the tao of cycling: 26.2

Saturday, April 18, 2009

26.2

today was the salt lake marathon, which means it was also the 5th annual salt lake bike tour.
this one incredibly special day each year the city and county close the path of the marathon completely to cars, and allow bicyclists to ride the route early in the morning before the runners begin.
what a rush!
1500 or so of us rode the course, and were able to sail through umpteen red lights, a handful of yellow and green ones, and stop sign after stop sign . . . all under the willing and gracious eyes of sheriffs and policemen galore.
the great thing about it all is that you never have to stop!

the difficult thing about it all is that you never have to stop!

there were a lot of fast riders out there this morning. they call this a "bike tour," meaning that it is not a race: everyone wins. so I tend to think that calls to less enthusiastic (read: obsessed) riders than people like, hmmm, well, me.
but there were hundreds of riders out there in their team kits (jerseys, shorts, etc, for those of you unfamiliar with that term), pushing their legs around like mad.
and passing me.

I hate getting passed.
okay, I should qualify that.
I don't like getting passed. mainly because it reinforces the fact that I'm just not that fast of a rider. and I hate that.
okay, let me qualify that.
I sure wish I were a faster rider, and my silly little self-concept and (ugh) ego get a little dented every time I think about it.

now to be completely honest, I did notice that at the very end of the course, with 2 miles or so to go, I was still riding pretty strong. and I acknowledge it's not that long of a course, but I plowed up the last little hill and held my own at the end, which I will take as confirmation that I am just better at endurance than speed.
I have to remember this.

we are all created differently.
I was not created for speed, and this is OK. my little feathers get ruffled when this is pointed out to me time and time again, and I am just taking this as one more exercise in humility and reality for yours truly. I don't have to be great at everything; it's okay to be great at quirky things. I can be an endurance cyclist, I can be creative, I can be organized and quick-witted and kind and generous.
I don't have to be fast.

along with FAITH tattooed on my knuckles, I'm going to have to have I don't have to be fast tattooed on my right quadricep.
perhaps then I can more easily keep that in mind when cyclist after cyclist passes me, time and time again.

ah, humility.
ah, reality.

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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.