the tao of cycling: water

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

water

the glass is half full.
the glass is half empty.
the 8 oz glass has 4 oz of water in it.

I tend to live in the last category, and call myself (among other things) a realist. I definitely have a positive outlook, and even consider myself optimistic, but my optimism is tempered with a healthy dose of reality.
this drives some people crazy, just as I'm sure optimists and pessimists do the same to others.
one of my biking partners told me the other day, "if you always think you have a tailwind, you do." I thought about hitting him. honestly. wishing and thinking just can't always make it so, and why should it? what's wrong with me noticing that I have a headwind pushing against me? I don't dwell on it, I don't bemoan it for long, and I don't turn around because of it . . . but I want to be able to point out that it's there without being considered negative.
there are plenty things in life that conflict with our dreams about how life might be, and I see nothing wrong with acknowledging them. to whine, complain, and not move forward because of them is unwise and self-defeating, but to pretend they don't exist isn't necessary, either.
I have a child who says to me at least two or three times a day, "you know what I hate?" and then goes on to tell me her latest gripe. they are usually minor annoyances, and I try not to roll my eyes when I hear the question. I get tired of hearing what she hates. I want to hear about something she loves! sometime!
but she's entitled to recognize and verbalize those things that irritate her, and if she wants to say she hates them, that needs to be okay. and I'm hoping it's just a phase.

it's okay to hate things, to wish or want them to be done differently.
it's also okay to love things, to share your joy about them with everyone you know.
and it's okay to see things cleanly and simply, and just be aware without attaching any strong feelings to them at all.
and I guess my favorite people are accomplished at merging all three of these as they go through life, without imposing their way of thinking and viewing things upon anyone else.

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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.