Wow! It's so hard to believe that it's September 2. Where, oh, where did the summer go? Looking back over the events of the summer, it's so hard to fathom all that I have unintentionally accomplished. After bruising my tail bone in January and traveling for work, I had become a relatively sedentary creature (should I say sloth?).
On June 16, I decided to get myself in gear and tried one of Woody LaRue's Monday Night Rides - a 22 mile course from Heritage Park and back. It totally knocked me flat. It took me 1:47 to do 22 miles...an average speed of 12.2 mph. EVERYONE passed me, and I seriously thought Woody was going to have to pick me up before I made it back to the park. I was one of the last people in. (This did not make me -a marathon girl - happy.) I felt like everyone thought I was a poky, unfit person that would maybe show up for one or two rides. I was determined to prove to myself I could do this. *insert Rocky theme music*
I went back two weeks later on the hybrid. Same thing happened. Then I got smart and asked Woody to borrow his road bike and went to buy one in the meantime. This was when I learned that it was the end of the Trek bicycle season and there were no women's Trek models available in my size (what!?! it's not like it's a designer shoe or anything...seriously!!) On July 5 I ordered a road bike and waited for it to come in....
In the meantime, on July 7 I tried my first Monday night ride with a LaRue custom road bike. Unfortunately, the ride proved it was not the bike but me. I averaged a whopping 12.1 miles on this ride. Perhaps it was windy. Jim & Jessica noticed I was struggling when they passed me and gave some advice on shifting gears.
While I'm not speedy, I am competitive so I went to the library and checked out "Bicycling for Dummies." Two weeks later I attempted to catch Joanna and Dehart on the way back to Heritage Park on Ray's bike. (Okay, so Joanna's knee hurt that night and I didn't know Dehart was recovering from knee surgery, but they were still both faster than me.) I averaged 15.2 mph that night and finished 22 miles in 1:27. So, understanding how to use the front derailer is pretty important in maneuvering hills. I'm so glad I had to read "Bicycling for Dummies" to learn how to shift gears. The secret was in the gear shifting...
On July 23, I picked up my bike. Trek 2.1 WSD. On July 24, I took the bike for her first 20 mile ride. On July 26, we did our first duathlon. I averaged 16 mph on a 17.2 mile bike.
The next Monday I did 25 miles in 1:31. *grin* I repeated the accomplishment two weeks later. By August 25, I was averaging 17 mph on the 25 mile route...and may have been faster if my front derailer didn't go kaput. (Seems someone failed to mention that a new bike needs a tune up after 100 miles or 30 days. I did 356 miles on mine in 33 days. Oops!)
Since June 16, I have completed one 25 mile ride on a bike (Fountain Tour - note: I showed up even though it rained that morning!!!!), two duathlons (Prairie Punisher and Jackson County), one 70 mile ride (Cider Mill Century), one 64 "hill"acious ride (Sunflowers to Roses), and one century(!!). AND - even though I threatened too about a zillion times on the S2R ride - I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER WALKED MY BICYCLE UP ONE SINGLE HILL!!!!!!! (Sidenote: I have used the granny gear...and I almost walked it up one hill outside of Lansing Prison. When I looked to my left and saw the inmates out at "recess" I really managed to hightail it up that hill lickety split.) Since June 16, my Garmin has logged 640.6 miles on a bicycle or 32,791 calories.
After a pretty rough winter/spring, I am absolutely speechless (shocker!) when I look back at all I have accomplished this summer, and there are no words that could describe how truly blessed I feel to have made so many new Christian friends that share my insanity.
The routes:
Prairie Punisher Bike: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6575214
Cider Mill Century: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6575209
Sunflowers to Roses: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6575210
Jackson County Duathlon: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6642071
LaRue's Labor Day Century: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6673497
No comments:
Post a Comment