100k training ride DONE!

Yay - did my 100 km training ride last weekend. It was a tough route, but good.

The whole process of the rides has inspired me to really think about why I like doing this long-distance cycling thing.... and I really think it's the same reason I liked training for the half-marathon.

Endurance activities are a delicate balance of mental and physical, at least in my world. I'll never be the fastest, my body isn't naturally athletic, but I've learned that it takes more stubbornness and preparation than anything to do endurance sports.

I like them because something happens to you in the middle of a long run or ride - and by long I mean long, a 20km run, or a 100km ride:

You start out confident, because it's just a little bit further than the last one.

And then you hit the first hill, or headwind, or rough terrain, and it gets hard FAST, you suddenly start to wonder if you've bitten off more than you can chew. Maybe you're not enough

You do a quarter of the distance and tell yourself it'll be okay - only three more of those.

You push through your first half and take a short break, at that point you're feeling enthused because you made it to the turn point -- but in the back of your mind there's a tiny voice asking you how the hell you're going to get going again.

Somewhere between the beginning of that 2nd half, and the 3/4 mark the mental part kicks in. It starts to physically HURT, and it starts to hurt BAD. Your body is revolting against you, you're getting sharp pains where you haven't gotten them before, and all your muscles are protesting. Your brain starts beating you down; you're not fast enough, fit enough, strong enough. What is your backup plan when this inevitably fails and you have to call a taxi? Everything hurts and you want to cry because you obviously suck at being sporty, but you tell yourself to keep pushing on, a cab is way too expensive from the middle of nowhere anyways -- wait until you make it into the city limits and can catch the bus.

And then something happens....... it all changes in a second. Suddenly you realize your joints don't hurt anymore - you have beat your body into submission and now it's just doing it. You realize you've come really effin' far. You realize you only have an hour to go, and at least it's still light out. You start planning your next seven meals. You fly down hills, and make your way up them in a matter of fact way. Suddenly you're the most talented athlete in the world (it also helps that at this point the super-riders in their super-spandex have already finished, gone home, and you're surrounded by those of a similar caliber as yourself).

You finish sore, but ultimately realize it was worth it. You sit carefully on the subway to head home, vaguely proud of the heinous athletic odor surrounding you and the errant grease accenting your now define muscles.


In a matter of hours, you've gone from confidence, to rock bottom, to the top of the world. And you went really far in the process.

THAT is why I like endurance sports.

Cycling!

So I've become one of those cycling geeks. I give myself a small amount of credit because I resisted buying the stupid looking "Road Shoes" (instead opting for a much more subtle Touring Shoe) -- but I realized this over the weekend as I got out my pretty new bike and kitted it out with Shimano clipless pedals, a female-specific seat, and a cool little computer that leads to all sorts of geeky excitement.


This whole cycling thing game from a desire to get back in shape when I don't have the physical ability to run the same distances I once did. I started out on "the Beast" (an affectionate name for the old Raleigh Road bike I fixed up last year, and have been riding since --- and recently upgraded to a much lighter, 55cm Aquila racing bike.

The Aquila is also an older model, with index shifters on the downtube - but is exactly what I was looking for in a bike. It's lugged steel frame offers me a pretty solid base, while also being alot lighter than the Raleigh. The index shifters were actually something I was looking for, as self-sufficiency is important to me in my bike at the moment, I know how to fix them -- and don't know how to deal with fancy STI shifters. My only real complaint about it is that the racing drops force me to lean forward more than I had to in the Raleigh drops to brake effectively -- my plan is to ask the bike shop to raise them about 3/4 of an inch to help compensate for the pressure this puts on my shoulders.

Otherwise, I've been debating which wheelset should stay, and which should go, but that's pretty minor.

I've been riding to/from work alot lately --- averaging about 10-15 km a day on the bike minimum -- with a cruising speed of about 20km/hour. Not so bad!


Today's Ride Stats:
To work:
Maximum Speed: 42km/hour
Average Speed: 20.9km/hour
Time to Work: 18 minutes


P.S. -- Yes, my plan is to run again..... I'm just trying to get back in shape before dragging my heavy carcass out and putting all that pounding on the road.