the tao of cycling: the FOUBMID award

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

the FOUBMID award

I won it today.
a self-bestowed award, of course, but an award nonetheless.
I still count them, even when I have to give them to myself: if I sat around waiting for the world to hand them out to me, I would be sitting around waiting most of my life.
nix that.

so I just jumped in there and gave myself the First One Up Big Mountain In Daylight award this morning, and I am darn pleased to own this one.
(I had to qualify this award with the "in daylight" appendage, because it's entirely possible someone could have snuck up and down the mountain in the dark without my knowledge. I'd feel terrible claiming an award I didn't truly win.)

a while back bill told me about sitting at the top of big mountain, eating breakfast, at 7:15 one morning (okay, "breakfast" consisted of a power bar and a few swigs from the gatorade-filled water bottle), and since that time I think I've held that in the back of my mind as an enviable experience. so last evening, when I was thinking about today's ride, I decided I had enough steam in me to get out early and get my butt up to the top of big mountain in time for my own little morning repast.

and I did.

thus at 7:10 this morning I crested the summit and dismounted, picking my way carefully across the gravelly lot and toward the bench that faces south-west-ish, looking out over the massive expanse of trees and hills and valleys and peaks.
I paused.
I sat, unwrapped my sweet-n-salty nut bar, and nibbled as I surveyed the peaceful kingdom that came with my award.
it echoed back to me pride and justice, strength and omnipotence, and a quiet self-knowledge that all is right in the world.

happy birthday, barack obama,
and happy award day, susan.
may we both have many happy returns.

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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.