the tao of cycling: worse

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

worse

I gave myself a reality check this morning, and guess what? things could be worse.
yes, I want to get out there and ride, and yes, it keeps snowing and preventing me from doing that. yes, I'd like some more of those 60 and 70 degree days so I don't return from a ride frozen, and yes, the temps have been hovering in the 30s and 40s.
however,
things could be worse.
I could be a high school lacrosse player.

my 16 year old plays lacrosse on his high school team. he's been playing for about 8 years now, and has a passion for the sport. I think it has something to do with the fact that you get to hit people.
lacrosse season is in the spring, and league rules allow them to begin practice on president's day in february. for these past 2 years that he's been in high school, he's worked with his teammates to shovel the snow off the field so that they can begin practice that day. (the varsity team played a game in the blizzard 3 days ago, where people had to run shovel snow off the lines on the field during the game so that the refs could do their job, but that's someone else's story for another time.)
so far the team has had 2 games postponed due to snowstorms, and I'm waiting for tonight's game to suffer the same fate, as I watch the snow pour down and pile up outside my window.

snow makes practice difficult, as well.

when the weather is abhorrent (which is one giant step worse than inclement) I have the ability to go sit on a spin bike indoors, and continue to work on my fitness level and skills. the lacrosse team doesn't have the same option, as they can barely find fields to practice on, let alone a large, field-sized indoor space.
although the guys might (secretly) welcome a day off, they also know the season is short, and it will all end soon. I think they'd rather be practicing than not.
(especially since the varsity, junior varsity, and freshman/sophomore teams are all undefeated so far this year: that's my little "I'm a proud mom" plug.)

therefore, my reality check got me out of my woe is me it's snowing again pity party, and back into that place of gratitude.
which always shows up when I realize things could be worse.

I could play lacrosse.

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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.