LAUREN's IM CDA PERSONAL BIKE RACE REPORT

With work stress and disastrous next door neighbor stress, Matt and I both needed a break from the Bay Area. Purse makes fun of me because I always seem to need a vacation after two weeks of work. (this is really not true.) Due to my slower than light speed foot recovery, I had to pull out of the Boise 70.3, so last weekend Matt and I headed up to Couer d'Alene (CDA), Idaho for some rest and relaxation...yeah right. More like we headed up to CDA so Matt could race an Xterra and I could race all historical bike splits of the CDA ironman bike course. alone.

The trip started off in a most excellent fashion, as Alaska Airlines managed to displace our 2 bike boxes for a slew of golf clubs. We finally picked up the bikes the next morning, and I am assuming this was due to my charming wit and personality when dealing with angry baggage guy. We headed down to Couer d'Alene after a lovely brunch at Safeway, where I read an article about how the CDA community is annoyed with cyclists pre-riding the course. This did not make me feel so good, especially when I read about how 2 cyclists had "broadsided" a Subaru Legacy a few years back. Unbiased journalism at its finest!

Matt helped me put my bike together and then took off for some place North to pre-ride his Xterra course while I was left with the daunting task of NOT getting lost while reading the bike course directions for CDA. My goal for this ride was to just finish the ride and contemplate the meaning of life as I remind myself how fortunate I am to be able to ride and swim right now. My super secret goal for this ride was to go under 5:30 and not let anyone pass me. Yes, I am "that" girl who races everyone on the road. This habit has become the thorn in my flesh, the daily cross that I bear, and the reason why I embrace the Computrainer which saves me from myself. I don't even let myself race the pacer on the Computrainer course for fear that my competitive angst will destroy me.

After a couple thousand wrong turns I finally found my way out on the course and was off! Thankfully a couple of cool women from somewhere within driving distance of the course were also out there and pointed me in the correct direction every time I managed to get lost. I was doing really well until about mile 95 when my dislike for gels and gooey bike food crap finally caught up to me. I attempted to call Purse for some virtual assistance, but apparently she was too busy at the beach to take my call.


Purse enjoying a post ride beach trip while catching up on some heavy reading.

The rest of the weekend was filled with me dusting off my sherpa skills for Matt and his Xterra race. After getting him to the race (or riding my bike there and getting in my own personal workout while he schlepped his own crap to the race) I pumped him up with my personal pre-race cheery thoughts and then set up to find the perfect spot to cheer him on (which ironically happened to be the lake where I did my personal open water swim in water that is colder than the Pacific Ocean and the road where I did my short test run and inadvertently ran into him). Despite my selfish training endeavors, I did manage to cheer him on and give him some key splits. The only problem with these Xterra races is that they always seem to be in the sticks. Per usual, I did not plan my nutrition accordingly and was stuck out in the middle of nowhere all day with only a jar of peanut butter and some chocolate powergel. Perhaps this is what Heaven looks like for Jodi and Purse.



Now we are back at home and I'm okay with the fact that work hasn't become less stressful and the neighbors haven't moved, if only because I am dreaming about my next vacation that I will have to take in 2 weeks to keep up with the trend.