the tao of cycling: the big 5-0

Monday, April 13, 2009

the big 5-0

I hit the big 5-0 yesterday; first one of the season, and it felt a lot like I think it's supposed to feel . . .
exciting
a milestone
a little tiring
something to celebrate
more draining than I wanted it to be

yep, my first 50-mile ride of the season is now under my belt. (I would say it's on my cyclometer, but it's not, as I still can't get that darn thing to track my miles. but that's a whole different posting, and I'm waiting until I'm really fed up with it before I unleash all my frustrations here.)
easter sunday, a perfect day to celebrate the gorgeous spring weather by going for a ride around summit county.
we rode from pinebrook---a few miles east of Kimble Junction---west and then south, heading toward jordanelle dam, and then down into kamas. from there we rode to oakley and on to peoa, coming back through brown's canyon and winding through what used to be the northwest part of snyderville and then back to pinebrook. a couple decent climbs, and a few great descents, and an absolute gift of a tailwind for the first third of the ride. what more could I ask for?

well, a little more strength.
I still want to be better.
this is what happens when you spend most of your time riding with people who are better than you: you feel that push-desire-frustration that urges you to work harder, get better, be stronger, ride faster . . .
since this is a boring conversation, though, I am going to flip over to the glories of yesterday's ride.

the ski resorts still have snow bases of 100 inches or more, so you can picture the mountains that surrounded us as we rode. dark pines and sketchy, bare aspen line the ridges that are still densely white. the sky was robin egg blue, with thick white and light gray clouds clumping and splitting apart, giving us warm shots of sunshine interspersed with moments of cool. wind frolicked around us constantly, moving the clean, crisp air around the hills and valleys and alternately pushing or pulling us along.
it was the penultimate spring day, with air so fresh and fragrant that you can actually sense buds and shoots and roots growing as you ride along. we rode past a lumber mill---oh, what a fragrance---and then a pig farm. this is knowing you are fully alive.

I could have ridden a hundred miles.
but I was glad it was only fifty.

there are plenty more rides to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.