Let's talk about triathlons, shoulder pain, and walking the dogs

This has been a week of ups and downs, but before we get there, I wanted to share a project that I'm to get completed soon: my tri bike: 1998 Cannondale Multisport 1000.

When I was a teenager was the time period when triathlons were just starting to take off in popularity. At that time I was a strong swimmer and a pretty strong cyclist, I had dreamed of doing a triathlon. I mean was 2/3rds of the way there, I just had to get past my nemesis: running. It was a dream that I never pursued.

In about 2018, when I was really starting to trying to get back into pursuing better health and trying to feel better. I was again looking at the dream of doing a triathlon. A few things I learned at the time that there were three lengths of races, the shortest being the "sprint" race. It was roughly a 1/2 mile swim, 12-13 mile bike, and a 5K run. This brought the dream a bit closer to being a reality.

Shortly after that discovery, I also learned the existence of relatively new type of triathlon race: aquabike. An aquabike race is merely a triathlon without the run. Just swim then bike. It was perfect first step! I spent 2019 trying to figure out what my plan was going to be, to get some equipment (like an indoor trainer), and start regularly working out.

At this point, I was trying to figure out what bike I would use for the bike portion of the aquabike. At the very least, I knew I could use the M700 for it, but I was hoping for something with narrower tires and better gearing for the road. I had a 1987 Schwinn Super Sport that I was working on restoring, so I thought maybe turn it into my tri bike for now.

The bare frame of my 1987 Schwinn Super Sport

It was at this point that I was talking to my brother and mentioned that I was hoping to do an aquabike in 2020. He replied that he had a bike for me! He found the 'Dale on Craigslist in Denver, and it had a miss-mash of strange parts. It wasn't a pretty sight, but he saw the potential. He bought the bike and brought it home when he realized a problem with it: it was too small for him. The good news though is that it was my size! I now had a realy "tri" bike!!

My 1998 Cannondale Multisport

With things starting to come together, I was planning on doing a sprint distance aquabike race in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in the summer of 2020. Of course you know what happened in 2020.. needless to say the race was cancelled. 2020 kind of knocked the wind out of my sails for doing an aquabike race. I'm now at a point that I want to start pursuing doing an aquabike race. I've got a few obstacles to overcome first, one of which I'll share below. 

For the MS1000, she's really close to being rideable. I know the rear wheel needs to be replaced, as the rim has a flat spot. This bike uses the very uncommon 650c size, not the very ordinary 700c size. That means locating a suitable replacement for a reasonable price is going to take some research. I'm also going to look into some tires that are wider and that fit on this frame. The idea of guy my size on 23c wide tires is a bit nerve wracking. The other thing I want to get is replacement arm pads for the Profile bars. One of the rests has the foam padding, but the other is missing it. 

When I get those items sorted out, I hope to make the Multisport my regular ride. I want to get very comfortable on it, so that when I am ready to sign up for a race, I will be ready on the bike!

Onto other topics, last Thursday I had the opportunity to get a swim lap session in at the school district my wife in. I was so excited to be able to get back into the water. I love the scent of chlorine! Unfortunately I didn't think about one little problem: my shoulder. 

Definitely not a good time at the pool..

For about the last three to four months, I've had some shoulder pain. If I lift my arm to past horizontal, it hurts. I'm working with my physician to diagnose the problem, but for now I'm just living with it. It was this that turned my day into a downward spiral of frustration.

I jumped into the pool, put on my goggles, and pushed off of the wall. I put up my arm to streamline and discovered that my shoulder isn't going to cooperate with the range of motion needed for swimming. I tried many different techniques and drills that might not inflict the pain, but unfortunately I would be able to swim one lap. 

I guess that means that I'm going to have to shelve the swimming until we get this shoulder pain figured out. Chlorine withdrawals, here I come! 

Something that I am trying to do more of is getting out to walk. These two could also stand to get out there, so I leash them up and head out to the street for about a mile walk. The weather has been hot and humid lately, so we took frequent breaks to let them cool off!