Tonight I met Zack out at Dick’s Sporting Goods so that he could pick up a pair of goggles for the Endurance Challenge Triathlon we’re doing Saturday morning.  From there we headed over to Ron’s house to pick up a bike that Ron generously offered to let Zack ride in for the triathlon.  Zack doesn’t have a road bike and has never ridden one.  One of the many firsts he’s in for with this triathlon.  Anyway we got over to Ron’s where Ron proceeded to go through an entire tune up for “Big Red”, his old trusty Red Kestrel bike.  The same bike that several years ago I did my first ever ride on as Ron showed me the ropes.  He cleaned the chain, the bike, put on a new cassette (gears) for the back wheel, and lubed everything up.

Next we put the bike up on Ron’s trainer so that we could make sure that Zack’s saddle height and position were correct for the race.  It wasn’t a perfect fit but it was close enough.  With that Ron gave Zack a quick run through on how to work the gears and sent him off on a loop around the neighborhood.  Zack came back with a huge grin and it was easy to tell he was hooked.  It reminded me of when I first road that same bike and how I thought it was way to small, light, and would tip over at any moment.  Then the amazement at how fast you could get up to in such a short amount of time with such little effort and how sturdy the ride actually was.  I’m sure these were the same things Zack was thinking as he took the first ride, we’ve all probably been there as cyclists.  He said several times that he’s looking forward to getting out of the pool so that he can ride the bike again.  Maybe this is the beginnings of having a new cycling partner if he does get addicted and picks up the road bike.

I also spent today putting my car racks on my new Subaru and making sure everything was good to go transporting my bike and Zack’s to the triathlon Saturday.  Tomorrow I’ll head out to pick up a set of toe-clip pedals for Zack since he doesn’t have cycling shoes and I figure it will be a good idea to have a set around just in case.   Also I’ll be picking up a spare flat kit for Zack to carry because Ron was telling us that we’ll be responsible for any repairs on the course and receiving help will be grounds for an immediate disqualification.  On the ride to Hillsborough, where the triathlon is being held, Ill go over how to change a tire with Zack and bike ettiquete with announcing passing, hazards, etc.

One day to my first ever tri.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Triathlon, Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.