Aerobars!

I did it. I finally bought aerobars for my bike. Ideally I would get a triathlon specific bike, but dropping another $2-3k (at least) is not in the cards this year. Instead I'm doing what a lot of amateurs do - add aerobars to the road bike. According to this report, time/energy saved is very cost effective. They are being installed at Bicycle Village (thanks Joyce and Keith for the gift card!) today. The bike was due for its tune-up anyway. I also got a skull cap and a warmer jacket to help me on those cold days of riding. I'm thinking I will use the bike to commute more often to squeeze in some extra bike training, so I need to stay warm. And with my big race scheduled in June, I'll have more chilly and cool days of training than with an August race!

This morning I did a brief benchmark training test on the bike on my trainer. Here's what I did: 20 minute warm up easy with a few 30s fast spins in there.
Then I started in a moderate but easy gear and increased the gear every minute. I was going for 12 sets, but only managed 9. My heart rated started in the low 130s and made it up to 180. I had a few more gears left on the bike, but at 9 was all the power I could generate. (I would love to have a power meter for more data, but for about $1000, not sure it is worth the investment right now!)
15 minute cool down after all that.

Would have been nice to get outside and ride since it was 60 degrees today, but I did manage to take Juno out for a nice walk.