"You ain't cool...."

"unless you pee your pants." --Billy Madison

"If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis." --little old lady at the field trip in Billy Madison

I am so excited I could almost pee my pants. But I won't. And despite what everyone's telling me, I just can't bring myself to do that on the bike. I know, all you speed demons...getting off the bike to pee during IM doesn't "make sense," as it's harder to get back on and get in a rhythm, your legs hurt, whatever....all the IM people are doing it....real IM'ers pee on the bike....but ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Must I really DO THAT????

I just can't wrap my head around that one.

Anyway, the reason I am so excited is because of yesterday's ride. I would say about 80% of or ride was on hills--many of the same hills I slugged through last weekend at Sweet Corn Ride. Here are the stats:

Total Ride Time: 7:01.25
Total Distance: 106.39
Avg Pace: 15.5 mph

Because my computer screwed up again (my fault--I pressed buttons before reading the manual, and now it's in a different language or something!), I had no idea of my pace, speed, or distance. So I waited until we were done, and THAT'S what it was.

Now, for all you fast dudes and chicks out there, I have to explain: my initial goal I set a few months back was to come in under 8 hours on the bike.

The pace I just did at the HR I just did it at with no taper or anything would have me at somewhere around a 7:15.

This is really really really exciting to me. I've actually (gasp) made some significant progress.

Now, there are lots of factors: weather, wind, flats, etc. So--I am NOT going to get ahead of myself here. BUT--what this has done is showed me that I'm better than I thought I was. I felt so good on this ride. I will definitely have to file this one away and pull it out when things get tough on race day. I felt like I could ride forever. Those who were with me on the hilly rides I did back in May and June will attest to the fact that I have come a LONG way--both physically and mentally--on a hilly ride.

That's pretty exciting.

I know I couldn't have done it without some great friends to help me out: TriEric the IM King rode with us for the first hour or so, and taught me the wonders of using my watch timer to beep every 10 minutes. Then I 'd know to eat or drink.

As the Guinness Guys say, "BRILLIANT!" :) Thanks, Eric! And thanks for riding with us.

TriAl and Cassie met up with us randomly--we passed each other just when Iron Johnny and I hit about hour 4:30-which for me is when things get really tough. I was so out of it I didn't even know until they passed! They came back for us and even did some extra climbs just to ride with us for a while. That was awesome--we had fun riding and let's just say TriAl had a funny incident with some Chamois BUTT'R.....

Good friends, good weather, good nutrition--everything just clicked today and my good friend Iron Johnny and I rocked the course. Then, we had a GREAT 3 mile run afterwards at about 10:00/mile pace. We were both surprised how good we felt! It really didn't feel too hard. Again, I am filing this away for the 10th....I have to remember how good I felt on this ride and on yesterday's swim, and draw on that.

So it's been a rough few weeks here....moving my long run to Tuesday with my coach since it's been a little draining this weekend. Off to celebrate our anniversary! :) Must get packin'.

I am soooo behind on comments but thanks for all the encouragement. Hope everyone had a great weekend and the Steelhead Racers kicked some butt! Habeela, E-Speed, Rob, and everyone else racing this weekend--can't wait to hear the reports!