The saga continues and it hurts like hail...

I had a good sleep last night. Finally I got 8 solid hours. First time in a long time and just what my sick body needed. I decided to work from home today for two reasons. The first was that I wanted to work at a relaxed pace without stressing the immune system, and the second was that I had to get in my long ride during the day before dark. Working from home, I could easily toggle between working and training. I could easily get used to this lifestyle.

It was a miserable day and the forecast was rain all day. As the rain broke, I decided to go on my ride. The one thing I don't like about bike riding is the amount of time it takes to get ready. I have to find the right clothes, get food, water bottles, fill water bottles, add Gatorade, put on my heart rate monitor, shoes, bootees, winter gloves, get iPhone, ear phones, camera, blinking light, pump the tires, put on the helmet and gloves, and finally reset all my speedometers.

The worst part is I always forgot SOMETHING, and have to walk back into the house, with my cycling shoes on, walking on my heals so I don't wreck the hardwood floors. It's so frustrating. Today, I forgot to put on my helmet and had to ride back home, take the gloves off, open the garage door, get the helmet, close the garage door, put the gloves on, reset the speedometers and start over. Wouldn't you know it, I forgot to set the Garmin GPS until 15 minutes into the ride.

Because it was raining and wasn't looking forward to dirtying up my Cervelo. On Alice's great suggestion, I took out my old steed, my Trek 5900. It is a great road bike. It's the same limited edition factory model that Lance won the Tour de France on, complete with U.S.P.S. colors and decals. I don't think I've spent more than $200 on that bike in 6 years. It's just solid. Even the speedometer hasn't had the battery changed. It took a little longer to get on the road because I had to pump it's tires, make sure I had spare tires and tools and changed the pedals from the Cervelo to the Trek. Another cycling preparation delay.

I didn't expect it to be a fast ride. It was windy, about 47 kph/ 4 C, and more importantly, the road bike has a different geometry and requires different muscles to be used. I once watched a video where Dave Scott felt alternating between a road bike and a triathlon bike would help you improve your cycling. After today's ride, I can officially say my Cervelo is lighter and FASTER. Although for a nice quiet Sunday ride, up on the bars, I'll take the Trek. I've always felt all three of my bikes have a soul and today I imagined my Trek felt good getting out on the road. It is still and always will be a great bike. It's a family heirloom, Reid would never let me get rid of it.

The highlight of my ride was getting pelleted in the face with small hail stones that were sharp. I was riding straight into a wicked wind and they were stinging my face. I had to put my head down and one hand over my face. Very dangerous. Luckily, it was near the turnaround point and when I made the turn, they stopped hitting me in the face. My picture is of me right at the turnaround, it was hitting me hard. Five minutes later it stopped hailing. Then 10 minutes from home it started again. This time I was going down a hill at 50 kph and getting razor sharp pellets in the face. The road was covered with them, they would hit the road and bounce up 2 feet. It was the weirdest sight, it looked like someone spilt box packing pellets all over the road.

I got a copy of a couple really interesting emails sent to Mantracker supporting our effort to be on the show. One was from Lawrence Conway who knows how to navigate and survive in the woods and would be willing to help teach us. Which we would need. Neither John or I know how to read a map or use a compass. The other was from Janet Fraser, the race director of Subaru Series and Muskoka 70.3. They are great emails and thought they're worth sharing.



Bryan,
Good luck getting on the show! I will send in an email.

If you make it on please let me know, I am the President of a local volunteer search and rescue organization and we would be happy to provide you some tips and guidance on tracking. Our members are all trained in search techniques, tracking, orientation, survival, etc..

Happy to help if we can.

Cheers

Lawrence Conway
President
Search and Rescue Global 1
www.sarglobal1.ca

Hello,
My name is Janet Fraser and I am one of the race directors for the Subaru Triathlon Series and Subaru Muskoka Ironman 70.3.
I understand that Bryan Payne and John Barclay have applied to be on your show. Bryan and John are 2 Ironman athletes . We would love for you to consider their request as we think they would do a great job on the entertainment front. Ironman athletes are notoriously fit with incredible endurance.
As a race director we also have a database of over 40,000 triathletes that we can promote the show to. We also know that once our athletes find out they will be on every triathlon or multisport blog telling all to watch. I can almost guarantee that we will help increase the shows ratings!

Good luck with your decision making process. We look forward to helping with any promotion.

Janet Fraser
Subaru Ironman 70.3 Muskoka
www.ironmanmuskoka.com
Subaru Triathlon Series
www.trisportcanada.com

Later in the afternoon I did a swim and ran when I got home. At the pool, Steve was just finishing his workout when I showed up and we had a nice chat. He told me about Oregano Oil which is great for colds and I'm going to try it. Two drops under the tongue. I had a good swim and the last 100 meters, I did a 1:32 alternate breathing with long strokes. As I was leaving the pool I ran into Hugh at the front counter, and then John showed up. They train together. Hugh just finished Hamilton Marathon with a 3:02 ish and was just starting to get his legs back. I hate the muscle soreness you get after a marathon. No matter how much you trained it still hurts bad.

At the pool John was talking that he hooked up with Mike Dunbar, a guy who reads my blog. Mike too has started a blog, it's www.bigman2ironman.blogspot.com He's already lost over 70 lbs and signed up to do Lake Placid Ironman this year. He has some great before and after photo's on the site. What he's written so far is good stuff. John was saying we all have a similar story and have enough guys to start a club. I'd call it PFG (Previous Fat Guys) Triathlon Club. I admit I've stole the PFG acronym. It's really my brothers holding company, in his case it stands for PFG (Payne's Fat Gut) Holdings Ltd.

Long Bike - 2:30: 51 / 72.10 km / 28.8 kph / 123 avg hr

Mod Swim - 43:27 / 2000 meters

Mod Run - 35:27 / 4.18 miles / 8:28 pace / 135 avg hr