Ironman... the long and winding road

"Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic." Tim Noakes

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." T.S. Elliot

10.01.2006

GABA Ride

Today is Sunday and I had made plans to go with a friend of mine on a GABA ride. We met at 6:20am and then took off promptly at 6:30. When he told me what the route would be, I was not really looking forward to it, because I had done hills yesterday and this ride had a lot of hills in it also!! We made it 23 miles and then I told my friend that I had to turn around because of a bad cramp in my back. I think this was partly due to the fact that I have not been able to find a seat that is comfortable to ride. The seat that I am riding is off of my son's bike and it is really hurting. I used to ride a Brooks saddle and I still wish that I could! It is an awesome seat and I really loved it, but my nerve in my leg does not love it.

On the way home from our ride, it was funny because suddenly the cramp in my back was gone. I was really happy to be pain free there, now if I could just get rid of the pain elsewhere I would be set.

The ride over all was a good one and we ended up with 40 miles. ( I also rode 14 miles later in the day, to show my friend LeeAnne a route that she can ride to get to work.) All the miles to day would be 54 miles! Another big day in the saddle, just glad that it was a good one with no mishaps, just a pain in the butt because of the seat.

Three guys, a girl and our bikes :)

Every weekend the riders on the rides are as follows: three guys, a girl and our bikes. On Saturdays, it is usually the same three guys that come out and promptly proceed to kick my a$$. Try though I might, I can never seem to get the best of them at speed, hill climbing or sprinting...

I had not been feeling well the week before the ride and I have not ridden in 2 weeks due to the fact that I have been out of town the past 2 weekends.

The first weekend, I was in IA attending my cousins wedding. He married a wonderful girl and it was a beautiful ceremony. The second weekend we (my boyfriend and some friends) went to Bisbee, AZ to relax because they had just finished their cycle of work that has been ongoing for the past year (and of course will continue on and on never ending :( )

As I rode up to meet the guys, I asked where we were going today?? Next all I heard was hills, hills, hills!! Then finally my mind wrapped around the idea of riding to Colossal Cave.

Colossal Cave is not a bad ride by any means. As we rode out there I started to sing to my friend Jerry the Roberta Flack song, of course modified... Killing me softly with this ride, because to get to the cave, it is mostly up hill and he was riding pretty fast. It was a fast that I did not want to go just yet. As we rode a long, the guys slowly began to leave me as we started to hit the hills. I was just slow and my legs felt heavy. I think that it is all really just a mental thing as to why I go slow. The reason why I say that it is a mental thing is because the hills seemed never ending, you could see them coming one after the other!! And when you thought that you had seen the last of them, you make a right turn onto a road called Pistol Hill RD which was another hill!! But yes alas, I know, what goes up must come down and this must be why I beat the guys up this hill. Well, one of the guys I just rode up to, but could have passed (but, they all waited for me to get there. And this hill was steeper then all the rest, but IT just didn't seem that bad. ) We then had a few miles of down hill and then again some more hills!! But at least after the last 4 hills, it was smooth sailing from there... Down hill woo whoo. I had waited all day for this and I was happy for it. 53 miles later we are at breakfast, enjoy good food and great company, my friends and my boyfriend.

In the art of speed, hill climbing and sprinting they can romp on me two fold, I wonder to myself, why am I a glutton for punishment?? One answer simply is Ironman is coming, another is that they are better then me (at all the above, but one thing I did not mention is endurance, this is one thing that they haven't gotten the best of me yet!!) and I need this.