Saturday, January 03, 2009

I've had worse (I saw Jarrett while biking yesterday) part 1 of 14

I expected my biking outside for the first time in several months to be a horrible experience. And while I was surprised at how quickly my legs became tired, I remembered once again that I really enjoy biking. -- Hang on, Bowie's "I'm afraid of Americans" just came on. I have to "disco out" for a second. Ok there.

Anyway, I was spinning down the trail, into the wind, on the cross bike. Nice easy, "I can go forever at this speed" pace. Like around 140 bpm or so. Not a care in the world (other than the ruts in the big sheets of ice). The nice thing about the trail is that since it's flat, my excess weight is no problem. My plan was to get about an hour in. I have never been guilty of overtraining. Since I'm just starting, I don't have to do much. That's the beauty of it. I was going into the wind so I figured I'd turn around at 35 minutes.

Then 35 minutes happened. The moment I'd been waiting for for about 35 minutes. My ears were cold (I don't have an amazing body like Bryan). I kept going not because I thought "I need the miles". On the contrary - I don't want or need to do too much too soon. I just lacked the discipline to turn around when I was supposed to. I was enjoying the feeling so much that I just wanted a little more.

I turned around at about 50 minutes - then it got fun. Tailwind all the way home.

I think I really really needed to get away from the bike for a while. I haven't enjoyed a ride like that since 2000 when I added cycling as the cardio part of a weight training program - then immediately abandoned weight training.

Oh yeah - and I saw Jarrett.

1 comment:

munsoned said...

Glad you survived over those under bridge icecapades. I stay away from the trail till those are almost completely gone. Purdy scary.

So since this is part 1 of 14, do you plan on writing about your next 14 rides within the next 3 weeks? Is that motivation enough for ya?