I bought some road tires from the REI store this weekend, and went out riding twice this week on them. Someone had told me replacing my knobby trail tires with smooth road tires would help me go faster. I didn’t really notice any improvement in speed with them. Seems like a waste of $40. Oh well.

I do not have bike shoes with clips or an aero bar. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on equipment for my first tri. Maybe those things, plus having the right size bike, would help improve my time. I typically average a speed of 11-14 mph, depending on how many hills I hit on my ride. It’s hard to find non-hilly places where I live.

At any rate, I am ready for Saturday, and know I can finish the race. I am hoping that I finish it before the cutoff time of 2 hours. I’m not so confident I can do that, since I’m still pretty darn slow! Here are my typical training times.

Swim 300yd: 6:24 min
Bike 20k: 55 min
Run 5k: 39 min

Wish me luck… 8)