Friday night I called Wendi at work and in her infinite wisdom she made the right choice by deciding not to race. So at 3:30 am on Saturday Mike, Ike, and I were up and on our way to Pleasant Valley, NY. Uuugh. Early. I’m a solo artist. Sweet.
I’m going to warn you right now that this is possibly the most boring entry I’ve written. Don’t say I didn’t warn you… Now I’m going to bore you with talk about the joints….They’ve been really bad lately. My hands, wrists, and ankles have been giving me some hell for a few weeks now. I went boxer style and taped my wrists up. It actually helped a little. It was worth the interesting tan lines. It is a little scary when you’re flying down a technical downhill and are struggling to hold on to the bars. Usually, I have to stop or slow down and give my hands a break. I ride with them on top and rest them on the bars. Not so safe if there are any bumps, I know. This isn’t really an optimal situation in a shorter race. Thank goodness this was a long enough day and I felt ZERO pressure. I could stop and let them relax. However, I did only ride for 6 hours. I rode a little over 4 hours straight, took a break and then Jane and I had our comedy and yoga hour. After I felt we had tortured Jim B. enough I went back out. After about 5 hours my hands gradually began to morph into claws. I knew it was time to pull the pin…
To be honest I haven’t really enjoyed riding the bike lately. It’s not like I’m cooked or any where near being over trained. I think it’s because I’ve been feeling like crap and am always playing catch-up. The fact that a lot of people are peaking right now does not make it any easier on me. I think I’ve just come to terms with how much I’ve lost in the last few months. Lately, I’ve been looking at the bike as if it were some medieval torture device. I haven’t felt good on the bike in a really long time. I just wanted to go out and ride. Just ride. Who cares about how fast and if I have to stop and give the body a break? Well, normally I do. But today I let that go from my mind. That’s pretty much what I did. It was hard, I’ll admit. When riders whizzed past me that I knew I could ride with I had to keep telling myself to chill out. That wasn’t why I did this…
I had to keep telling myself to keep my HR down and “just ride”. Enjoy the bike. Had the “bulldozer climb” not been there I probably would have enjoyed myself much more…It was good day, though. No pressure. Good company and LOTS of laughs.
So a little of my competitive nature has to come out. I do have to point out I did do as many laps as Mike!! If I didn’t develop “claw hands” I would have definitely gone out for another lap. I could have rubbed that one in for months. Damn hands. This will do. This will definitely do.
I’m going to warn you right now that this is possibly the most boring entry I’ve written. Don’t say I didn’t warn you… Now I’m going to bore you with talk about the joints….They’ve been really bad lately. My hands, wrists, and ankles have been giving me some hell for a few weeks now. I went boxer style and taped my wrists up. It actually helped a little. It was worth the interesting tan lines. It is a little scary when you’re flying down a technical downhill and are struggling to hold on to the bars. Usually, I have to stop or slow down and give my hands a break. I ride with them on top and rest them on the bars. Not so safe if there are any bumps, I know. This isn’t really an optimal situation in a shorter race. Thank goodness this was a long enough day and I felt ZERO pressure. I could stop and let them relax. However, I did only ride for 6 hours. I rode a little over 4 hours straight, took a break and then Jane and I had our comedy and yoga hour. After I felt we had tortured Jim B. enough I went back out. After about 5 hours my hands gradually began to morph into claws. I knew it was time to pull the pin…
To be honest I haven’t really enjoyed riding the bike lately. It’s not like I’m cooked or any where near being over trained. I think it’s because I’ve been feeling like crap and am always playing catch-up. The fact that a lot of people are peaking right now does not make it any easier on me. I think I’ve just come to terms with how much I’ve lost in the last few months. Lately, I’ve been looking at the bike as if it were some medieval torture device. I haven’t felt good on the bike in a really long time. I just wanted to go out and ride. Just ride. Who cares about how fast and if I have to stop and give the body a break? Well, normally I do. But today I let that go from my mind. That’s pretty much what I did. It was hard, I’ll admit. When riders whizzed past me that I knew I could ride with I had to keep telling myself to chill out. That wasn’t why I did this…
I had to keep telling myself to keep my HR down and “just ride”. Enjoy the bike. Had the “bulldozer climb” not been there I probably would have enjoyed myself much more…It was good day, though. No pressure. Good company and LOTS of laughs.
So a little of my competitive nature has to come out. I do have to point out I did do as many laps as Mike!! If I didn’t develop “claw hands” I would have definitely gone out for another lap. I could have rubbed that one in for months. Damn hands. This will do. This will definitely do.
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