I Won Aero Bars!

Mel and I went to the LA Tri Club's "First Thursday" at Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach last night (cheap beer, meet other tri clubbers, door prizes/raffles). This is the first time we knew of that this event had a South Bay venue, so we were pretty psyched to go. Mind you I have never before set foot into Sharkeez, which tends to be a hangout for 20-something singles, both of which I'm assuredly not, but I digress. But keep in mind it's the kind of dive where TVs fall off the wall and hit people in the head. Not joking. One of the tri club guys was holding a big bag of ice to his head when we arrived.

So, we're handed our raffle tickets, go grab beers, hang out chatting about our tri experiences (yeah, Ventura was FREEZING! yeah, Malibu ROCKED! yeah, the bike has to be at LEAST 12-18 miles or the event's a waste of money!). I met some really nice people, a guy named Wayne who'd done Ventura and Malibu, a woman whose name I didn't catch, and Mel's friend Eric who's one of the nurses at one of the hospitals she works at. Anyway, I shoved my raffle ticket somewhere in my purse (a tiny Dooney & Bourke affair that only held my wallet, keys, a hair clip and a pen) and forgot about it til they called off a raffle ticket number.

'405? 405?' I'm digging through my purse, mumbling how I probably lost my ticket, then, as the last forlorn '405?' echoes I see my ticket, half stuffed into my wallet, and say, incredulously, 'I have 405!!!!'

YES!

She passes a slightly larger than shoebox sized box over to me -- and I read it and start gabbling, 'Aerobars! I won aerobars! I don't DESERVE aerobars!' (being as I'm so slow and have an inferiority complex despite how nice and supportive everyone is).

Oh yeah -- carbon fiber Easton AeroForce clip on aero bars! I checked online, these things go for $299. (Easton is one of the LA Tri Club sponsors and I assume donates a bunch of their products to the club -- thank you Easton!) And they're size short, which is perfect!