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Ride Ride Ride
Jun. 30th, 2009 11:05 amLess than 2 weeks to Death Ride 2009.
Discovery 1: I hate (!!) waking up at 3am. My first thought is not, "Goodie, I'm going riding." It's "Oh F*@&! It's just not fair. And I do this to myself. What is wrong with me?" I really prefer 3:30. 3:45 is even better. 4 am feels like sleeping in. I actually got moving at 3:45 and felt better for lolling in bed. It was totally mental since it's not like I got more rest by spending 45 minutes glaring at the clock and arguing with myself about how mean I am to me. But I felt mentally refreshed and as long as all the voices in my head are getting along and I'm going through the motions of gearing-up, it's all good. (hahaha!)
Discovery 2: I really need to clean out my water/gatorade bottles right after a run/ride. 2 table spoon of water + undistrubed container + 3 days = Floaters... yuck.
Discovery 3: I've worn out my brakes almost all the way. Cool. I feel so "frugal" and "not wastey". I bought new ones and will be putting them on tonight.
Discovery 4: Weenie100 warned me to always use both brakes at the same time. Sadly, some of us have to learn the hard way. If you only use the rear hand-brake, bad things happen. If you do this going into a turn at +20mph going downhill, it appears that your rear wheel will slide faster than the front wheel turns and you start to go sideways. I can't quite compute that math, but experiencing is believing. It's quite an adreniline booster once you remember your feet are clipped to your pedals and your options are "stick turn" or "wipe out". I stayed calm and got lucky.
Discovery 5: I rocked my ride this morning. 2hrs, 49 minutes. That's a personal best. I've taken my time down by more than 40 minutes in a month. I tackled the hills with intent to conquer, not intent to survive. I'm feeling like a rock star! I'd be struttin' my cool bad-a$$ self at work and bragging it up with my jock-coworkers, but shaving that time down really kicks my butt and fatigues my legs. Right now I have to focus on staying upright and not collapsing into chairs, but I'm struttin on the inside... oh yeah, I'm bad, that's me, the bad-a$$ novice! woot woot ...
Discovery 6: I really like riding to work. I think I'm going to keep doing this 2 times a week after Deathride. It's beautiful and I get some quality think-time.
Discovery 7: The grass is always greener... I was hoofing it to my car yesterday and spotted a lady in heals. She had lovely, slim calves and I was once again overcome with slim-calf envy. Today one of my work gal-pals yelled up to me from the bottom of the stairs, "Oh my god! Look at your legs! Your calves are huge. I'm so jealous!" She's a member of the slim-calf-club and we had a short dialogue where I comment that "bigger is not always better." However, she cries that she thinks big calf muscles are gorgeous and she'd trade with me in a second. I think it's pretty funny that on some level we all seem to suffer from wanting what someone else has.
Discovery 1: I hate (!!) waking up at 3am. My first thought is not, "Goodie, I'm going riding." It's "Oh F*@&! It's just not fair. And I do this to myself. What is wrong with me?" I really prefer 3:30. 3:45 is even better. 4 am feels like sleeping in. I actually got moving at 3:45 and felt better for lolling in bed. It was totally mental since it's not like I got more rest by spending 45 minutes glaring at the clock and arguing with myself about how mean I am to me. But I felt mentally refreshed and as long as all the voices in my head are getting along and I'm going through the motions of gearing-up, it's all good. (hahaha!)
Discovery 2: I really need to clean out my water/gatorade bottles right after a run/ride. 2 table spoon of water + undistrubed container + 3 days = Floaters... yuck.
Discovery 3: I've worn out my brakes almost all the way. Cool. I feel so "frugal" and "not wastey". I bought new ones and will be putting them on tonight.
Discovery 4: Weenie100 warned me to always use both brakes at the same time. Sadly, some of us have to learn the hard way. If you only use the rear hand-brake, bad things happen. If you do this going into a turn at +20mph going downhill, it appears that your rear wheel will slide faster than the front wheel turns and you start to go sideways. I can't quite compute that math, but experiencing is believing. It's quite an adreniline booster once you remember your feet are clipped to your pedals and your options are "stick turn" or "wipe out". I stayed calm and got lucky.
Discovery 5: I rocked my ride this morning. 2hrs, 49 minutes. That's a personal best. I've taken my time down by more than 40 minutes in a month. I tackled the hills with intent to conquer, not intent to survive. I'm feeling like a rock star! I'd be struttin' my cool bad-a$$ self at work and bragging it up with my jock-coworkers, but shaving that time down really kicks my butt and fatigues my legs. Right now I have to focus on staying upright and not collapsing into chairs, but I'm struttin on the inside... oh yeah, I'm bad, that's me, the bad-a$$ novice! woot woot ...
Discovery 6: I really like riding to work. I think I'm going to keep doing this 2 times a week after Deathride. It's beautiful and I get some quality think-time.
Discovery 7: The grass is always greener... I was hoofing it to my car yesterday and spotted a lady in heals. She had lovely, slim calves and I was once again overcome with slim-calf envy. Today one of my work gal-pals yelled up to me from the bottom of the stairs, "Oh my god! Look at your legs! Your calves are huge. I'm so jealous!" She's a member of the slim-calf-club and we had a short dialogue where I comment that "bigger is not always better." However, she cries that she thinks big calf muscles are gorgeous and she'd trade with me in a second. I think it's pretty funny that on some level we all seem to suffer from wanting what someone else has.
