I'm in the middle of my regular cycle commute to work and have just stopped at a set of traffic lights when I hear.
"What do you do for your legs?"
Surprised, I turn to see a fellow cyclist has stopped behind me at the intersection. He poses the question again.
"I've just been just following and admiring your legs, what do you do for them?"
ah...
It's the second Friday so I'm at the Bourke Street Red Cross with my sleeve rolled up. The machine hooked up to me is designed to draw blood into a centrifuge. Here it is spun to separate out the plasma content before returning the remaining blood cells back to me via the same IV. The first draw and return has completed but now the machine is beeping, warning that the flow has stopped. I'm due at least 3 more cycles but for some reason the machine is failing. A nurse arrives, she checks the needle, it is definitely seated correctly in my vein, the hoses are all free of kinks but the draw refuses to commence. Puzzled, she checks my arm above the needle's entry point at the crook of my elbow.
"Are your arms normally this muscled?"
um...
There are more questions I get;
"Why are you so tanned?"
"What's with the one stocking thing on your leg?"
"I can't believe you spent 5 hours on a windtrainer. Are you crazy?"
I get a lot of strange questions, but a lot of the time the answer comes back to the same thing.
"I'm a triathalete"
For the past 5 years I've been doing this, ever since a mate at work mentioned there were these mini triathlons you could do. That year I signed up, not for one race but for the entire season. My thinking was, making that initial financial commitment would force me to give it a real go. I raced on my converted mountain bike, my race attire was a pair of swimming shorts and a rash vest - no wetsuit, and definitely, no tight lycra on show. I raced in the fun distance and found it just that; fun.
Since those early days a few things have changed. I now own 2 wetsuits (for race day only!), the trusty Trek is still my main bike but now it shares the front hallway with a sexy full carbon time trial bike. Since taking up the sport I have also dropped about 15kg and converted more to muscle. I'm not the expected shape of an athlete, but I train like one, and no longer worry about being seen in lycra (when appropriate)
From committing to those initial enticer events, to entering the big show.
And, on this day, 2 months from now, I plan to be celebrating the completion of my first full distance triathlon, along side my friends, family and 50+ like minded team mates.
I'm told this moment will be life changing.
I'm quite sure I will be asked many more questions in the days that follow that moment.
"It's just what I do, I'm a triathlete, and yes, probably more than a little crazy"
"What do you do for your legs?"
Surprised, I turn to see a fellow cyclist has stopped behind me at the intersection. He poses the question again.
"I've just been just following and admiring your legs, what do you do for them?"
ah...
It's the second Friday so I'm at the Bourke Street Red Cross with my sleeve rolled up. The machine hooked up to me is designed to draw blood into a centrifuge. Here it is spun to separate out the plasma content before returning the remaining blood cells back to me via the same IV. The first draw and return has completed but now the machine is beeping, warning that the flow has stopped. I'm due at least 3 more cycles but for some reason the machine is failing. A nurse arrives, she checks the needle, it is definitely seated correctly in my vein, the hoses are all free of kinks but the draw refuses to commence. Puzzled, she checks my arm above the needle's entry point at the crook of my elbow.
"Are your arms normally this muscled?"
um...
There are more questions I get;
"Why are you so tanned?"
"What's with the one stocking thing on your leg?"
"I can't believe you spent 5 hours on a windtrainer. Are you crazy?"
I get a lot of strange questions, but a lot of the time the answer comes back to the same thing.
"I'm a triathalete"
For the past 5 years I've been doing this, ever since a mate at work mentioned there were these mini triathlons you could do. That year I signed up, not for one race but for the entire season. My thinking was, making that initial financial commitment would force me to give it a real go. I raced on my converted mountain bike, my race attire was a pair of swimming shorts and a rash vest - no wetsuit, and definitely, no tight lycra on show. I raced in the fun distance and found it just that; fun.
Since those early days a few things have changed. I now own 2 wetsuits (for race day only!), the trusty Trek is still my main bike but now it shares the front hallway with a sexy full carbon time trial bike. Since taking up the sport I have also dropped about 15kg and converted more to muscle. I'm not the expected shape of an athlete, but I train like one, and no longer worry about being seen in lycra (when appropriate)
From committing to those initial enticer events, to entering the big show.
And, on this day, 2 months from now, I plan to be celebrating the completion of my first full distance triathlon, along side my friends, family and 50+ like minded team mates.
I'm told this moment will be life changing.
I'm quite sure I will be asked many more questions in the days that follow that moment.
"It's just what I do, I'm a triathlete, and yes, probably more than a little crazy"
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