Forrest's Momma Was Right

Earlier this week I had decided to try to go on a ride every other day. I went on Tuesday and got the chance to go again today. Up to this point, I have been getting in two rides a week so this big plan of mine was really bumping things up a notch. Things were very different today, though.

For one thing I started out in the afternoon, during the hottest part of a hot day—stupid, but it was my only chance. It didn’t take me long to realize that today wasn’t going to be like other days I’ve ridden. Usually when I start riding, I feel good and excited. Today I felt like a silly old man…and it hurt. I started my usual loop but found I wasn’t looking forward to it—I didn’t want to ride it. So I changed up at the last minute. I headed out on a route that I had been saving for my 30 mile day. It is flat and straight and, relatively traffic free—at least that is what I thought. The route does go through some congested areas, but I was surprised to find that the traffic never died down—the bike lane did, but the traffic didn’t. I also was surprised to feel like I was going up hill the entire time. In fact, the entire day it felt like I was riding in sand.

I had been looking forward to a straight, flat ride—one where I could just put my head down and pedal at a good, steady pace. Instead of just powering on down the road, I found myself concentrating on all of my discomfort and pain. My legs never really got going and my butt hurt. My hands started going numb at a couple of points and the only thing that helped was shifting my weight. I was really a mess out there. Rather than being comforting, the monotony of the straight, flat was a little boring and it allowed me to focus too much on how bad I felt.

I used to run long distances in high school track and 10K races in the summers. I spent a lot of time running. There were times when I didn’t feel good and lost confidence and then the will to keep running. It is a terrible feeling to get to the point of giving up, even if it is just to walk for a few minutes. You never really recover from that during a run and it sticks with you for a long time afterward. There were many times when I had to talk myself through a race or a run—to keep myself going. It is a gut-wrenching thing to make yourself do something you don’t think you can do or want to do.

In my short cycling career (the last few weeks) I’ve always felt good. I’ve always wanted to be out there and have always been confident that I could do what I was trying to do, and, more importantly, wanted to do what I was trying to do. Today was different. I felt silly and out of place, like I didn’t belong on a bike trying to ride a measly 25 miles. When you start out in that kind of mental state, you are in for a long, hard ride. And today was a long, hard ride.

I only went 22 miles and it took me about 1:40, so it was a lot like most of my other rides. But today it hurt and today it was a struggle and tonight I am really tired and really sore. I am not sure what made the difference, but I really want to know. Was it the heat? It was pretty hot today and I usually don’t ride in the middle of the day. Was it the route? I was looking forward to a flat, straight route. Maybe I am too used to getting a break during the downhill sections. I didn’t have very many of those today. Was it the softness of my back tire? It seemed a bit low, but I haven’t checked it to see how low. I really felt like I was riding in sand, but that could be because my legs didn’t want to go today. Is it because I rode 23 miles the day before yesterday and I am not ready to do a 20 mile ride every other day?

I don’t know for sure, maybe it was all of those things. I am going to find out, though. I’ll ride that route again, not in the middle of the day and on properly inflated tires. I won’t be able to go on a ride again until early next week, so I’ll be plenty rested, too. We’ll see what happens.

You never know what you're gonna get.