The Charity Spin-a-Thon

Today was Tri-It’s Charity Spin-a-Thon!  Last year’s event was held at the store, but this time the group was large enough that the event was held in the gymnasium of Rundle College.  $65 gave you the chance to ride for 3 or 6 hours, you’d get a swag bag and you’d be helping pro athletes Janelle Morrison and Jordan Bryden.  I had a lot of fun at last year’s event so of course I was in for today’s!  I opted to only ride for three hours in the morning since I had a fair bit I wanted to accomplish later in the day.

After registering and grabbing my swag bag (full of Honey Stinger products, a pack of Ultima lemonade drink mix and a towel) I set my bike up between Tara and Kelly, my partners in crime for Ironman Canada this year.  The set up was really neat – we had a DJ playing tunes for us, plus there was water, Ultima, orange slices, bananas, bagel and cream cheese for us to snack on.  There were several pros out there supporting the event including Scott Curry.  Luke Way was our first instructor and he led us through about 45 minutes of high cadence stuff.  Once Luke’s session was over we spun to the 2007 Ironman World Championship video rather than having another instructed session.  This was terrific!  This gave us a chance to just sit back and spin, catch up with each other and it kind of gave our legs a bit of a break. 

After the video there were giveaways for those folks who paid attention.  I managed to win a pair of socks that say “Save the Ta-Tas” on them for knowing the Chris Lieto won the Timex Bike Bonus that year.  Yay me!

After the video Janelle took us through a 30 minute spin  where we got to work a bit harder.  Unfortunately I left my heart rate monitor at home though, so I don’t have an idea of what I managed to get it up to!  Final ride time was about 2:40.  Once we were done there were Spolumbo’s sandwiches to help us refuel.  All in all a great day!  I had a good workout and managed to catch up with a bunch of friends that I haven’t seen in ages.  I am continually reminded at various triathlon events around town just how great everyone in the community is.  I’ve made some terrific friends through this sport and I am so grateful for that!

**And yes, in response to my last post, the capri running tights come out once we head north of 0C or 32F.  I generally try to under dress for runs and I feel pretty comfortable out there in those temperatures.  I guess in part I just want to make sure that I’m saving my heavy duty winter running gear for those really cold days!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!