Changing Tires

Last nights lecture for the Tri Stars was tire changing………………..sigh.

Yup tire changing, my most dreaded thing when I started drag racing. For the entire first year I refused to change tires. Ideally when racing a street class car you drive to the track and change out your back tires when you get there to slicks. I'll admit I hated changing tires. 

I tried pretty much every angle to get around it. Dual purpose tires, hauling the car there on the trailer with tires already swapped and begging my husband to do it for me. Finally I realized I had to learn it on my own, I mean really how hard can it be I see guys doing it every race. 

Well for a small woman it's hard! My husband showed me how he does it and me attempting it his way resulted in smashed fingers, tires flipped over on me like a turtle, tire bars to the knee's and many bonked heads to the bumper. It occurred to me that women race, there must be an easier way.

I found a FB group called Sisters In Speed and asked about changing tires. Loe and behold they did it totally differently than I'd been shown, and attempting it their way resulted in success! I'm still not a big fan of the tire change but I can do it myself now.

So when our bike lecture for last night was tire change my initial thought was "OH GREAT here we go again another struggle" and begrudgingly went to class.

One of the Tri Star members (Jan) gave a great demo on changing out your bike tire and allowed us to try it ourselves. There are a lot more "parts" to work around on a bike you really do have to pay attention. It's something I'm going to have to practice. It was nice to see someone who knew what they are doing show it and she even gave us a how too sheet so I can practice it at home. YES I will practice it.

So while I'd like to be Christmas Abbott (picture below) one of the first women to make it to a pit crew changing tires, the woman can dead lift more than double her weight, I'll practice till I can do it without cussing.

Smile

Creative Thursdays

While cleaning up the studio from the mess of Vancouver Island Bead show I found this piece tucked away in a bag. I think this is still up there as far as my favourite pieces go.

Tri training week one

So I've made it through week one of training for my first triathlon with the Tri Stars group. All in all most of it has been pretty great! I'm struggling with the swimming I think it will be my weakness, breathing in seems to be a hard action for me. I'll have to practice it lots.

I'm enjoying the biking more than I thought I would, I thought road riding would make me nervous but it's not too bad out here in the country. I've got a 9 KM loop that I'm pretty comfortable with and it's got a nice mix of hills to challenge me.

So for week one I was active 5 days of the week. I did two bike sessions on my own and two runs on my own. Tonight is the start of week two with a lecture and swim session.

I love this piece!

I absolutely love this piece, I saw it shared on Facebook unfortunately with no artist credit. Going north to Alaska to see the Northern Lights is on my bucket list. Seeing it from a dog sled would make it even more special.

Creative Thursdays

Todays Creative Thursday post is a studio tip! This is an easy ring mandrel holder. Drill a hole into a work bench (or something similar) just a hair bigger than your ring mandrel. I find you need to drill it fairly deep for the ring mandrel to be stable. Insert ring mandrel and hammer away. 

Make sure to remove ring mandrel when done, walking into one WILL leave a nasty bruise!

I can do this!

Yes me, the person afraid of swimming in open water has join a beginner triathlon group.  I've join the beginner Tri Star Group and my first training session is tonight, and it's swimming YIKES!

Now I can swim, fairly well I think. But I've never swam laps and haven't had swimming lessons since I was a kid so this should be entertaining. I've bought my swim suit and I must admit it's very comfy. I've got a swim cap and I must admit I have NO idea how the heck you get all your hair in those things, hopefully that's part of tonights lecture (though I doubt it!) or someone will help me.

While I've spent the last couple days with several thoughts of "what the hell was I thinking" I am excited! Stay tuned I'll try and update my blog tuesdays or wednesday with progress reports.