Starting to flow...

Sunday, July 12, 2015

I went to bed Saturday night with the knowledge that if I didn’t get up and head out on my bike first thing in the morning, I was unlikely to do any exercise all day.  We would be celebrating Savannah’s birthday around 1:30 p.m. and with rain scheduled for the afternoon and into the early evening, it was unlikely I’d do anything after.  It was also going to be my only day to lie around like a slug and sleep a little extra.  What should I do?  Thankfully, guilt won out in the end.

I calculated the time I needed to be riding.  I had to put the spaghetti on three hours before dinner was to be served and I had to put meatballs I didn’t have into the sauce.  That meant ride for two hours, shower, go to BJ’s for the frozen variety, get home and have them in the crock pot with Ragu sauce by 10:30 a.m.  Therefore, I needed to be on the bike and rolling down the driveway by 7:30 a.m.  In addition to missing some lazy sleep time, I would have to sacrifice a trip to Kleifelds for breakfast.  The sacrifices I make to keep from looking sixty.

I hit the road right on time.  I was taking my favorite course through Waite Hill which meant I’d be encountering lots of rolling hills and a couple of steep ones.  I was a little concerned about the groin injury; backing up the bleacher workout with a strenuous ride could be a bad idea, but what the hell.  I could feel the throb in the groin area after five minutes of riding, but the old me had returned and I was determined to ride on through…and then whine like a little girl later.  I did ride with some degree of moderation, taking the hills in easy gears and not pushing so hard on the flats.  Then I saw a couple of riders up ahead.

It was a man and a woman riding along Eagle and heading towards the Holden Arboretum.  I tried not to be competitive and push because I’m old and don’t do foolish things anymore.  As we began to climb though, I could see that I’d overtake the lady pretty quickly.  Her partner had looked back and seen me and was sprinting ahead to keep from being passed.  This bothered me because he’d clearly been riding with the woman and simply because he didn’t want to be overtaken, had left her in his dust.  How unchivalrous. 

I passed her by and said ‘good morning’ and moved on towards the boyfriend/husband or whatever he was.  I’m a good climber and although the groin was hurting, I had to catch and pass the guy before he hit the turn off for Holden, which I was sure was his destination.  It was only a quarter mile ahead. 

I pushed down hard and caught him one hundred yards from his turn.  “Hey…asshole…you left your wife back there to beat me up the hill.  How’s it feel that I’m blowing past you like the cheesy weenie that you are,” I said as I went by.

Okay…I just said ‘good morning’ and only thought that last thing.

I finished the ride in just under two hours and was proud of the effort.  Not the effort of the ride, but the effort to start it.  For me, this is always the hardest part when I’ve lost my groove and probably true for most people.  It’s so easy to just say ‘I’ve waited this long, what’s one more day?’  Well…no more.  I’ve got some new people and one old friend…me...to inspire.  I’m going to be a rock again.  I’m going to walk that Continental Divide and I’m going to ride my bike across this country and some other things, as well.  I’m not going to get any of it done with excuses.  It is time. 

Bike duration:  Two hours.

Training Heart Rate:  120 bpm.

Calories burned during workout:  1700.