April In Chicago

April is winding down and, in Chicago, that usually means we're getting the first hints of warmer weather. Who would have thought March would turn out to be the warmer month of the two? I was hoping I'd be riding my bike to work regularly by now or at least having a few weekend-days of cooperative conditions. Even if I am a fair-weather cyclist, I'm allowed to get impatient!

Warm or cold, I'll be spending plenty of time outside. The Ravenswood Run 5k is this weekend and beyond that, my schedule is full of more and longer training for the triathlon, including the dreaded open-water swim. As cold as the air temperature might be, I can't even begin to imagine how cold the waters of Lake Michigan are this time of year.

I'm realizing now that the Lake probably won't be warming up much at all before the triathlon and that means investigating the possibility of purchasing a wetsuit. Unfortunately, I don't even know where to begin with that. The "Internet" seems like a good place to start but, as with most things related to fitness, there's a plethora of information on the subject that often contradicts itself. I do know that I'm probably expecting to spend $250+ on the thing, and that I'll also need something called "suit juice" if I plan on being able to take the wetsuit off after using it. I tell you, in the world of triathlon, there's a product for sale for absolutely everything.

There's not much else going on around here. I'm looking forward to a mini-vacation to the Kalamazoo area of Michigan in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to try out some bike trails in the area, take a tour of the Bell's Brewery and just relax away from work for a few days. I'm planning on adding some image gallery functionality to the site and photos from the trip may be the first things to go up. I'm not making any promises though!