Equipment Tweaks

Buddy John has been on me about not riding with aerobars. I had tried them at St. Anthony's Triathlon, which is a pretty technical course with some of the roads made of bricks. Probably not the best course on which to judge aerobars. So, this weekend I finally did a 60 mile ride almost exclusively in the aerobar position. I actually found the position comfortable and pretty efficient. Thus, I give public thanks to John for bugging me to make the change.

On another equipment issue, John told me that his buddy Carl informed him that the water in Tempe is pretty cold and that a full wetsuit was advisable. About the same time, I received a couple of e-mails about wetsuit sales. You've got to love these end of tri season sales. I have a sleeveless wetsuit, but felt the need to go shopping this Labor Day weekend. On Saturday afternoon after my 13 mile long run, the wife & I drove down to South Miami to Tri Villiage. I ended up getting a pretty good deal on a full Orca wetsuit and Salome picked up a sleeveless for next year's early season tris. Salome has decided to step it up to the Olympic distance. We will probably do the Miami International Triathlon in March.

I was going to give the wetsuit a test run on Sunday morning, but the ocean was a little rougher than I like to subject myself to if I'm not in an actual competition. Thus, I bagged the swim and took my younger son Alex out for a pancake breakfast instead. We ended up having a very nice father/son day going to the Museum of Science and Discovery and just hanging out together. I only felt slightly guilty about missing a swim session.

While at Tri Village, I decided to get a new bike helmet as I've read helmets lose their effectiveness after a couple of years even if you don't go down and hit the thing. I got to put it to use on this morning's group ride. Based on Carl's recommendations, it looks like my last up grade will be some reflective goggles. Carl told John that the sun is pretty bright for the Arizona Ironman. Again, thanks to John for doing the research on the event and for pushing me to make some needed equipment tweaks.

Next weekend, we'll be in Gainesville for parent's day with the Fightin' Gator Marching Band. We not only get to sit in the stands with our son John, but he was able to swing a third ticket for his brother Alex. How cool is that? After the game, we will spend the night in Clermont. Sunday morning buddy John, I and a couple other friends will ride the 56 mile bike course that we will return to 2 weeks later as part of the Clermont HIM. I understand there are some hills, so it will be good to ride this course before the HIM.