Individual SPORT my A**

They say TRIATHLON is an individual sport.

I'm going to have to call BullSh*t on that...

I couldn't have made it to here without my TRIwife, DeNiece.
Or my TrainingWife, TMB.
How about let's not forget my favorite Jersey Girl, who dragged my a** out to a RABA ride and changed my life forever...
My BiolaBud...

But when I was reflecting on what made the most impact on my training.  I kept coming back to one unit:  The Gentlemen of the Roads & The Ladies of The Lanes.

If I'd never met The Gentlemen, I'm just not sure that I would have evolved into the cyclist I have become.  And I am going to brag a minute.  From my first RABA ride in June to today, I have come a LONG a** way.

So before the race actually happens tomorrow, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to The Ladies of the Lanes (seen below), and to The Gentlemen of the Roads.  All of you helped mold me into the cyclist I am.  On every ride.

Special Thanks to The Gentlemen Leader, for his tough love and love of tough hills.  He didn't baby me, but he didn't leave me, and I appreciated that.  Because of him, I now understand exactly what a real hill is like, and that BEER is an appropriate mid-ride fuel.  Belief....  If I just showed up and worked as hard as he made me work (and he did make me work) I would become a better cyclist.
And I did.

Very much appreciate all the time I spent on the roads this summer with Gentleman British.  GB was there at my first RABA ride, and nearly every mile between June & today.  I fully recognize his mentoring and guidance was instrumental in getting me here.  Faith...  that if GB said it was so, it was so, even if it didn't feel that way in the minute.

And last, but never least, Gentleman 3R... Red Right Return.  I know that any ride where I hung onto the tire of the Red Bike would Return me safe, even if the cyclist leading me is of a Right Mind.  Trust... that even if I didn't know where my mojo was hiding, IF I could see 3R, I was in the right place at the right time and I would get right where I needed to go.

Thanks all of you.

Today, in just a few minutes I'm getting in the car to drive to Williamsburg with DeNiece.  We're going to race, we're going to have fun, and we're going have one of those "we did it" cries at the end.
I believe it....
I have faith in myself...
And I trust that I can do this....

Those fools out there training for Triathlons alone need to move to VA... cos we've got this down.  (well, the training part, the fun part, and the giggling part... the racing triathlons is undetermined)