Yehaw!

This one is just simply too good to pass up.

On tap for today was a double header. Morning base aerobic and afternoon at the track. The track can be tricky this time of year thanks to Seattle's awesome rainy weather so having a plan b is a must. I spoke with Jennie around 1:30 and we agreed I could either do the efforts on the trainer (YUCK!) or come over to the east side and do them with her. I opted for the second option, though was having second thoughts when at 2:30 I couldn't see downtown Seattle from my house thanks to a drain clogging downpour.

But luckily the rain showers were simply that - rain showers. So by the time we were kitted up and ready to go, the sun was shining and we were starting to doubt our knee and arm warmer apparel.

I brought the Hed wheels today - especially since I pinpointed the noodle movements in the Rolf wheel set I used for my standing starts the previous week with Tela. We were going to be putting some serious stress on the bikes - with 200m and 500m efforts so the stiffer the wheel, the better.

For those not familiar with that type of effort, and to be honest they are new to me as an endurance athlete, 200 meter efforts are balls to the wall the HARDEST freaking effort you can imagine. They make you want to puke, cry, fall over and die. They're awesome. Add doing them with a world champion and two time Olympian - and let's just say I had my work cut out for me.

Jennie had me lead the first one. The wind up is important - it's not like you come into the effort from a stand still. You are pretty much balls to the wall even before you get out of the saddle. We're doing them in a massive gear - (say 108") and as I wind them up and get out of the saddle, pedal not more than 10 revolutions, Jennie comes around me and puts a solid three to four bike lengths into me. Mind you the effort is only 200 meters. This is like putting 5 minutes into a field soloing off the front. It's like lapping the field a couple of times like it ain't no thang.

It's demoralizing.

And as I tell Jennie how it makes me feel, she responds:

"Well you know, Jen, I was the fastest woman in the world at one point."

Oh. Right. I forgot! Because you were ONLY wearing you world champ helmet, and not the rainbow jersey.

Ha ha - I'm a jackass.