the tao of cycling: this or that or possibly, something completely different

Thursday, July 16, 2009

this or that or possibly, something completely different

back to decisions:
this happens to me. I can be going along, thinking I'll do either A or B, when I have a conversation with someone who points out that C is an option as well, and next thing I know A and B are out the window and I'm thinking C is the best idea since sliced bread. or air cartridges. or mint mojitos.

what happened is that this morning after yoga I chatted with biking bob, talking about potential weekend rides. he was concerned that both options (those would be A and B, today) would turn into all-day events. he is right about that. and that both were rides where you had to drive to the starting point. oh, I don't like that either.
he mentioned that he'd rather just ride out the door and go up big mountain, down to east canyon, and then maybe go further if he/we/whomever felt like it (this would be C) . . .
he's right, that's what I'd rather do . . .

suddenly C is the right thing.

but then I said, how about doing that saturday, so that if I decide I want to do the Mt. Nebo thing I could still do that on sunday . . .

so now you've been updated with my current thoughts about the weekend rides. I am always torn with wanting certain new experiences, but not wanting to make an entire day event out of them. which then starts me wondering about why that is: why do I not want to spend the whole day out there doing something I like, with people who are probably right up my alley (or bike lane)?
the only answer I can come up with is that there are just too many other things I like to do. or want to do. or need to (eventually) do. (the latter category includes things like laundry, dusting, vacuuming, putting things away, going grocery shopping, keeping up on correspondence, and oh yes, more dusting.)
it's hard to give up the bulk of a day, especially when you return disgustingly sweaty and grimy and tired, to boot.

so, once again I am postponing any real decision. things are formulating in my mind, different scenarios for the weekend adjusting, comparing and contrasting themselves, and I'm quite unsure of the ultimate outcome.

but I have a feeling C will be in there somewhere.

and here's a sneak preview: tomorrow I plan to write about guns.
stay tuned!

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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.