 2 days so I ended up going to physio three times that week - SI joint inflammation and hypomobility apparently), it was a good ride and good confidence booster for the MS Bike Tour the following weekend. I started plotting the route we took that day on Google Earth and will add it when I finish.

Edit (June 17) - here it is:

Coronation Triathlon 2007

Just like last year, I did the Coronation Triathlon at the end of May. I was a bit concerned leading up to it, in that I had been doing mostly bike training but little running and only a bit of swimming. Then in the week before, when I was trying to run with my new orthotics they gave me blisters on the very bottom of my feet (in the longitudinal arch) even after only a very short time of running. So, I had resolved to myself that my main goal was to get a better bike time (and my rationale in entering was that I wanted to ride the bike course on Groat Road with it closed to traffic) - and decided not to worry about the swim or run.

They improved lots of the organizational things this year compared to last year. I keep hoping that I'll get a later start time, but something always changes to prevent that - last year they had mountain bikes first so I thought I'd be later now that I have my road bike. But, they decided to go teams first then women then men, so I ended up starting about the same time anyway (scheduled for 8am, compared to around 7:30 am last year I think). The swim went pretty well, best time this year and only about 45 seconds off my overall best time for 1 km.

And the weather was nice - sunny, not too cold in the morning, but didn't get too hot through the race either. I cut about 10 minutes off last year's bike time (and went under 1 hour for the 25.3 km), so I achieved my main goal for the race :-).

Then there was the run. I was starting to have some back pain on the bike (just like when I was going up the Maligne Lake Road at cycling camp a few weeks before), so my legs felt really stiff when I started to run and my back was sore as well. My overall fitness has improved greatly and my bike fitness had obviously helped me for running, because I managed to do my first 8:1 interval okay. By the time I was at the bottom of the hill towards the turn-around point, I was actually feeling quite good on the run - except the blisters seemed to be recurring. Between the blisters on my feet and my back being sore, the run back uphill was mostly done in 1 and 2 minute intervals I'm sure - yet when I finished, I had an overall PB of 2:24 and an apparent PB for an 8 km run (though I later found out that the run course was shorter than it was supposed to be, which didn't surprise me - I had thought the turnaround point seemed to be closer than the year before).

So, overall I was happy with my race. Not so happy when the bandaid on one foot ripped off some skin from a blister when I took my socks off (the bandaid was stuck to the sock) and by 2 days later it was infected and I needed antibiotics :-( , but I was able to ride again by the following weekend. And, I managed my fluids much better - not dehydrated, but didn't have to stop to use the bathroom on the run course and probably didn't need to have my own water bottle with me either. Also, minimal abdominal cramps on the run - yay! I think I found out how much I can eat prior to a race without having problems.

More pics here...

Cycling Camp in Jasper

Well, I'd planned to write a bunch about the cycling camp I was at last weekend in Jasper, but with the bizarre stuff coming out of the Floyd Landis hearings all I had time to do was create this map/satellite photo from Google Earth of our "mountain challenge" ride up to the base of Marmot Basin ski area (my group started from the turnoff, rode up then down then back to town). More to come when I get a chance...


(addendum May 18 - here's the same route on a topo map)


This was our big climb, on Saturday afternoon - 11 km total from the turnoff to the top, average grade of about 5.5-6 % (calculating from the topo map, as none of the group members who had Garmins actually knew how to use the grade/elevation functions), 1 hr 15 min up for me. And we even made it to the top before the faster riders caught up to us (they rode from town then up the climb, whereas we saved our energy for the climb by driving to the base). Perhaps the bear seen by the two in front (we had to get passing-tourists' cars to ride beside us for protection just in case the bear hadn't actually run away like we thought) provided that last burst of adrenaline to get us to the top ...

(May 19 - more about the camp on the other blog here)

First day riding to work this spring

Brief account and photo here of our rainy bike adventure and Ed's 3 punctures in one ride.

First outdoor ride of the season!

(well, other than a couple times I basically just went around the block or tried to ride when it was still too icy out).

Unlike last year when it was quite warm (almost 20C IIRC), it was only about 7C and cloudy - would have been better to ride yesterday when it was sunny and marginally warmer, but we were both too tired from having woken up at 5 am in order to watch the Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) live.

And unlike last year when I crashed at the end of my first outdoor ride of the year and needed stitches in my knee, no crashes this time. Though lots of gravel, puddles, and the trail we thought about taking from Laurier Park to Hawreluk Park was still covered in snow and ice.

Below, you can see Ed in his fine form as we did a bit of hill training - though the hill doesn't really look all that impressive in the pic (it curves around out of the photo and keeps going, 1.5 km total to where I time myself). I'm doing reasonably well considering we were on mountain bikes today.

RONA MS Bike Tour

Ed and I have signed up to do this Bike Tour June 9-10, from Leduc to Camrose and back (approx. 180 km total), as part of our preparation for our trip to France - and also to raise money for the MS Society of Canada. If you'd like to donate to help me reach my fundraising goal, you can do so online here.

Thanks!

Training in the basement

We invited our friend Alan over to do some indoor training (since we had an extra trainer), and he took some photos of us and our setup - so now you can see our lovely unfinished basement.

Cyclocross

Via an online friend in Belgium and the Daily Peloton Forums, I've become interested in cyclocross, a discipline of cycling not as well-known (at least in Canada) as road cycling or mountain biking. From Wikipedia:

Races take place typically in the autumn and winter (the international or "World Cup" season is September-January), and consists of many laps of a short (2–3 km or 1–2 mile) course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike whilst navigating the obstruction and remount in one graceful motion...The sight of competitors struggling up a muddy slope with bicycles on their shoulders is the classic image of the sport, although unrideable sections are generally a very small fraction of the race distance.

Seeing as I'm really tired of hearing cycling fans argue over and over again whether or not Landis or guilty (and now whether or not Pereiro is truly asthmatic), and there's not any road racing going on except in Australia, I've been watching video highlights and reading blogs about cyclocross instead - the World Championships are next weekend. Since it is not an Olympic sport, there is no government or cycling association funding for Canadian competitors who have qualified to attend the Worlds - a group started a fund-raising drive here to help them out. And there was a good article in the Edmonton Examiner (community paper) about local U23 'crosser Shaun Adamson and his trip to Belgium for some races including the World Championships. I've also been reading the blogs of Canadian elite mens' champ Greg Reain and Canadian U23 champ Kyle Douglas.


As for my own cycling - well, all indoors on the trainer for now, as we got more snow last week so all the previously cleared roads now have a nice snowpack base again, with lots of icy sections. But at least I think I'm regaining some of my fitness such that I'm not so discouraged about how I'm going to do in France in July anymore, just have to get back at the running and swimming again as well if I plan to do any triathlons this summer. Remind me never again to get so lazy through the fall and early winter as I did this year ... (though I suppose the transition to a new job, recovering from injury, and being sick in November are all explanations as well for my laziness through the fall, but still not an excuse).

Counting Down ...

48 days to go to the start of the Tour of California
180 days to go to the start of the Tour de France

...and we'll be going to both! (2007 = travel year)

Biking weekend - good and not so good ...

I was pumped about riding after finishing a 4 hour clinic with Alex Stieda, former Tour yellow jersey wearer (1st North American actually), on Saturday -
and best of all it was free. (My city hosted the World Masters Games last year, not sure if there was leftover money or something, but they had a series of "Masters Training Clinics" in various sports).

I was a bit nervous ahead of time , hoping that everyone else wasn't super-experienced/strong/super fast riders and that I'd feel out of place ... especially when the first few who arrived were talking about their Ironman tri experiences, but then a lady arrived in jeans, so I knew I wouldn't be the weakest in the group.

The clinic covered a lot of areas - climbing, corners, descending, sprinting, riding in a group - got more experience and some tips, improved my confidence (I only got my road bike in May so still a little nervous sometimes on the skinny tires), overall a great experience. And "Alex" was very friendly and made everyone feel comfortable (even the lady in jeans who ended up walking up most of the hills, she almost went home before it started but he encouraged her to stay and at the end she felt she had learned a lot).

Not sure if I'm more excited about the clinic itself or the fact I've now met and ridden with a former Tour yellow jersey! There's a good account on Cycling News by Davis Phinney about Stieda's ride in 1986 that got him the jersey.

Then today (Sunday), Ed and I went riding with a friend from prior running clinics. It was a nice fall day, sunny and warm, and we had a really good ride. Then something happened that I'm sure looked an awful lot worse from the perspective of those around me than it seemed from my perspective - my first (and hopefully last) bike crash into a car. It happened so fast I'm not entirely sure what all transpired, but I'm fairly sure that the reason I didn't stop before crossing a street was because I thought the car was not turning my way by their signals. By the time I realized that they *were* in fact coming my way, I was almost but not quite able to stop in time - my front wheel hit the car and turned and I went down. I was pretty quickly able to get off the road to avoid any further problems - I'm sure the driver of the car was pretty traumatized but Ed was able to reassure them I was ok. And I was - gash on one leg, bruising/muscle strains on the other leg. Amazingly enough, my bike was fine (Ed thought from his perspective that I'd actually hit the car myself and my bike had been run over).

To tell the truth, I think this is much less of a confidence-shaker than some previous crashes when I really wasn't doing anything much - then you start to wonder "how can I do difficult stuff if I crash on the easy stuff?". Whereas with this, I think blame was on both sides (I should have stopped to be sure where the car was going, and they should have signalled better and not have been going so fast), but at least there was a reason for the crash so mentally I'm feeling fine about riding still :-) .

Riding riding riding

That's what we did today, lots of riding - 60 km and over 3.5 hours, all the way to Rundle Park and back. A great way to spend the last Sunday afternoon of August when it's sunny and 25 C (knowing that winter's probably coming all too soon). Here's our route map in red, courtesy of Google (with a driving suggestion in blue, though I'd never actually drive that way to Rundle - I'd go up Henday to Yellowhead as it's much more direct) - click on it to see a larger version:

Only change in route was that we crossed over to Gold Bar Park going and stayed entirely on the north side of the river coming back. Lots of areas that I'd only seen on the map and never actually been to, like Rossdale, the Brickyard subdivision in Riverdale, Dawson Park, and most of Ada Boulevard.

This was my longest ever ride, topping last week's ride of almost 45 km to the University then the long way home via Snow Valley and a detour in behind Fort Edmonton. We also detoured slightly last week to Sue's to see the rock she put in her front yard (in memory of Darryl) - wow, it *is* big!

The other day I saw that the City is running various "Masters Training sessions" for free next month, I guess a follow-up to last year's World Masters Games - there was a Women's Road Cycling clinic with Alex Stieda, the first North American cyclist to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France (in 1986, good story about it here). So I signed up - I see that the men's clinic plus several others (triathlon, swimming) were already full. Stieda runs weekend skills camps in various locations (Banff, Jasper, Whistler, etc.) plus tours to the Tour de France, so even if it's just short I figure it will probably be useful - especially since it's free!

A reasonable request ...

All I want to do before I take any questions is ask that everybody take a step back - I don't know what your position is now, and I wouldn't blame you if you were a bit skeptical because of what cycling has been through in the past and the way other cases have gone - but all I'm asking for, just for me, is that I be given a chance to prove that I'm innocent. Cycling has a traditional way of trying people in the court of public opinion before they get a chance to do anything else. I can't stop that but I would like to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, since that's the way we do things in America.

- Floyd Landis (as quoted in Cycling News).

It's hard to know what to think, Landis certainly comes across as the type of rider who wouldn't resort to doping, but then again what do we really know about any of these riders to be able to say "so-and-so would never do that, they don't seem like the type"? Some random thoughts:
1) Rumour has it that actually his testosterone level was low overall, but it was the ratio to the marker substance in the body (epitestosterone) that was high. I'm not sure exactly what that would imply, but I think it illustrates the difficulty in testing and catching people for using hormones naturally found in the body, they can't go by absolute levels and instead have to resort to other techniques.
2) There have been several athletes who have had their positive test for testosterone overturned because they were able to prove they have normally high levels of testosterone. Some of the things that have been shown to naturally raise testosterone levels include alcohol (Landis had previously admitted to having a beer after his really bad day in the mountains, which was the night before the stage he blew everyone away and the night before this test was done), and exertion (again, the test is from the stage when he powered away from everyone, lots of exertion there).
3) I wonder frequently where the line should be drawn in terms of catching doping athletes. In medical statistics we learned about sensitivity and specificity for testing, where sensitivity "refers to how good a test is at correctly identifying people who have the disease" (or are doping in this case), and specificity is "concerned with how good the test is at correctly identifying people who are well" (or who aren't doping). I'm sure that the tests they're currently using probably have both high sensitivity and specificity, but it's never 100% so there's always the possibility of false positives (meaning that innocent athletes can get banned from competition), as well as false negatives (meaning that some dopers don't get caught). Then, there is rampant speculation that dopers are using techniques so that there isn't actually any of the banned substance in their bodies at the time of a test, or that they're using substances for which there aren't any tests yet, or techniques (like blood transfusions) that really can't be tested for directly and it ends up being the police investigations (like Operation Puerto) that catch them (if at all). Which would mean that the overall sensitivity of drug testing in sports could be fairly low, and yet there's still the possibility of false positives with the tests they do have ... so what's more important, sacrificing a few innocent athletes in order to have a better chance of getting all the dopers, or trying to ensure that it's only the dopers that get caught and punished. I'd say the latter, but I wonder sometimes if that's the case at present. From a conference I attended in May, it seems as though a lot of administrative effort goes into processing the exemption forms for bronchodilators and corticosteroids which have questionable performance enhancing effects - maybe they need to make more effort changing the culture overall.
4) Are we expecting too much from athletes? Is the Tour de France really too hard (ie. through the mountains) as world champion Tom Boonen suggested during this year's Tour before he abandoned (in the mountains)? -sorry, can't find a link at the moment.

Anyway, I'm kind of glad the DP Forum is down for the moment, I'd spend too much time reading about this case if it were up and running :) , and I've got other things to think about - like our getaway next weekend to Panorama ! We *were* going to go camping to Mt. Robson provincial park in BC, but we didn't get around to making a reservation in time, and it's not like there are a lot of other options there if all the first-come first-served sites are full for a long weekend ... so we made other plans instead. For some reason I really love the Radium-Invermere-Panorama area so it's always great to go back there again :)

A month later...

I was going to post on my birthday, about how it was such a day of mixed emotions - nice to spend time with family, but I had to work that day, nice that the Tour de France was going to start the next day, but there was a big doping scandal that took out a number of the top contenders (on my birthday no less). But obviously I never got around to it ...

Busy watching the Tour for the last few weeks, as well as working pretty much full-time again. The Tour was the most exciting one that I've ever seen, as the outcome wasn't essentially predetermined. My favourite rider for the overall (Aussie Cadel Evans) ended up 5th, which is really good considering he was 8th last year (but there were a lot who suddenly had expectations that he'd do even better given the strange circumstances of a number of riders missing from the Tour). And my favourite sprinter (Aussie Robbie McEwen) ended up winning the green jersey, as the top rider in the points competition (points given each stage depending on your placing rather than the time, you could say it measures the consistency of finishing near the top - the overall contenders will often finish in the middle of the pack on flat stages for example).

As for working, well, I've realized yet again that the job I'm going to in September will be a good thing for me ... I'm starting to feel similar fatigue and frustration to when I had my own practice, the thought that I only have just over a month to go is what's getting me through. At least I'll get paid on Friday ... they made a mistake in registering me properly through the computer system when I started for July, so the first set of billings to Alberta Health was entirely rejected, then when they tried to fix the problem the next set of billings missed the payment deadline, but it looks like everything went through ok this time. I think I might have gone on strike otherwise ;-)

And I'm nearing the point of giving up on the pregnancy thing, I just can't deal with the expectations and hopes of being pregnant and then the cruel disappointment each month when it doesn't happen (like today for instance, I was so sure this was going to be the lucky month). I'm not sure I want to spend tons of money for alternative ways to experience the same disappointment ...

I think I'm starting to sound really sorry for myself, and I'm not generally like that, so I'd better stop now :-). Maybe I'll go watch a movie or something (I've got a bunch recorded that I haven't had a chance to watch yet)...

Building confidence

Today was a day of training to build my confidence before Sunday's triathlon - on the weekend, Ed and I did a ride where on 2 hills I really tried to push it hard, and ended up crashing (figuratively) and burning for the most part :( . I guess I'm not cut out to emulate Jan Ullrich - need to spin more like Lance (for any non-cycling fans, Ullrich is known for pedalling at a lower cadence in a harder gear which requires more strength - Armstrong more for a higher cadence ie. spinning).

So today, I went back up those 2 hills again trying more of a spinning approach, and it went much better :) . And I broke my downhill speed record as well (55.2 km/h down to the zoo) - I could only ever hit mid-40's on my MTB and it took me a while to get the confidence on the road bike to let it go downhill that much faster ...

I also drove the bike course for Sunday again, after one of Ed's friends (with a lot of triathlon connections) was telling us how everyone thinks it's a really hard course. I thought when we drove it before that the uphill sections were long (all relatively speaking of course, not talking Tour de France here or even Icefields Parkway) but not super-steep ... so I was relieved to find again today that my recollection was correct. And the first half going out (and last half coming back) are pretty much flat, so I think it will be fine.

I don't like 25 m pools though (swam at the Leduc pool today too), I lose count of my laps too easily as I'm used to a 50 m pool ...

More riding ...

I did another "long" (for me) ride yesterday, 32.3 km including 3 hills - Keillor Road (or what's left of it, it's now a multi-use path with switchbacks after the vehicle road fell into disrepair and caved in), and twice up my usual training hill in Laurier up from the zoo. My route took me almost all the way to the university, so it's possible that I could bike to work when I work there (though not practical).

And I haven't heard anything from my doctor yet, so hopefully that's good news - had a bone scan last week to rule out a stress fracture in my leg, since I've had recurrent shin pain and swelling every time I try to do more running. It may still end up as a swim-bike-walk triathlon for me in less than 2 weeks now ...

A Published Writer Now ...

well, sort of - I wrote an article about the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine conference that I recently attended, for the Daily Peloton, a website devoted to pro cycling news. You can see the article here: part 1 and part 2.

Training ...

I figured that since I have some time off work, I could start doing some longer bike rides (my usual route is about 20 km) ... for example, ride to some of the parks, sit and read for a while/enjoy the outdoors, then ride home. So yesterday, I did just that ... was aiming for Government House Park via McKinnon Ravine, ended up riding all the way along River Valley Road to the LRT bridge (ie. almost downtown), 15 km. Then I came back a bit and sat and read for a while ... until I noticed that it was starting to cloud over in an ominous kind of way. So I started heading home, at a faster pace than on the way out.

As I reached Westridge (about 10-15 minutes from home), it started to rain. I still thought I could make it back before any downpour, until a few big wind gusts hit me and my nice light road bike didn't like them very much. I figured that the combination of wind, slippery wet road and traffic on skinny tires wasn't such a good thing, so I headed over to my parents to take shelter until the storm blew over.

After visiting with my dad for about 20 minutes, with the storm looking to be more entrenched rather than simply blowing over, he offered to drive me home. So, I had a total of 27 km for the day instead of 32 or so ... still my longest ride on my own (or actually perhaps ever), and once again almost doubling the odometer on my new bike (from 30-something to 60-something).

I made the mistake of joking to my husband that I "hitched a ride in the team car" (aka my dad's 1987 Chevy van) ... and now he won't stop teasing me about it. It's not like I called someone to come pick me up out of the rain :-) .

(and I had another minor crash, getting too cocky with my pedals I guess and not taking proper care, I remember thinking "gee, this seems easier and easier to click out of the pedals" as I was slowing down, when I leaned too far to the other side and went over... more bruises, oh well).

Good few weeks for Davitamon-Lotto...

(which is the name of my favourite pro cycling team, btw). First, Robbie McEwen (top) won Stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie, a one-week ProTour stage race in Switzerland. Then Chris Horner (middle) won Stage 2, with one of the most jubilant victory-line photos I've seen. Finally, Cadel Evans (R) won the final stage (an individual time-trial) and thus won the overall race!

Then, the Giro d'Italia started last weekend - this is one of the three "Grand Tours" (the best-known being the Tour de France). There have been 6 stages so far, and Robbie McEwen has won three of them - go Robbie!



(and notice how Nick Gates, another Aussie rider on Davitamon-Lotto, even made it into the finish-line photo sort of, having helped Robbie to the win)



(photos from www.davitamon-lotto.com and www.mcewenrobbie.com)

New bikes! :-)

It had been something we were thinking about for the future, but for a number of reasons we decided to go ahead and both buy road bikes now:
1) taking 2 months off work in 2005 meant I paid too much ahead of time in income tax so I got a nice refund recently,
2) kept thinking we'd need more savings for a "maternity leave" but so far it doesn't look like that's happening any time soon,
3) Ed's thinking about riding to work this summer (save money on gas plus better for overall health and fitness),
4) I'm thinking of doing more triathlons this year and tired of everyone blowing by me on their light road bikes compared to my heavy mountain bike,
5) with road bikes that means we can actually put the stubby mountain bike tires back on the MTB's (instead of the slick tires we've been using) and ride off-road with the MTB's again...
(is that enough reasons?)

Ed was nice enough to wait until my bike came in so we could pick them up together, which we did today. Apparently, it's a really good time for the bike industry these days and Trek is behind in shipments - usually it only takes a few days to order one apparently but mine took two weeks...

Unfortunately, the weather hasn't co-operated so we haven't had a chance yet to ride outside (which would involve initially just going up and down the nearby minimal-traffic cul-de-sac in order to get used to clipless pedals), but hopefully tomorrow there will be some breaks from the rain. (Actually, by tomorrow I'll likely be so eager to try it that I'll go out rain or shine).

Some pics for your enjoyment - Ed's is the dark grey Trek 2100, and mine is the white Trek Pilot 2.1 .