the tao of cycling: fuel, shoes, and couplehood

Sunday, July 20, 2008

fuel, shoes, and couplehood

well, I didn't ride my hundred today: my route planner was a little off in his calculations, and with 73 miles up we decided not to stress about adding the extra sixteen necessary to make 100. and although at that point we were feeling a little beat up, we refueled and could have kept going to our original goal. Ah, what a lesson. I can keep going as long as I keep refueling. I have always struggled with refueling, thinking that it's not always necessary, or I don't know what fuel I need, or that it may be selfish and greedy of me to do so. and though there are certain fuels we all need ~ food, hydration, sleep ~ other fuels can be unique to a person. I've learned I need space, peace, silence, creative outlets, and laughter, among other things. and I have friends who need contact with other friends, gatherings, music, and action movies . . . just as tigers need meat and rabbits need greens, we all have fuel requirements that are unique to ourselves.

So I ended with 84, and called it good. this is big for me, as I usually push to make those goals happen. I am trying to not be so determined, to try to flow more . . .
which leads me right to the flowing river we rode alongside for a while, the Weber. water is soothing, peaceful, invigorating, dramatic: I love the sound of it as it tumbles over rocks in the streambed, and it just fills my heart with joy.

and I also find great joy in street names and signs that I see while on my rides! I collect them, mentally, and know that there is a reason for this. today's favorite: Wooden Shoe Lane. there is a story here! there are stories everywhere. we all have a story, every place has at least one story, every being on this earth has a story. what if one day we all had the wisdom to unearth and listen to these stories?

in closing, toward the end of our ride we were in an area populated with pedestrians and cars, and I rode past an older couple, standing together, waiting to cross the street. I want to grow old with someone I love, cherish, and respect. I want to hold hands and walk together, down a path we create ourselves. I want to wait patiently, knowing that we will cross the challenges of our lives together, when the time is right.

214 miles in this week.....

1 comment:

Lady Di said...: Susan, I too want to grow old with someone I love, cherish and respect. I love your new blog. Diana; July 21, 2008 at 9:59 AM

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the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.