After four years of triathlons, my Tri Fox racing jersey gave up the ghost. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it became a ghost of its former self. While we have changed the layout a bit, the jersey on the right used to be nearly identical to the jersey on the left. Of course, the front of the old jersey is much closer in appearance to the new one. When my son was looking at them, he told me the old one was inside out. When he realized that wasn't the case, he wanted to know why it was so faded.
It's a good advertisement for sun block. The same forces that completely washed out my jersey were at work on my skin, as well.
I wonder if I could use that as an explanation for my bald spot. "No, really, the hair is there, it's just faded away to nothing because of the sun." Or, perhaps, "You've heard of 'beach blonde." Well, I'm beach bald."
I wore the new jersey for my 22 mile training run, last Saturday, and all is good. The old jersey was from Sugoi, whose products I love. Most of my gear is from them. The new jersey is from Louis Garneau. It's really comfortable, and time will tell how it holds up to the abuse I'll give it.
My one immediate "dislike" is the back pocket. On the Sugoi jersey, there are two small pockets, one on each side of the back. They are fairly tight, so I'm always confident my gels are staying put. On the LG jersey, it is one big pocket in the center of the back. While it does have elastic to help keep it closed, I'm far less confident things will stay put. The upcoming Green Bay marathon will be the first test. I'll carry one gel in that pocket to see how it goes. The rest will go in my Race Ready shorts.
If a new jersey is right, the picture outside, this morning is just wrong. April 21st (Happy Birthday to my brother and sister, twins born five years apart), and it's snowing outside. Not only is it snowing, it's accumulating. That's about a half-inch of slushy snow on the windows of my cars. There was snow covering my grill in the back, and it's starting to stick to the grass.
The only positive spin is that we need the precipitation. But why snow? Rain would do the trick, just as well. Last Friday, I took the bike out for a 21 mile ride. Saturday morning I ran 22 miles, starting at 5 a.m., wearing shorts and that new tri jersey. And Monday and Tuesday bring snow.
I have a marathon in less than four weeks. This snow stuff needs to end.
I'll sandwich that "wrong" between two "rights." And this one is super-cool. This picture shows both my kids out biking. My daughter finally put away her tricycle and moved to the "big girl bike." She's getting pretty good, and has even overcome her concern of crashing because of sharp turns (she sometimes fails to take into account the training wheels).
Just as exciting is that my son is on two wheels. One of the other boys in the neighborhood has the training wheels off his bike, and my son was quick to follow. He didn't care that the other boy is nearly 18 months older. I was amazed at how quickly he moved from two wheel novice to expert, and how little adult help it took. He spent one day with different adults helping him balance. Four days later, with no additional help, he was zooming around like a pro. He's even mastered the uphill sections of the driveways, 180 degree turns on the sidewalk, and avoiding his sister when she gets in the way.
We're going to start looking for a slightly bigger bike, which should make his next triathlon loads of fun. Last year, he had the training wheels. This year, he'll be on two wheels and (hopefully) a bigger bike.
*Sniff* They're growing up so fast!
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