New Bike!!!

Even though it has only been a few days since the last post there is lots to update on!

Saturday
Aaron and I headed up to Bicycle Village in Boulder to check out the big sale! Bikes were advertised as 25-60% off. I knew the price point of the other bike I had my eye on at REI, so was thinking if I could get a bike with better components for a cheaper price, it was a good deal! Especially with lifetime maintenance. Aaron tried to teach me a few basics on bike buying. The big things to look at are the components. There are a few companies, but most of the ones I've seen are Shimano. Within Shimano there is a hierarchy of the components, so you can easily compare bikes based on the components, etc. 

So in Boulder, there was a huge tent outside with tons of bike styles! It was sort of whatever was on show was what was left - so you might like a bike, but it may not have your frame size. After checking out what they had, we found two bikes that seemed to fit the bill (and luckily had my frame size). Someone from the store helped us out and let us know what he thought the differences were and which was better. Luckily, we looked online what he said - because he told us the wrong thing! He said the more expensive bike had better components (which would make sense), but actually the bike I ended up getting was $150 cheaper with better componenets. The MSRP was within $30 of each other, but I think it is because I got the 2010 version versus the 2011. The bike I ended up getting is the FUJI ABSOLUTE 1.0. It has Shimano 105 (versus Tiagra on the other bike, and Alivio at REI) components, aluminum frame and disc brakes. They did a quick tune up and as we headed back to Denver as I was itching to get out! I must thank my Aunt Molly for the amazing birthday present! It is a 'special' gift because some may say she was convinced under duress - but that is another story :-) Before tax the big was $800 and the MSRP was about $1250!

Aaron and I decided to ride our bikes to the Hunger Games (which we had tickets for). I hadn't ridden downtown since we moved, so I was anxious to see how the ride felt! It ended up only taking 25 minutes and was about five miles! I forgot to wear my watch, but I have some from today's rides :-) I can't tell you how great the bike felt to ride! It is 80x better than my current bike and just felt very fluid. The is pretty much a road bike but with a hybrid twist. The small tires felt great and I it makes me more excited for the race now that I have some proper gear! So Saturday we got in 10 miles on the bike :-) (Also - Hunger Games was great!)

 

 

  
Sunday
Got a great nights rest and was up at 8:30 ready for the day! My hip hasn't hurt at all and I have been trying to do the stretches which must be helping. My ankle is also holding up well with PT and strengthening it. I wore my brace today and it felt good. AA (and Scarlet) and I were off to Wash Park for a run before it got too warm out! The course I ran this time (run to Wash, one loop, run home) was 4.5 miles. I ran 3.5 miles of it! Below is breakout:

Run 1 mile, walk .25

Repeat 2X

Run .5 miles, walk .25

= Run 3.5 miles, walk 1 mile

=Total time: 51:38 - pace of 11:29

I was extremely happy with how I felt! I didn't have the heart rate monitor on so I can't tell the exact splits with running/walking but my first mile was 10:21 and from the charts you can see my pace hovered right around 10 minutes per mile the whole time :-) I am hoping to run again Tues/Thursday of this week. Weather looks promising for outside runs too!

But that isn't it! Aaron and I had an orientation for volunteering for the NCAA in Denver for the Women's Final Four next weekend so we decided to bike that downtown as well! We pretty much took the same route as on Saturday but came home through Wash Park for part of it after the Cherry Creek trail home. The park (where we also ran this morning) was SO CROWDED! Not in a bad way! The outside running path at Wash Park is about 2.6 miles and the whole inside is grassy areas, 2 lakes, a rec center, play grounds, and an inner loop that is paved for bikers, etc. The fields in the center have hundreds of volleyball nets that people set up each day, lots of cook outs, picnics, etc. It was great to see as a random weekend in March :-) It seemed like it should have been Memorial Day! So today we did another 10 miles. The way there (slightly downhill - was a pace of 4:30) and the way home was a pace of 4:58 (slightly uphill). Needless to say I am tired after a great weekend of activities!

So a great weekend - new bike, riding bike, running, no injuries, beautiful weather :-) 20 miles already on the new bike and a great run too!