New Gear

It has been awhile but there is some exciting new gear floating around here at the pttriathlete household.

The first arose because my swimsuits were all beginning to be see-through. Including when I doubled them up! So, I got on-line and ordered a grab bag suit from Kiefer. I like the Axcel style back and so I picked my size from the Flipturns grab bag, female one pieces. It came last Thursday. My husband opened it and was mildly horrified at the color scheme. I have to admit that I was looking forward to seeing just how awful it was. I knew going into it that the grab bag suits are left overs. Come on, though, I mean, you wear them 3-5x/week for 6 months (or less) and they are shot anyway. May as well get one that is expressive. Anywho, it looks like this...



It just so happens that on that same afternoon I had another rotten bike commute home from work. I had been on my bike for all of 3 minutes when I heard a little rattle. I checked my handlebars and stem because that was where the sound seemed to be coming from. Nope, nothing. So I rode on, carefully paying attention to all the feelings and noises. All of a sudden my seat shifted and I immediately thought, "oh crap, my seat post just cracked". I jumped off but nope again. One of the bolts was loose under there though and of course I had switched out my bike bag for my tri bike and had forgotten to put it back on. Suck. No tools. I tried to use my keys but to no avail. The only real option was to ride home standing up. Problem there was two-fold. #1.) I was still wearing shoes with cleats that didn't exactly match my pedals and #2.) I was getting headwind gusts of 40 mph. I am not kidding you. So, I sat back down, on a saddle that was not only sliding further back but tilting up at the nose. Not awesome, in case you were wondering. Oh, and I did manage to drop my chain shifting into a larger chain ring. Don't ask how that happened but I was not a happy commuter as I climbed the last big hill up to my house. I dropped my bike on the ground (derailleur side up), threw my helmet on the ground, marched inside and announced to Mr KT that my bike was a piece of s*#@ and I wasn't riding it anymore. He calmly went outside, picked up the pieces, fixed the malfunctions and packed me up in the car. He took me to the LBS where he helped me pick out new pedals and new sweet mtb shoes that I will also be commuting in. See below...





Yeah. Pretty nice of him. Especially since I was in the middle of a two year old tantrum that lost its momentum after about 5 minutes and that several of the problems were of my own making. Sheesh. And yes, I will commute again on that particular bike.

The last piece of new gear has not actually been purchased yet but it will probably look something like this...



This piece of gear isn't quite as pressing but yep, we are expecting a little one at our house this fall. A big change in my routine and my race schedule for the summer but I suppose it might count as some form of an ultra in it's own way. If Mr KT is interested in racing this season, I will be cheering him on from the sidelines. I have a couple of small, non-competitive "races" lined up but nothing too crazy. I am swimming, biking, running, and weight training, just not at the duration or intensity of before. It really is hard for me to sit the season out but next year I will be back. Mr KT has already promised that I can do some training next spring (probably with the running stroller) and I will be looking forward to it. In the meantime, I plan on trying to enjoy this strange new experience and can't wait to meet the new little babe and get to know him/her.