Saturday - the bad and the good
Yesterday afternoon, I was informed that we were riding to Ashkelon today. Normally these things are organized in advance, so I was kind of surprised to hear about it only yesterday, as were others. I was told that there was going to be a bike cart, which means that we ride to Ashkelon and then send the bikes home on the cart. I had a ride home, so I was set. So I thought.
I got to the pool at 6:30 this morning, only to discover that there was no bike cart. There were a few vehicles accompanying us and I assume they all had bike carriers, but apparently, the plan was to ride to Ashkelon, swim and then ride back. It's 60 km in each direction. I really didn't want to ride both ways, but I didn't want to give up my bike workout and I had to swim in the sea. I have an irrational fear of swimming in open water with waves and I knew that if I wanted to do the Women's Triathlon next week (no, I still haven't decided for sure), that I'd have to first get over my fear, which meant getting to the beach. So off I went, not sure how I'd get home.
Almost immediately, I found myself at the back of the pack. Even the two guys who are normally slower than I am were ahead of me. I haven't taken a rest day since some time last week, so I guess I was kind of tired. It didn't bother me to be in the back. What did bother me was that there was no vehicle accompanying us from behind. That meant that if I had to stop, no one would even notice, or at least not for a long time. I did have a cell phone with me, but that wasn't very comforting.
About 20 km into the ride, Oded (one of the guys in front of me) got a flat tire. He and another guy, Roni, stopped to fix it and I stopped, as well, because I knew that Roni wasn't planning on riding all the way to Ashkelon and I didn't want to leave Oded by himself. It took about 15 minutes to fix the flat and then we were on our way. I started out first, with Roni right behind me and I assumed that Oded was right behind Roni. Soon, however, I discovered that Oded was not with us. At this point, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to stop, because there was no "round-up vehicle" and if Oded was stuck someplace, I'd just end up waiting and waiting and falling further behind than I already was. So I kept riding.
At the turn towards Ashkelon, Roni went left and I went right and I was on my own. I rode the entire rest of the way alone, fuming. If I wanted to ride unaccompanied, I'd go out on my own. At the turn into Ashkelon (this was about 15 or 20 km after I'd left Roni), one of the cars did show up for long enough to beep at me to turn left. About halfway down the road to the beach, that car passed me with Oded's bicycle on the back of it. I rode down to the beach where we'd been last time, but when I pulled into the parking lot, I heard someone calling my name. Turned out they'd decided to go to a different beach, so I pulled out of the parking lot and rode another kilometer or so until I got there (at this point, one of the lead vehicles showed up to show me the way). When I finally arrived, I learned that Oded had had another flat and he'd had to call the team manager at home in order to get in touch with someone in one of the cars who could come pick him up. If there'd been a round-up vehicle, that wouldn't have happened. Oh, and I wasn't the last one to arrive. Nicky, another team member, wasn't even sure which beach we were going to, so he rode to a beach that's before Ashkelon (he hadn't come with us on the previous ride to the beach). He got there and didn't see anyone, so I guess he called to find out where we were. He arrived a few minutes after I did.
I was pretty upset about having made the entire trip on my own and I wasn't relishing the idea of having to ride back, presumably alone again. I calmed down, though, went to change my clothes and headed for the water.
The waves were very small, but as far as I was concerned, they were tidal waves. I just kept looking at the water and thinking that there was no way I was going swimming. The last time I'd tried swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, I'd had trouble breathing and hadn't gone very far. I didn't think this time would be any different. But then my two teammates, both of whom are weaker swimmers than I am, went in. So I followed them.
The first thing that I noticed was that the water wasn't very cold. This was a major factor, because it was apparently the cold water that had caused my breathing trouble last time. Then I noticed that I was swimming right through those tiny little waves with no problem at all. Well, almost no problem. My goggles were leaking. I tried adjusting them and even flipped over onto my back so that I could use both hands. Nothing worked and my eyes started to sting. I headed back to shore. I had to swim much of the way with my eyes closed and although I wasn't panicking and I wasn't tired, I did wonder if I'd ever get there. Finally I got to where I could stand, I took off my goggles, rubbed my eyes, put them back on and headed out to swim again.
With no water in my eyes, the swim was fun. It was almost effortless, the water felt great and I was completely relaxed. In fact, it was so enjoyable that I really didn't want to get out, but unfortunately, I had to, because it was time to go. I decided that the only problem I might have in the Women's Triathlon would be that I might not want to get out of the water at the end of the swim!
I went back up to where the bikes were and the coach (not my coach -- the coach from the youth team was with us today) asked me if I was riding back. I told him that I hadn't decided yet and he said it probably wasn't a good idea, as it was getting very hot and it was a long ride and he thought it would be hard for me. That was all I needed to hear. I found someone to take my bike and I got a ride home and even got to stop on the way to buy ice cream! My bike arrived home at 1:30 and all I could think about was how there was no way I'd want to be out riding at that time of day in the heat. I was very happy to quit after 60 km.
So I got in a good bike workout (even if I didn't like the conditions under which I had to do it) and the swim was very successful. I'm actually looking forward to my next trip to the beach! I guess I can say that it was a successful day, overall.
I got to the pool at 6:30 this morning, only to discover that there was no bike cart. There were a few vehicles accompanying us and I assume they all had bike carriers, but apparently, the plan was to ride to Ashkelon, swim and then ride back. It's 60 km in each direction. I really didn't want to ride both ways, but I didn't want to give up my bike workout and I had to swim in the sea. I have an irrational fear of swimming in open water with waves and I knew that if I wanted to do the Women's Triathlon next week (no, I still haven't decided for sure), that I'd have to first get over my fear, which meant getting to the beach. So off I went, not sure how I'd get home.
Almost immediately, I found myself at the back of the pack. Even the two guys who are normally slower than I am were ahead of me. I haven't taken a rest day since some time last week, so I guess I was kind of tired. It didn't bother me to be in the back. What did bother me was that there was no vehicle accompanying us from behind. That meant that if I had to stop, no one would even notice, or at least not for a long time. I did have a cell phone with me, but that wasn't very comforting.
About 20 km into the ride, Oded (one of the guys in front of me) got a flat tire. He and another guy, Roni, stopped to fix it and I stopped, as well, because I knew that Roni wasn't planning on riding all the way to Ashkelon and I didn't want to leave Oded by himself. It took about 15 minutes to fix the flat and then we were on our way. I started out first, with Roni right behind me and I assumed that Oded was right behind Roni. Soon, however, I discovered that Oded was not with us. At this point, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to stop, because there was no "round-up vehicle" and if Oded was stuck someplace, I'd just end up waiting and waiting and falling further behind than I already was. So I kept riding.
At the turn towards Ashkelon, Roni went left and I went right and I was on my own. I rode the entire rest of the way alone, fuming. If I wanted to ride unaccompanied, I'd go out on my own. At the turn into Ashkelon (this was about 15 or 20 km after I'd left Roni), one of the cars did show up for long enough to beep at me to turn left. About halfway down the road to the beach, that car passed me with Oded's bicycle on the back of it. I rode down to the beach where we'd been last time, but when I pulled into the parking lot, I heard someone calling my name. Turned out they'd decided to go to a different beach, so I pulled out of the parking lot and rode another kilometer or so until I got there (at this point, one of the lead vehicles showed up to show me the way). When I finally arrived, I learned that Oded had had another flat and he'd had to call the team manager at home in order to get in touch with someone in one of the cars who could come pick him up. If there'd been a round-up vehicle, that wouldn't have happened. Oh, and I wasn't the last one to arrive. Nicky, another team member, wasn't even sure which beach we were going to, so he rode to a beach that's before Ashkelon (he hadn't come with us on the previous ride to the beach). He got there and didn't see anyone, so I guess he called to find out where we were. He arrived a few minutes after I did.
I was pretty upset about having made the entire trip on my own and I wasn't relishing the idea of having to ride back, presumably alone again. I calmed down, though, went to change my clothes and headed for the water.
The waves were very small, but as far as I was concerned, they were tidal waves. I just kept looking at the water and thinking that there was no way I was going swimming. The last time I'd tried swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, I'd had trouble breathing and hadn't gone very far. I didn't think this time would be any different. But then my two teammates, both of whom are weaker swimmers than I am, went in. So I followed them.
The first thing that I noticed was that the water wasn't very cold. This was a major factor, because it was apparently the cold water that had caused my breathing trouble last time. Then I noticed that I was swimming right through those tiny little waves with no problem at all. Well, almost no problem. My goggles were leaking. I tried adjusting them and even flipped over onto my back so that I could use both hands. Nothing worked and my eyes started to sting. I headed back to shore. I had to swim much of the way with my eyes closed and although I wasn't panicking and I wasn't tired, I did wonder if I'd ever get there. Finally I got to where I could stand, I took off my goggles, rubbed my eyes, put them back on and headed out to swim again.
With no water in my eyes, the swim was fun. It was almost effortless, the water felt great and I was completely relaxed. In fact, it was so enjoyable that I really didn't want to get out, but unfortunately, I had to, because it was time to go. I decided that the only problem I might have in the Women's Triathlon would be that I might not want to get out of the water at the end of the swim!
I went back up to where the bikes were and the coach (not my coach -- the coach from the youth team was with us today) asked me if I was riding back. I told him that I hadn't decided yet and he said it probably wasn't a good idea, as it was getting very hot and it was a long ride and he thought it would be hard for me. That was all I needed to hear. I found someone to take my bike and I got a ride home and even got to stop on the way to buy ice cream! My bike arrived home at 1:30 and all I could think about was how there was no way I'd want to be out riding at that time of day in the heat. I was very happy to quit after 60 km.
So I got in a good bike workout (even if I didn't like the conditions under which I had to do it) and the swim was very successful. I'm actually looking forward to my next trip to the beach! I guess I can say that it was a successful day, overall.
posted by bari | 16:49
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