Out of the Comfort Zone

Had to go on a business trip to the US for a few days... Arizona... and yes, I brought my bike. There is NO way I could go a week without riding my bike. It's way too important to hit the key workouts, maintain frequency and consistency, and keep a steady progression to my training load.

Flying with a bike is a hassle, but not so bad internationally. I have a wheeled hard case that stands by itself so I can stack my other bags on top and wheel it around pretty easily. Internationally they limit baggage by the kilogram, rather than number of bags or extra charges for certain kinds of baggage, ie. a bike like in the US. I load up the bike in the bike box with nothing else and barely squeeze in under the 25kg limit. Coming home is a crapshoot, but so far my passport and international return ticket have helped me avoid getting charged in the states.

So yes, it's a little extreme to lug a bike halfway around the world for a short business trip, but the quality riding I logged in Tucson was worth it. The picture above is from the climb to Mt. Lemmon, at about the 10 mile marker looking down on a switch back. Coming from cold and snow to 70 degrees and sunny was so nice. I was lucky enough to link up with some local triathletes and they showed me around, so I got in three long rides, and couple of quality runs, and a good swim in.

The Ironman lifestyle is a very controlled one.... life is one big routine. The pool, the indoor bike trainer in the living room, the run routes and treadmill. It is all very controllable and predictible. And while it is a huge time investment, you have it down to a science, so much so that it might even be transparent to your friends and loved ones. Remove me from the laboratory like settings and you remove the control. Every ski trip, every business trip, every weekend getaway, every wedding.... the control is gone, so the bike comes with, run routes are googled, pools are found in advance, training partners searched for online.