Sunday, June 19, 2011

hogsback and henefer: whew and woo-hoo

the trip from salt lake to henefer and back seems to be a standard training ride for "serious" cyclists around here.
how would I define "serious" as used in this context?
determined, stubborn, indifferent to pain, slightly crazy, yep, words like that.

the round trip is about 80 miles, with perhaps around 7,000' of elevation gain: emigration, big mountain, hogsback (which is just a big darn silly hill out in the middle of nowhere you have to climb then descend: why do they do that?) . . . then everything again in the opposite direction. plenty climbing, plenty swooping, a tour alongside two reservoirs, and, yesterday, a chipper moose (my third of the week) trotting down the road in front of me on our way down from big mountain on the way home.

on the first leg of our ride I asked biking buddy bob if he ever got nervous before rides like this.


"nervous? no, not nervous. I might get anxious before a big organized ride, like the 1000 warriors, or lotoja, rides like that. rides like this today, I might have thoughts like 'I don't want to do this,' but it's not an anxious thing."


he nailed it. I had been trying to put descriptive words to what I'd been feeling earlier in the morning, and perhaps the most accurate word would be dread. as in, oh, this is going to hurt, I would rather stay home and eat bon-bons and life would be easier if I didn't like to ride my bike. wait, do I like to ride my bike? then why don't I want to go today? oh, that's right, because it's going to hurt . . .


the trip to henefer, standard summer ride for the serious training cyclist, is just not one of my favorites. I've only ridden it 3 or so times, and I have never loved it.


so yesterday I was experiencing some combined form of dread and anxiety, yet telling myself I had all day to do it and great company, and it would be just fine.


and it was. parts were less fun than others, but I survived it, it's behind me, and I have just jumped a mental hurdle: the first long, painful ride of the season to henefer.



it may not seem like so much, but for some reason, having this ride behind me is significant. perhaps it's like passing your first exam in a new course, or receiving your first--and favorable--review at a new job. surviving this ride is confirmation that my training has been good enough, and I'm on the right path.


it's a whew.


and a woo-hoo.

2 comments:

Holly said...

Sounds like fun ... want to go again tomorrow? Remember~you love to ride!

susan said...

are you coming with me?