Ingrid, I love you ...

After 11 months of hanging in my room, I finally took down Ingrid, my Cervelo P2C tri-bike, from my ceiling and prepped her for a ride, in fact, the first one since Ironman Louisville.

So good to be AERO again!

Rode 76 km to Charlemagne in the heat and humidity. I'd hesitated all season to ride her. Since I have a hip injury and can't run much, I haven't committed to any races ... no marathons, no triathlons. And when I'm not committed to a race, I tend to ... um ... be even more undisciplined an athlete than my usual undisciplined athlete self. Why push myself if there is no goal?

But recently, Dirk, my trainer friend from Miami called me up ...

Dirk: You mentioned a race in Ottawa in September, an Ironman?

Bonnie: Yeah, there's one on September 5. It's not a sanctioned IM, but an Irondistance so should cost less.

Dirk: I want to come visit you and do this race.

Bonnie: Well, that's fantastic, but if you're gonna race, I'll have to race too!

So there you have it, hip injury or not, I will sign up for one of the events. I've been off running for almost three months and have recently started running again, just short distances, so if I build carefully, I'll be able to manage something (I hope!)

I've got five weeks to train and two races to choose from ... Sprint or Half Iron ... and I think you know which one I'd like to do! No way I could train for an Irondistance in this short time, but since I know I'm one stubborn lady, I think I'll go for the ... Half Iron! Gotta bump up my training enough to just complete now ...

So, that's why Ingrid came down from my ceiling yesterday ... I've been riding my Guru road bike, Kate, in town since it takes a good 20km of cycling before one can get past the cars and the slower cyclists and I haven't really been doing much distance, usually only short rides of 25-50km. Actually, even beyond 20k, the road just sucks! Montreal is notorious for potholes, cracks and bumps.

But when I finally got onto smoother roads and out far enough to not have to worry so much about traffic lights, too many cars, other cyclists ... down into aero I stayed.

Ingrid, you are such a sweet ride ... There is no sexier feeling than being geared up in spandex, goggles and helmet and riding 30km/hr+ in aero position on an amazingly engineered bike!