IMC 2004 Race Report



C

Captain Error

Guest
I posted a pre-race report about two weeks ago. In it, I promised to post a
race report. This is it. A shorter version appears at www.xtri.com. This one
has the dubious benefit of being relatively unedited (the benefit is largely
to my ego). I hope it is interesting, informative and inspirational (that'd be
my ego again).

Ironman Canada. Whew, that's a big mouthful. It took me about 10 years to get
from my very first attempt at a triathlon to an ironman distance race, and I
think it was just about enough time.
My first race was the 1994 Windermere loop triathlon - 2.15 km/48km/12km.
Starting in the spring of that year I went from swimming six lengths before
gasping and seeing dots to swimming 80 lengths alternating breast stroke and
something approximating crawl. By the day of the race I was pretty sure I'd
make it across the lake without drowning and I did. The bike was hard but okay
and then I almost melted into the pavement trying to run 12 km in 35° heat. I
finished, so of course I started plotting my next attempt.
Over the next several years I; finished my thesis, became a first (Bronwen)
and second time (Griffith) father and raced about 4 more triathlons. Once
Griff got to the magic age of one, I negotiated with my wife (the lovely and
talented Pam - tlatP) for the chance to try the Great White North
Half-ironman. It is a spectacularly good race and I had so much fun that I
signed up for it the next year.
When I won the entry to IMC at the post-race banquet I discovered that my
tactic of keeping the lottery my little secret was a poor choice. After a
hasty consultation and a re-appraisal of priorities I declined the slot. It
was the right choice. I'd never have been ready for a full ironman two months
later.
Over the next few years I did several more triathlons and stepped my running
distances up to try a few marathons. Then in the winter of 2003 I caught tlatP
in a quiet moment and recommended a late summer vacation in Penticton. "It'll
be great," I said, "just you, me, the kids, sand, lakes, wineries, sunshine.
We'll love it."
She bought it.
By the time we got to the Okanagan I had enticed her to agree to my signing up
for the 2004 race. In some ways having to sign up a year in advance is a pain,
but in my case it was brilliant. It was far enough in the future that it
seemed a bit surreal. Once I'd signed up though, it was immutable. I would be
going. Yippee! Of course, now I had to get myself ready too.
I did a marathon in November and qualified for Boston. My running buddy
qualified in Victoria. Of course we had no choice but to go - if you qualify,
you must go. The draw is inexorable. Just give in. It was also a magnificent
opportunity to build some serious base running in the winter. In Calgary, you
need to have a very good reason to run long in January and February. The
coldest day on which I was stupid enough to run was -30° C. It turns out that
this is a very poor way to prepare to run a marathon where the temperature at
the start is 31° C.
When I got home from Boston, I started to take my road bike out for more and
longer rides. I'd been bike commuting to work through the winter, but it's
only about 10 km one way, so I needed to beef it up a bit. I started extending
one weekly swim session in distance and duration. Over the next several months
I worked myself up to 135 km long rides (about every other week), 4000 m long
swim sessions (once a week) and maintained running long sessions of 25-32 km
on weekends alternating with my long bike weekends. During the weeks I
continued to commute by bike and run 2-3X during my lunch hour. My weekly
volume bounced from 6-14 hours of training - mostly around 10 or so
hours/week.
I have a very cool wife. For Christmas she gave me a gift that I was totally
unprepared for - a week in Penticton training with Kevin Cutjar, Barb
Scatchard, Gillian Bakker and Cal Zaryski at the Ironspirit Triathlon camp. It
was July 11-18th, which is perfectly timed for IMC preparation. The other
campers were all age groupers as well, with a variety of abilities, attitudes,
senses of humour and goals. I think the week was a success for every one of
us. It was invaluable to have a chance to ride the entire IMC bike course,
swim the full course and run most of the marathon course. Names like Richter
Pass, Yellow Lake and Cawston were no longer mysterious and frightening, just
worthy of respect. We swam in Okanagan Lake nearly every day, we rode lots, we
ran lots, we learned more.
It's hard to explain the value of this experience. There's nothing quite like
hanging out with 35 or so other people who get it. We worked out together and
tri-geeked a lot and shared pointers and concerns. Some of us were awake at
oh-dark-thirty every morning to watch the Tour. We laughed. We yogaed. We were
massaged. There was sweating. Some skin was shed. Tires were changed. We
struggled into and out of neoprene. We drank Gatorade. We ate Clif bars. We
slept well. Some of us took painkillers. We tried desperately to hang onto
Gillian Bakker's wheel. There were other, even more unlikely hallucinations.
It was glorious. Then there were 6 weeks to go till IMC - remember IMC?
TlatP and I had rented a condo in Okanagan Falls for a week and a half
starting the weekend before IMC. That gave us time to settle in, calm down,
taper a bit, hang out with the kids, stress out a little. Ride a bit, run a
bit, swim a bit. Dig sand castles at the beach. Visit some wineries. Like
that.
Then Ironweek really started. I registered, the kids ran the fun run. I ran
the Underpants run (ein, zwei, drei - FLEX!). My mother, mother-in-law and
sister arrived. I scoped the expo, dropped off my bike, attended the pre-race
meeting and went back to OK Falls to stress for a while and then sleep (ha! -
I kill me). The alarm went off at 4:15.
TlatP drove me into Penticton and dropped me off near Main Street. I got body
marked. It was still dark and quite cool. The volunteers were cheery and fun -
how do they do that? I was jittery. I drank some gatorade and contemplated
eating some Clif bar. I visited my bike. I pumped up my tires, but not too
high. Filled up my bottles, zeroed my trip meter, wished some friends good
luck and got into my wetsuit. Then I started the long slow walk to the swim
start. Bagpipes. They're the instrument that should be played in advance of a
prisoner heading to the gallows. We filed onto the beach over the timing mats.

It was so friendly on the beach. We had about 20 minutes to go. I looked for
the family without success. Then I started talking to my fellow ironfolk.
Shook some hands. Wished everyone luck. Laughed at our nervousness. It was so
friendly on the beach.
The cannon went off and we were all on. Time to get started. It was very
livable for the first 25 metres or so. Then the washing machine started to rev
it up. Suddenly all of those friendly people I had been laughing with up on
the beach wanted to kill me. I'm a grownup though, and I've done several
triathlons. I know it always gets better. Sooner or later it opens up a bit.
Turns out it doesn't work that way in a race with 2166 swimmers. It was a
crowd of arms and legs from start to finish. Most of the contact was over by
the first turn, but it was still plenty tight. My goggles started to leak
about 1200 metres in and I had to flip over onto my back about three times to
empty them. My poor vision then became even poorer and I had to rely mostly on
my spider sense and faith that the feet I was following were going the right
way. This was especially true about half way through the second leg when the
sun peaked out from behind the clouds and made for a blinding glare all the
way to the second turn. From the second turn to T1 I swam a bit harder and was
able to see the big orange buoys. I think this is where I started to swim
serpentine though. Eventually I got to land.
When I stood up, I put my goggles on my head (just like Kevin told me),
scooped water into my wetsuit by the neck (just like Kevin told me) and
started running with high knees while unzipping my wetsuit (just like Kevin
told me). Kevin said nothing about how blurry your vision gets after swimming
with water in your goggles for 3860 metres. I couldn't see anything. I was
almost past the wetsuit peelers before I realised that the lovely people
standing there wanted to help me. I promptly lay down in the sand and lifted
my feet. I'd be rubbing sand away from my lower back for the first 30 km of
the bike. I picked up my swim to bike bag and ran to the change tent, cleaned
my feet with my towel, put on socks and cycling shoes, filled my pockets with
food and tools, stuffed my swim things into the bag and ran to my bike. It
took forever. Then I missed my rack by one and had to duck under the racks. I
put on helmet and glasses, finessed my bike out of the rack without spilling
my gatorade and ran to the exit. I was in no mood to stop for sunscreen.
This year the bike started out on Lakeshore for about 1.5 km, then doubled
back to Main before heading south. It was some crowded. I kept calm and
reminded myself that the ride to Osoyoos was the warmup. The real effort
starts at Richter Pass. I ate, I drank, I spun my pedals. I warmed up and
dried off a little and started to look around at all of the people I'd be
seeing off and on again for the next several hours. McLean Ck Rd was where I
first realised how interesting it was going to be trying to descend hills with
a crowd of people that all wanted to go fast too. If you didn't get out into a
passing position early, it was next to impossible to get by slower riders on
the downhills. It was very hard to stay legal and not irritate other cyclists
although we mostly did. Richter Pass was fun. Lots of women were passing lots
of men who let their egos get in the way of their race. They'd stand up and
work hard to keep up or pass. In the front third of the race there are many
very good female cyclists. They have a real advantage climbing given their
generally favourable power/weight ratios. I mostly let them go. By the way,
the view up the Okanagan valley while climbing Richter Pass is stunning. Over
the top and down the back I got to pass a few folks, most of whom were just
tucked and cruising. I never spun out and reached a top speed of about 72
km/hr as there was a bit of a headwind. The rollers out to Cawston were an
exercise in frustration. If you hammer down them you can gain quite a bit of
easy elevation on the next one. I kept finding myself trapped by riders
blocking. Arrrgh. I even stopped at the top of one of them to pee and try to
find some quieter roads. It didn't work. My back started to feel quite stiff
in this stretch and I spent much of the out part of the Cawston out and back
sitting up to try and rest it. After special needs (where I alternately loved
and hated my corn chips and loaded up with Coke) I found that an extreme
aero-position that nearly hyperextended my back provided for a good stretch.
By the time I got to the false flat that leads to Yellow Lake my back started
to feel much better. I passed many people on the Yellow Lake climb - I suspect
that many of them had used up most of their climbing jam up Richter. The trip
down from Yellow Lake to Kaleden was especially fun. I got up to 77 km/hr in
this section. The roads were a bit quieter by now too, so that passing was
quite a bit easier. The ride into Penticton was largely uneventful other than
the kind fellow who asked me to pass before he stood up to pee. He must have
been one of the friendly people on the beach.
T2 was a bit less hectic than T1. There were a bunch of people in the change
tents sitting on chairs staring into the middle distance trying to convince
themselves to head out on the run. I wiped my feet, changed socks and shoes,
dumped the stuff out of my jersey pockets, slapped on my hat and charged out
of the tent all the way to the port-a-potties, peed, then ran to the sunscreen
volunteers. I knew by now that my neck needed attention. When they were done I
headed out on the run.
You know the drill. You've swum 3.86 kilometres. You've biked 180.2
kilometres. Now all you have to do is run a marathon. The key is to be smart,
start at a reasonable pace and try to maintain as long as you can. Eat
properly and drink what you need - soon you'll be home. I ran the first mile
in 6:55. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Then I settled down a bit. My cheering crew
went nuts as I passed them on the first leg of the out and back and then again
as I came back and turned south. As I ran out of town I was feeling much
better than I had expected and was passing lots of people. I tried taking
gatorade at every aid station and water and a gel at every other aid station.
That didn't last long. I skipped a couple of stations (all together now: Don't
Skip the Aid Stations!). My run was still quite strong now but my splits were
heading away from 7:00 miles and towards 8:30 miles. Then 9:00. Then at about
12 miles I started to hallucinate. It looked just like my sister Alison
wearing a Carmen Miranda fruit hat and singing. Turns out that's exactly what
it was. She ran alongside me for a few hundred metres then turned her
attention to another runner who was certain he was hallucinating too. The rest
of my cheering squad was at the turnaround where I got kisses and decided I
hate corn chips. I also neglected to pick up the E-caps I had cleverly put in
my special needs bag. On the way out of town I met up with Alison again, got
another big boost and headed back to Penticton. About 16 miles I started to
feel my right hamstring cramp, stopped to do a little self-massage and started
up again with my brand new "hamstring protection" stride. Or maybe shuffle.
Whatever. Miles continued to tick by, more cramping came and went and I spent
about a kilometre talking with a co-worker who tailed me on his mountain bike
(there was no pacing). It was getting a bit lonelier all of the time, but I
was still passing more people than there were passing me. With about two miles
to go I found something more like my manly marathon stride (shuffle) and
rocketed (staggered) down Main Street. I made the turn onto Lakeshore and saw
my cheering squad again. From the turnaround back to the finish line I felt
really good. I'd been wondering most of the day how it would feel to cross the
finish line (if I got there). Would I cry? Would I be staggering? Crawling?
Hanging on? When I got there I heard nothing. Apparently Steve King was
announcing my finish. The crowd was making noise, but it was all quiet inside
my head. I raised my arms and screamed incoherently. I was going to get there
in good style. I felt a huge rush of gratitude and accomplishment. I crossed
the line.

Darryl Parry IMC 2004 #1072
 
In article <4_u%c.76223$S55.36221@clgrps12>,
[email protected] (Captain Error) wrote:

> Ironman Canada. Whew, that's a big mouthful. It took me about 10 years to get
> from my very first attempt at a triathlon to an ironman distance race, and I
> think it was just about enough time.



Nice report! Just in case anyone else is curious, I looked it up:

296 11:04:59 Parry, Darryl

Phenomenal job for a first (or any!) Ironman!

(Oh, and according to Ironmanlive.com, you were 1073.)

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson
 
My race report as well-man we were close on the swim/bike before I blew up
on the run-don't remember seeing you out there, though. Congratulations on
a great race.

Stan



As the bagpipes played, the athletes funneled into the swim start area, and
several thoughts occurred to me: Had I trained enough? Would the cortisone
shot I'd gotten the week before keep the tendonitis in my foot from flaring
up? Would it rain, or would the rain hold off? I was struck by how fitting
the forceful melody of a bagpipe was to an Ironman. In a way, the bagpipes
served as a metaphor for the race itself-the instrument is strong and
beautiful, determined, and fluid-a melodic instrument in times of peace, yet
powerful enough to indicate impending battle in war.

My favorite part of the Ironman is the look on the faces of the athletes in
the minutes before the gun goes off. There's a steely eyed look of sheer
determination, resounding confidence, and utter fear of the enormity of the
task at hand, all displayed at the same time. I've never seen the same look
anywhere else, and to be in the midst of 2,100 people who all display that
look at once is an incredible feeling.

The Swim:

I walked into the swim start area, kissed my hand, and raised it toward
heaven thinking to myself, God, I'll need your help, and I pray that this
day is to your glory. I spent a few minutes in the back of the start area by
myself-I took several deep breaths, and began to concentrate on the day
ahead. As 7:00 neared, I zipped up my wetsuit, and waded into the water. In
the minute before the swim start, I looked down at my heart rate monitor. It
registered 102. Normally, standing still, it would be at 60. I positioned
myself near the front of the swim pack. I wanted to be behind the really
fast swimmers, but ahead of the slow ones-experience had also taught me that
I prefer to be swam over (where you don't get kicked) that to swim over
(where you do).

At 7:00, the canon went off, and the race began. The start of a triathlon is
always a sea of flying elbows and hands. I focused on not letting this
disturb or upset me-becoming aggravated over a stray hand or elbow was
wasted energy, I reasoned. As the first mile of the swim progressed, I
settled into a comfortable rhythm, and was able to find some relatively
clear water. I focused on keeping my stroke long and smooth. As I reached
the first buoy of the triangular course, I looked at my watch-It said 28:00,
which I knew meant I was on pace for a 1:06 swim-well ahead of the 1:10-1:15
I expected. Either I was swimming too hard, or I was having a really great
swim, I thought. As the swim continued, I focused on finding a good pair of
feet to draft off of. Swimming behind someone is 10-15% easier than swimming
alone, and finding the right pair of feet meant I could go faster while
spending less energy. I was feeling great. I'd found the ideal draft buddy,
and I thought exiting the water in 1:06 was well within reach. As I
approached the second buoy, I was hoping my watch would say 56 minutes.
Instead it said 1:00. I had lost a full four minutes over where I thought I'd
be at that point. At the time, I reasoned that I must have had a really bad
second leg, swam in a jagged rather than straight line, or something else.
In hindsight, I think the course was simply measured a bit differently than
what they told us, which made the second leg longer, and the first shorter.
As I rounded the final buoy, I could see the crowd at the swim exit. I swam
toward the finish, and exited the water in 1:09:56, which was definitely on
the low side of my projected range.



The Bike:

The Ironman Canada bike course is a relatively tough one. It has two
mountain passes, Richter pass, and Yellow lake, and gains over 5,000 feet of
altitude over the 112 mi course. After making my transition, I jumped on my
bike. My legs felt stiff, which is typical as the body re-routes it's blood
flow to the muscles that need it. I made a loop through Pentincton, and I
waved to Ellen as I went out onto the course. The first two hours of the
bike were heavily disconcerting. My legs felt very heavy, and I was having
some stomach troubles. I knew that an upset stomach would have dire
consequences as the race progressed if it prevented me from eating enough. I
forced down some food. About 1.5 hours into the bike, I had a caffeinated
Clif bar. Normally, I want to save the caffeine for later in the race, but I
decided to give this a try, because I needed something to lift my spirits.
As it turns out, this was a great idea. Shortly after, I began feeling good.
I settled into a Rhythm, and climbed Richter pass steadily. The crowd there
was a huge help-some had signs, but my personal favorite was the group of
male cheerleaders dressed in wigs, with Ironman M-dot bikinis. A little
laugh goes a long way when you're starting to hurt. Between Richter (mile
40), and Yellow Lake (Mile 90), there are a series of rolling hills, and
some flat sections. I settled into a good pace here, and was averaging
22-23MPH on the flat sections and passing hundreds of people. I still hadn't
caught my buddy, Brian yet, who I figured had about 15 minutes on me out of
the swim. I continued to ride well, and to eat and drink intelligently. My
game plan was to save a little for the yellow lake climb, ride hard up it,
and then recover on the descent to prepare for the run. Just before the
climb, I stopped briefly, and quickly realized that my legs were feeling a
bit weaker than I'd hoped. I settled into climbing at a solid and reasonable
pace, and was spurred on by fantastic crowd support, and by Ellen cheering
near the top. I crested the pass, and began barreling down the descent back
toward Pentincton at about 35MPH (Hitting 45MPH at one point!).





The Run:

I entered the run transition area still feeling pretty good. I could tell my
legs were a bit fatigued, but nothing to be alarmed about at that point. I
quickly put on my run gear and headed back out onto the course, which was
wall to wall with spectators cheering. The first 4 miles went well. I
settled into a rhythm, and was running just over 9:00 miles, which was right
where I wanted to be at that point. Around mile 5, things started to change.
I could feel the fatigue really starting to take hold, and knew I was in for
a rough run. My stomach was upset, and I had to make a few pit stops to try
to settle it down. I continued to force down Power Gel's knowing that if I
quit eating this early, there would be real consequences later on. At mile
7, I was really starting to hurt. I decided to take my first caffeine
tablet, which I had hoped to avoid doing until mile 13. After about 20
minutes, that took hold, and I was able to run the next three miles or so at
around 11:00 pace only walking through the aid stations. Around mile 9, the
course began to get pretty hilly. At that point, I made the decision to
begin walking the steep hill sections. The temperature was also rising, and
I found myself grabbing sponges full of water at every aid station, and
either dumping the water on my head, or putting the sponge in my jersey.

My buddy Brian (who I passed in transition) left me behind early on the run,
so I was looking for him beginning around mile 9. I knew he was also in
trouble, when I realized he was only about 2:00 ahead of me just before the
turnaround. Knowing that Brian was just up the road gave me something to
shoot for. I took my second caffeine tablet, and continued to run until I
caught up with him. When I reached him around mile 14, he wasn't doing well,
and neither was I. We walked together to the next aid station, where he
decided he needed a break. I tried to offer some encouragement-"even if you
stay here for an hour to get rehydrated, you still finish." I wished him the
best and soldiered on. At that point, I realized breaking 12 hours was going
to be tough. A woman pulled up next to me, and we began to run together for
a few miles-having someone to talk to and distract you from the pain is a
huge help. Around mile 18, I wished her the best in breaking 12:00, and
settled into a walk.

This was the weirdest part of the race for me. Physically, I felt good-my
lungs and heart were strong, but my quadriceps were simply out of energy. I
had a good time joking with the spectators, and I felt humbled as some of
them wondered why I was walking while others who appeared to be in much
worse shape soldiered on. At mile 21, I passed a group of guys that cajoled
me into running again. At any other time, I would be really annoyed by these
guys, but I appreciated the encouragement to leave whatever energy I had
left on the course. I was able to run for about 1/4 mile after that, but not
much more. I continued walking, running where I could. As I neared
Pentincton, the crowds started to thicken again, this was a huge help. I
headed down Main Street and onto the final mile of the course. About ½ mile
from the finish, I ran by the swim start, and I was struck by being exactly
where the journey had started 12 hours earlier.

I made my way onto the finishing straight, summoning up the final run energy
I had left. I looked for Ellen, and spotted her just before the finish line.
When you're married, doing an Ironman really is a team event. Ellen has
sacrificed many weekends where I was either to tired or too busy to go out
with her. Her unconditional love, unwavering support, and the occasional leg
massage are deeply appreciated. I gave her a kiss, raised my hands towards
the heavens to thank God for getting me through and finished.


TOTALTIME


DIV
SWIMTIME
100MPACE
BIKETIME
BIKEMPH
RUNTIME
RUNPACE


12:26:20


M25-29
1:09:56
1:51
5:45:39
19.4
5:20:10
12:14





Recovery

The end of the race is really the most interesting part of Ironman to me.
They actually have "catchers" to catch people as they cross the finish line.
I would say about 1 in 5 people who cross the line are ready to fall over
immediately after. It can't be that the extra step pushed them over the
edge, it's simply that they relax their will and determination to stay
upright. That's how I felt, really. While I wasn't about to fall over, I
wasn't was physically and mentally exhausted. It had been 2 years since my
previous Ironman. They say time heals all wounds-it certainly made me forget
how painful the Ironman is.

Recovery is going well. I went for my first legitimate bike ride today, and
while still only about 85%, I'm starting to feel pretty normal again.

"Captain Error" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:4_u%c.76223$S55.36221@clgrps12...
>I posted a pre-race report about two weeks ago. In it, I promised to post a
> race report. This is it. A shorter version appears at www.xtri.com. This
> one
> has the dubious benefit of being relatively unedited (the benefit is
> largely
> to my ego). I hope it is interesting, informative and inspirational
> (that'd be
> my ego again).
>
> Ironman Canada. Whew, that's a big mouthful. It took me about 10 years to
> get
> from my very first attempt at a triathlon to an ironman distance race, and
> I
> think it was just about enough time.
> My first race was the 1994 Windermere loop triathlon - 2.15 km/48km/12km.
> Starting in the spring of that year I went from swimming six lengths
> before
> gasping and seeing dots to swimming 80 lengths alternating breast stroke
> and
> something approximating crawl. By the day of the race I was pretty sure
> I'd
> make it across the lake without drowning and I did. The bike was hard but
> okay
> and then I almost melted into the pavement trying to run 12 km in 35°
> heat. I
> finished, so of course I started plotting my next attempt.
> Over the next several years I; finished my thesis, became a first
> (Bronwen)
> and second time (Griffith) father and raced about 4 more triathlons. Once
> Griff got to the magic age of one, I negotiated with my wife (the lovely
> and
> talented Pam - tlatP) for the chance to try the Great White North
> Half-ironman. It is a spectacularly good race and I had so much fun that I
> signed up for it the next year.
> When I won the entry to IMC at the post-race banquet I discovered that my
> tactic of keeping the lottery my little secret was a poor choice. After a
> hasty consultation and a re-appraisal of priorities I declined the slot.
> It
> was the right choice. I'd never have been ready for a full ironman two
> months
> later.
> Over the next few years I did several more triathlons and stepped my
> running
> distances up to try a few marathons. Then in the winter of 2003 I caught
> tlatP
> in a quiet moment and recommended a late summer vacation in Penticton.
> "It'll
> be great," I said, "just you, me, the kids, sand, lakes, wineries,
> sunshine.
> We'll love it."
> She bought it.
> By the time we got to the Okanagan I had enticed her to agree to my
> signing up
> for the 2004 race. In some ways having to sign up a year in advance is a
> pain,
> but in my case it was brilliant. It was far enough in the future that it
> seemed a bit surreal. Once I'd signed up though, it was immutable. I would
> be
> going. Yippee! Of course, now I had to get myself ready too.
> I did a marathon in November and qualified for Boston. My running buddy
> qualified in Victoria. Of course we had no choice but to go - if you
> qualify,
> you must go. The draw is inexorable. Just give in. It was also a
> magnificent
> opportunity to build some serious base running in the winter. In Calgary,
> you
> need to have a very good reason to run long in January and February. The
> coldest day on which I was stupid enough to run was -30° C. It turns out
> that
> this is a very poor way to prepare to run a marathon where the temperature
> at
> the start is 31° C.
> When I got home from Boston, I started to take my road bike out for more
> and
> longer rides. I'd been bike commuting to work through the winter, but it's