Blow Out

Ok, so this is a really embarrassing story about my first "Brick" workout.  A brick is when you first bike, then run, or swim then run or swim then bike....you get the picture.  My first brick was scheduled for last Saturday and I was nervous and excited about it.  We were going to bike for an hour then run for twenty minutes.  I loaded up my bike, got Carissa to her tweenage babysitter's house, and made sure I got to the meeting place right on time.  Perfect.  Nicole, my coach, tells us to always check our tire pressure before setting off.  I thought, well, they feel pumped up, but I'd better check like she says.  So I borrow a pump and try to shove it down onto the valve of my back tire.  I hear air escaping so I jiggle and wiggle it until it comes off, then try to shove it down again.  Once more I hear air escaping.  "Can someone else try this?" I ask.  Someone else tries it.  "By the way, you really shouldn't jiggle the pump off of your tire valve," says our team captain, "You could tear your tube that way." Ok, I thought.  So then we still hear air escaping and we get someone else to try their pump on my back tube.  Jon comes over and says, "It sounds like your tube is ripped around your valve."  Shit!! Are you serious!! I can feel the heat coming to my face and I'm starting to get really embarrassed as everyone is now gathered around my busted tube.  "Impromptu tire changing session!!" says our team mentor.  Ok, I can do this, I'm thinking. I get the back tire off no problem.  I get the tube out, yep, it's ripped around the valve and I haven't even been on the road yet.  Stupid stupid stupid!!!  So I get my spare tube out of it's box and start putting it into the rim.  It won't fit!! Are you kidding me?  Apparently my spare tube had the wrong valve and wouldn't fit into the hole in my rim.  I'm feeling really disappointed and embarrassed.  I have to go home.  No brick workout for Catherine.  And the worst part was feeling like such a poser.  I have this awesome bike I've ridden maybe five times, I have a brand new bike rack

that everyone has commented on, I just bought "tri" shorts at the running shop, but I can't even pump up a tire.  Wow, what a loser, the voices keep telling me.  That morning I went for an hour long run instead, and the next day I did a brick by myself.  I think my disappointing morning has really convinced me to workout all the harder and with more dedication.  No more skipping practices for me.  I don't want to be a poser, I want to be the real thing: an athlete.