Coaching is like parenting only that your kids, for the most part, aren’t much younger than you are, which probably means that for that to have been true as a parent, you would have had to have successful relations with their mother while in high school, which probably shows poor judgment but may ultimately get you the “coolest parent” award or perhaps on an ABC Weekend Mini Series or an episode of the E! True Hollywood Story.
In any case, this weekend was definitely a weekend of firsts and as a coach, these are the days that make is all worthwhile. First Avi and Bob L, knocked out their first triathlons on Saturday at the Harryman Mini, under pouring rain.
They weathered their first experience of getting beat up in the swim, finding themselves too far back and expending too much energy to try and catch back up, learning how to swim in a straight line, riding on a bike in pouring rain, and running in wet sloppy shoes all to finish and dig into waiting boxes of pizza. Bob and Avi, welcome to triathlon!
Sunday also brought about firsts as a group of us from Race With Purpose and the WCC Cycle/Tri Club met at 6:00 am on Long Island (apparently you’re not supposed to say, in Long Island) to begin the Montauk Century. We began the ride with about 10 riders and finished the ride with four, which is probably pretty good odds for a Century ride.
Of the four that finished together, Michelle’s previous longest ride was 56 miles, Javier’s 65 miles and Jackie’s 75 miles. We celebrated pushing through and riding past those very real achievements on our 6-plus-hour-ride. Beyond these accomplishments, we experienced and learned a number of other things for the very first time. For example, we found the roadie equivalent to P-Diddy, riding his blinged out gold Orbea with matching custom gold rims. Bike-porn all the way around. We learned that perhaps the most important question to ask a group of riders with whom you’ve never ridden is “Will you wait around for me if I have a flat?” We learned that after a ride the only safe place to touch a bike is the handle bars, because peeing on your bike really can help to remove the sticky Gatorade that accumulates on your frame when the sponge keeps falling down inside your hydration system. We learned way too much about ischial tubes including a demonstration on how to massage them with Bio-Freeze at a rest stop, that TriScoop member Rambonie, will eat ice cream 75-miles into a ride but only if it is free, that your’s truly can sustain 29.5 mph on the flats, and that Jackie has an uncontrollable competitve streak in her that others can exploit for their own amusement regardless of where she is in a ride or race. Jackie executed the perfect attack and breakaway 90-miles into the ride simply because I egged her on, only to find that the lady she beat was riding the entire time on a flat rear tire. Jackie also learned that, oh by the way, after executing said breakway during the last 10 miles of a Century, it’s almost certain that you’ll run like Jerry Lewis.
We learned that a $19 bike computer that doesn’t even tell you the time can be as effective as a $250 Garmin. We also learned that the Montauk Century is more than 100 miles and that cyclists still look at triathletes as complete freaks when we jump off of our bikes and head back out onto the course to run, while telling ourselves that it really will make our legs feel much better.
Most importantly, we learned that bicycle helmets should not be worn inside communal showers and mascara is probably not the best option before, during or after a Century ride. All in all, a great weekend of firsts.
Sounds like a fun day