the tao of cycling: super saturday

Saturday, July 19, 2008

super saturday

hi all,
today's ride was brief, as I am planning to do a hundred tomorrow. but what a morning: I met a handful of friends, and thus we started later than I usually do. seven-thirty start at hogle zoo, which became about a seven-fifty-something start . . . this is not easy for me, as I am a "go get it done" kind of person. chatting, well, can't we do that while we ride? what do you mean, rest at the top, don't we get to rest on the way down? oh, truth, so difficult to face in oneself.
so, one person pealed off and went home at the top of emigration, I continued with the group up to the top of big mountain where one other joined us, and then I left for home while the rest planned to ride to henefer and then back.
there were cyclists everywhere . . . I have never seen quite so many out. I have noticed there are more out this summer than last, but today was like a party. maybe because of the later start, maybe because more people are riding, maybe my eyes are just a little more open.
riding up big mountain I was with andy, who has one of those great toys that tells you all sorts of statistics about yourself and your ride. which was great fun, as he kept me updated as to the grade of the road. I'm into grades: just how hard is this? should I really be in zone 5 right now, or am I being a wimp today? how does this grade compare to what I rode yesterday?
I have toy envy.
so, andy let me know every time we hit one of those 9% grades, as I watched my speed drop from six-point-something to five-point-something . . . I really hate riding in the fives. but the fours are worse, and there are certain stretches of road where I can't even get to 5 mph without killing myself.
so now you know the truth.
I am a tortoise, a faithful, committed, determined, capable tortoise.

2 comments:

Holly said...: Yikes.......my friend

I'm shocked and delighted to see this embrace of the world of technology. I don’t know why it should surprise me though. Maybe it’s the vision of prying a writing utensil out of your hands, so your fingers would be free to type. Chop Wood, Carry Water and all that...............

I haven’t dusted off my bike yet this summer albeit not out of laziness. I’m in marathon training mode. (details over coffee) Seven miles on the pipe line this morning, while you were lounging atop your saddle, just kidding. I’ve never, ever, seen you lounge while riding. Unless you were waiting for me to catch up that is!

Anyway, good luck in the blogosphere and with that 100 in the am.

and remember..............

“When the lowest vertebrae are plumb erect,
The spirit reaches to the top of the head.
With the top of the head as if suspended from above:
The whole body feels itself light and nimble.”
The Classics of Tai-Chi-Ch’uan

Be light tomorrow my friend,
Holly; July 19, 2008 at 5:26 PM
Unknown said...: Wow, That is absolute a beautiful thing. I guess we could have paid you rather than a webmaster oh blog master. Mitch, Pete and Jeff did 100 yesterday and had a wonderful time. I wish you the same for today.

Lots of love,
Connie; July 20, 2008 at 10:37 AM

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.