Riding along Marine Drive – 25 miles - moderate

I met up with the PDX tri club to do the Wednesday evening ride. I was going to get my cadence reader installed as well but it happens that I bought one that didn’t include a harness. WTF? This will be the second one I have to return to them. This is so annoying. I hate riding with out having data, it is driving me insane. Hopefully I’ll figure out the installation on my own and get it hooked up before Saturdays ride. If not I’ll probably be without for another freaking week. Anywho, back to the ride…..
I started off in the back of the group. I wanted to stay back and take the ride easy and try to get more comfortable with my aero bars. On a little side note I lost a family member this last weekend and kind of wanted to have some solitude thinking. Just time alone with my head I guess. Going out I was unable to get aero. Balancing that low just felt too difficult. So I opted to ride most of the way out in my drop bars. They are a bit lower then aero and would allow my body to get acclimated to breathing without worrying too much about balance. I don’t know what the deal was but my head became really clogged and my nose started running. Naturally I went into my snot rocket mode. Problem with this was my snot was not running, it was just kind of stuck, so I would shoot a rocket and oh I’d say ¾ of them would get stuck to my face! Ewwww, yuck! Very gross. I rode out along Marine Drive alone as I returned alone, facing the headwind with no one to pace line with. Along the 2nd ½ of the way back I had some of the side wind blocked and I was able to get aero. Woot! Woot! I practiced getting in and out of my bars for a good 20 mins. I’m starting to feel more comfortable. I’ve noticed the key to aero position is really the core. If I kept my core strong and stable I could easily get in and out along with turning. To my surprise my core really directed the bars on where to go. I think my Pilates are helping a lot with this; my breathing in aero is very Pilates/Yoga like. I inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth pulling my navel in. Woot! Woot! Multi tasking; Pilates and bike work in one. I returned back to the start feeling good about my accomplishments but uber hungry from the ride. I only had 75kcal from the trail putty and was out for 1:25 and burned somewhere between 800-850 kcal. I should have brought more nutrition. I tried to stay for post ride replenishment with Michele but the service at McMenamins sucked (no surprise there) and took waaaay too long with the food, at which point I bonked. This was really my fault. I should have managed my nutrition better. I grew an evil head and left to get fuel from my car. For the rest of the night I had an insatiable hunger. I woke up twice to a growling tummy and needing hydration…..I also had restless leg syndrome. I hate riding at night….I always get this. I’m also experiencing frequent insomnia….