Training

So I am still keeping up on my new years resolutions and doing all I can to accomplish all of them.  As you may recall one of my new years resolutions was, always have a race to be training for.  My dad, being the athletic and totally awesome person that he is, supported this resolution and decided to help me out with it by getting me this awesome new bike since he knew I would be training for a 50 mile bike race that will take place in June (the Little Red Riding Hood bike race.)  Until now I had been riding around on one of my dad's old mountain bikes and a cool looking vintage road bike that was from a yard sale.  Both were men's bikes, thus they didn't fit me very well and hurt my back when I would go for long rides and neither would be great to take to a 50 mile bike race.  Getting this new women's bike, the Treck 7.5 FX, has made worlds of difference in what it feels like to ride!  Not to mention its a smokin hot bike, I love the way it looks.  My dad also tricked it out with a couple of awesome accesories to help me train.  He had a cat eye calculater put on that would help me train by recording my speeds, distances and times (it is awesome!) he also got me a tire pump that is attached to the side and a seat bag that is filled with goodies that would help me change a tire if I ever got a flat.  I asked the bike store guy to put a kickstand on it, I love kickstands they are so useful and wonderful I don't understand why they are shunned, they keep the bike from getting all scraped up! 

My dad rides two bike races every year, the SLC Marathon and the Century ride. Now that I had a race worthy bike and a huge race looming in the future, I thought it would be so fun to ride with my dad in those races in preperation for Little Red in June and such great memories to share with my dad.  My dad has a passion for biking, and I love being able to share that with him.  The SLC Marathon was on April 28 so I needed to get training right away to get my speed up, bikers are required to finish the Marathon in 1.5 hours and I was sincerely scared that I wouldn't be fast enough .... lets just say it had been a couple of years since I had been fast on a bike.  So every Monday, Wednesday, Friday I would go for a 45 minute bike ride, each time working on my speed and time.  I would bike either the Jordan River Trail or the Provo River Trail and the scenery was gorgeous.  Utah is such a beautiful place and every time I finished a wonderful ride, in beautiful weather with gorgeous scenery I would just be so grateful to be able to live in this amazing state! 

Here are some picutres I took during my training rides along the two river trails, I'm sure my bike rides would be a lot shorter and more efficient if I didn't stop every five minutes to take pictures of the things around me... This is why I like riding by myself... But honestly how am I supposed to pass by these things and not take a picture of them?

I had never ridden the Jordan River Trail before, but I decided I needed to find a trail close to work so I could get in a ride before I got home and lost all my motivation.  It is a really pretty trail with tons of "wild" life everywhere.  It is right in the middle of farm country so you're always passing some sort of animals mostly cows and horses, they keep the ride exciting.

And here are some pictures of my favorite trail, the Provo River Trail.  This trail is amazing and I love living so close to it!  The canyon makes for stunning views, and since I go after work I am biking at that magical time of day where the sun is beginning to set and casting the most beautiful light over everything.

I must look so awesome when I ride my bike since the wind blows my bangs every which way.  This is what I look like when I am done, pure craziness! haha

I love that it is finally warm enough to excersize outside, my motivation is ten million times higher when it is warm and sunny outside.  Winter and I have a very difficult relationship, I love it for snowboarding but hate it for everything else, especailly how it sucks any and all motivation out of me to do anything but sit in bed and watch movies.  But I am very excited about my up coming races, I think they are going to be a blast!