Bike Maintenance 101

I depend on the Husband during every training ride.  He chooses the length and route, he leads and I follow, and I know that he'll be there if I need him.  Of course he'll be there if I do something stupid and tip over in the parking lot, but he's also there to fix flat tires and put the chain back on if it falls off.

But not on race day.  It's all me.  If I get a flat, I've got to fix it, or the race is over.  And I've worked too hard for that.  So that gave me a little motivation to learn something that I care absolutely nothing about.  Replacing a tube. 

Last weekend I took Bike Maintenance 101, which was taught by a very patient Husband.  He's been repairing bikes since he was a kid, so he knows the official names for parts like the poky thingy, the spiky thingy, the clicker changer thingy, and the whirly thingy.  But even more important than that, he knows what to do when the parts don't do what they're supposed to do.

I knew I had to learn this stuff before the triathlon, but since I had an opportunity to ride with a friend this week I had to learn sooner than later.  I'd be the one leading this ride, so I needed to be ready in case anything went wrong.

So the Husband took me to REI and I got my own little bike purse.

Or "gear bag".  I was hoping for a pink one, but it's the perfect size for my repair gear, my iPhone, and a pink lip gloss.

And we got this cool tire inflator that works with a CO2 cartridge.  I just love gadgets, and although I prefer gadgets that work in the kitchen, I was quite impressed with this one.  With one squeeze of the trigger my tire inflated perfectly!  Fun!

Finally I got something pink.  The tire pryer, or the "tire lever". 













Oh yes, and the new inside tire, or "tube".

So, I practiced in the comfort of my living room, I passed the Husband's test, and I was ready for my first ride without him.  Although I'm armed with a little knowledge and hands-on experience, I still hope I never have to fix a flat tire at the side of the road!

A Ripple in My Plans

Swimming this morning felt fantastic.  It was my first time back in the 50 meter pool since the dreadful diamond incident.  (Still no good news.)  I was in the pool before 6:00am, because today I had to swim for 60 minutes and make it to Young Scholars by 8:00.  We beat the swim team there, so the Husband and I even had a lane to ourselves.

My stroke felt strong.  The length of the pool wasn't overwhelming.  But as I picked up my head between strokes to breathe, I noticed an advancing ridge of dark clouds.  I know the rule.  If the lifeguards hear thunder or see lightning, the pool is closed.

I know my training is about time spend in each sport, and not the distance covered, but I started to swim a little faster anyway.  Could I at least finish race distance before the first rumble?

No.

After 1350 meters I heard the whistles.  "Pool's closed!"  I finished my lap and looked at my watch.  But I had only completed 30 minutes!  I was only halfway done!

"What do we do about this?" I asked the Husband as I cleared the water from my ear and headed for my towel.

"Nothing.  We're done."

"Do we make up the time another day?" I asked, starting to mentally scroll through the schedule on my iPhone to see where I could fit in another swim.

"Nope."

"But, we're supposed to swim for 60 minutes," I said, starting to feel anxious.

"It's all a part of training."

"No!  The schedule says 60 minutes of swimming.  I only did 30!"  I was really bothered by this.

"Some days you follow the schedule, and some days you can't.  It's out of our control."

I was having a hard time dealing with this rude interruption in my training as well as in my day.  Then I realized that it wasn't just about the training schedule.  I have a hard time with a change of plans in general.

I'm a planner.  I put a lot of thought and effort into making my plans too.  So when life gets in the way and disrupts those carefully laid out plans, it really throws me off.

As I moaned about my frustration, I remembered Proverbs 16:9.  "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  How many plans have I made that were changed because of something I couldn't control?  And looking back, many of them were changed to a better plan, a plan that I could not have made on my own.

The Husband and I planned to run a full marathon last April.  We trained in the dark, bitter cold mornings of December and January.  We fought injuries that plagued us all through the month of February.  By the end of the month, we knew we had to let it go.  We were not going to run this marathon.  Oh, it hurt.  It hurt more than my aching hip to think of all the work that we did, and for what?

"But the Lord determines his steps."

Looking back, finishing our training for the full marathon would have been even more disappointing than stopping midway.

No one expected a line of storms to come through Nashville the morning of the Country Music Marathon.  No one expected them to be so severe that they'd reroute runners early to the finish line.  No one expected that their marathon medal would forever symbolize the fact that they had only finished 18 miles and not 26.2.  Now THAT would have been disappointing.

And that would have been US.

And, if not for my injury, I wouldn't have known the blessing of running the Half Marathon with Andrea.

So I didn't get to swim for 60 minutes today.  It's but a ripple in my plans.

I got to swim for 30, and it was a great 30.  Two weeks ago, swimming 30 felt like swimming upstream.  Today felt like jogging in the park.

And instead of dashing off to work after my swim, I had time to sit and enjoy breakfast with the Husband.

I'll keep making my plans, but I pray that God will always determine my steps.