"The Dude abides..."

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I started out on my first ride in a week feeling that I’d take a long one. I’d mapped out a new route that would have me traveling east on Mulberry from Sperry Road, which would make that route over two hours and maybe closer to three. There was a strong head wind early in the ride which tends to tire me for the entire ride, but I fought through it and hit my 1-hour mark about where I always do. When I reached Mulberry and turned, I was in uncharted territory.

I noticed a hill rising before me, but much of the view of it was blocked by a turn in the road. Once on the hill and after the turn, I’d wished I hadn’t decided to come this way. I climbed it, dropped a little and found myself at the bottom of a second climb. This one had me gasping as I struggled over the final feet of the climb and again started down. I rounded a corner and found myself staring at the longest and steepest hill yet. To Lance, they were mole hills. I was feeling like my bike was on K2…again. I made the climb, but the series of three hills left me exhausted. I don’t think it was so much the hills as it was my lack of riding and maybe some lingering weakness from the weekend’s illness. When I reached an intersection with Wilson Mills, I stopped to access my condition and how long it would take me from this point. If I continued to follow my original plan, the ride would take close to three hours. I elected to cut it shorter and returned the most direct route…still managing a ride of well over two hours.

After cleaning up and having a dinner of some cold chicken breast and a huge smoothie, I headed next door for a guys night at the movies. We were watching ‘The Big Lebowski’, a Coen Brothers film comedy classic starring Jeff Bridges as 'The Dude'.  I’d seen the movie once before and enjoyed it, but seeing it a second time and picking up more of the cleverness of the plot and outrageous humor, I think I will be moving this to my ‘must see’ list for those folks who trust my movie judgment.

Bike workout: 2 hours and 20 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 2,000.