My Ride With A Pro

Well I couldn't have asked for a better day to get out and ride. Last night seemed just a little too blustery for me, so I decided to head out today during the warmest hours. I put out a "call for all riders", but I only had one taker. It was, however, none other than Pro Triathlete (and Missoulian) Linsey Corbin. We met at Le Petite Outre bakery for some carbs and caffeine and began to plan our afternoon ride. Both of us wanted an easy two hour ride, so while I was sipping my americano and she, her hot chocolate, we decided that we would head out to the mill.

As we rolled out it occurred to me that this would be a GREAT time to ask Linsey a little bit about what she's been up to these days. You know it's not very often that one gets to ride bikes with a pro, and for it to be just the two of us was perfect.

I'm sure it was obvious that I'm such a neophyte when it comes to understanding professional sports by the questions that I asked her, but I'm just really fascinated by the concept of training and racing at her level. I guess that I like to live vicariously through the Linsey Corbin's, Matt Seeley's, Adam Jensen's, Teejay VanGarderen's and even the Brendan Halpin's that are (or were) so local and have seemed to have risen so high. I feel honored to have had some interaction with their lives. And to have the opportunity to ride with them is icing on the cake.

Linsey was very kind and willing enough to put up with me and my questions, like:

Who are you sponsored by? Turns out she is sponsored by Clif, Saucony, Scott Bicycles, FSA cranks (my fav's), cycleops, Big Sky Brewing and Xtera wetsuits. Wow!

How much are you training right now? Linsey just finished three 30+ hour weeks in her build up to Ironman Arizona coming in April! Yikes, I'm training at 12 hours per week, Gulp!

What do you consider today's ride? A recovery ride, followed by a 30 minute run. Yesterday Linsey ran 23 miles. I ran 4.

Do you have a strict eating plan? Yes and no. Linsey ALWAYS eats good healthy food, and she eats regularly. She has to because of her training and the need for fuel. But she splurges once a week for that ice cream craving, or something equally tasty. At the ironman training level you can really pack away the calories. I should've asked her how many Kcals she consumes. You guys don't want to know what I eat...I guess that's why I'm not in any of the magazines.

We spun the pedals out to the mill lickity-split and Linsey commented that it's not that often that we have a tailwind going out. And a tailwind it was, because as we turned at the mill to head back to town, it was like a cold hand slapping us in the face. I moved to the front to break the wind and give Linsey a little break after running long yesterday, but when I looked back, she wasn't there. She had drifted out of my slipstream! She just smiled and said, " I don't draft in races and I'm not going to do it now." I think that shows how committed (and tough) she really is.

We turned onto Big Flat to round out the two hours (1:55 actually) and headed home. I really enjoyed talking to her, learning a little about her life as a pro and also getting to know her a little better, too. Thanks for the ride today Linsey!

PEACE