Chilly Cheeks du #3 2.18.6

Two (2) below zero. Fahrenheit not the sissy centigrade. That’s freakin’ cold. My cheeks were certainly chilly. There were some icy patches, but it was mostly packed snow and a few bare spots on the Cherry Creek res. road. This edition started with a 10.85 mile ride followed by a 4 mile run. Based on Darin’s condition report, ! didn’t even take the tri bike. ! intended to ride the Jackal (‘cross bike) and took my mountain bike as a back-up Good thing ! did too. Tanner was already on site when ! got there. He had a road bike and his mountain bike. He wanted to borrow the Jackal. ! should have let him. Did ! mention it was cold? ! put the Jackal on the trainer to warm up. !’ve been working out and getting stronger so it took a while for me to figure out the back wheel wasn’t spinning. The pawls had gotten jammed down into the congealed grease in the hub and weren’t releasing. Had to switch to the mountain bike. ! had no idea how fast ! was going, nor how far ! had gone. All ! knew was ! was really cold and everyone was passing me. ! averaged 14.2 mph. Poor Tanner was having calf problems during his warm-up ride so decided to bag the race and just go for a run. It probably didn’t help him that ! compared him to one of his sponsor’s mascot. Chicks dig the Michelin man don’t they? Only one crash for me. just after the pre-race meeting ! lost the front end in the transition area and fell down in front of everyone. ! dressed warm. Knee warmers covered w/ leg warmers under knickers then my windproof fleece tights. And the windproof underpants just in case ! ever…….! Had the big warm coat on too. Still the fingers and toes chilled. While riding ! would make a fist w/ one hand to warm my fingers. Then switch hands. !’d like to say ! switched when one hand warmed up, but it was actually when the other one got painfully cold. ! knew w/ a run afterwards ! would warm up and ! did. ! did a 9:21 pace. @ 1 ¼ miles ! started having ankle pain. Not wanting to tear a cold tendon ! walked a bit then ran a bit. That mile was 10:20. The actual running miles averaged out to 9:02 which is actually pretty good for me. 1:24:47 ! was a little disappointed until ! got my speed info. Considering the conditions !’ll take it. It doesn’t look like the rest of the field was affected as much though. http://www.racingunderground.com/msrescheeks021806.html