By Saturday morning a lot of (but not all) of the snow was gone, in fact, I was reminded that the picture of the snow covered bikes was actually from Saturday morning, not Friday. The sun was out and we knew that no matter what, we would ride Saturday. I DID NOT pack up my bike and fly across the country with it to ride it ONE TIME.
Dan offered to have us all over to the fit studio for a fit clinic that morning, after which we decided we would ride. I had heard about Dan’s Fit Institute Slowtwitch (FIST) clinics from Mac (he attended one last spring), so I was thrilled to have a session with Dan. What a privilege!
Michelle recently made the switch from a road bike w/ aerobars to a tri-bike and hasn’t been able to get her road bike set up comfortably as a road bike, so Dan did a fit on her. It was so fun to watch the process. He likened it to the eye doctor – a lot of “which is better? 1 or 2?” – and such. He started with saddle height, then fore/aft position and finally bar set up. So cool to see. He also told us that we could use the fit studio later for packing up our bikes (rather than doing it outside in the freezing cold, thank you Dan!).
Some shots from the fit:
After the session with Dan, we bundled up and headed out for our ride. We did the same loop as Thursday, but added a extra climb AT THE END. We had sunshine, clear roads and beautiful views. What more can you ask for? Through the entire ride, I just kept thinking how very lucky I am.
When we finished the ride, Cathy and I took a few pics on the road in front of Xantusia. My only regret is that I didn’t get one of the two of us together. We cleaned up, had lunch and settled in for some stretching and old triathlon videos (vintage, perhaps?). Quickly, the sun was setting and we realized that we should head down to pack up the bikes. A group of us went down to the fit studio and while Christina and I packed our bikes, Deanna and Liz got their demo bikes from Dan’s stable (literally and figuratively) ready to ride the next day. I was insanely jealous that they would get in a ride on Sunday while I had to go home.
Cathy and I:
We had one more dinner together – Monty worked magic again – salad, lasagna and garlic bread. YUM. Oh, and wine. Then we had a little more tv time and suddenly it was time to get some sleep – Christina and I had to leave somewhat early to head back to Orange County. Morning came all too fast and after breakfast and a round of goodbyes, we were on our way. Chicago was expecting horrible storms that night, but thankfully our flights both took off on time and were uneventful. I even had WiFi on my flight. Not a bad way to end the weekend. I was happy to get home to Mac and the kids, yet really sad to leave Xantusia. I’m already looking forward to next year!
Thanks to Cathy and Sally for putting the weekend together, thanks to Monty for taking care of all of us and thanks to all of the wonderful women who made the weekend so much fun!
