Training X 2

My bicycle training has begun again. J and I will be riding the Black Hills of South Dakota with ACA on September 11, 2010. Since I had to train to run my portion of the Missoula Marathon in July, I have neglected to keep up with my riding. 2 weeks ago I took a deep breath and plunged back in. This time I'm using only my new Voodoo Wazoo cross bike with no cushy suspension or low granny gears. The comfort of my bikes goes like this: cruiser- most comfortable, mountain- reasonably comfortable, cross- least comfortable. The opposite is true for speed. Until yesterday, my training rides have consisted of hopping on the path by our house and cranking as fast as I can down to Florence and back (16ish miles?). I consider the amount of effort to be the most important part of these rides. That, and getting my butt used to sitting on that saddle. I haven't been timing myself, but I feel my muscles returning to their hard state of 2007's summer. My biking shorts feel more snug even though I swear that I'm not heavier than I was back then.

Saturday, J and I decide to ride one of our training loops of 2007, but this time on our cross bikes. This is a major step in my ability to do the SD ride in 3 weeks. Leave it to me to procrastinate training. Actually, I'm very good at getting motivated to train, but this summer my body is out of whack again, leaving me feeling nothing but fatigue. This 26 mile loop starts at the famous Lumberjack Saloon, a crazy bar/restaurant 17 miles West of Lolo way, way, way off the beaten path. This is a place that can't be missed when visiting the beautiful Lolo area. There are live bands on the weekend, loads of greasy food, and always interesting folks, both working there and customers. On this particular night there must be a wedding as silver balloons lead us to our destination.

We begin our ride and it is pretty flat, easy riding. In 12 miles we begin to climb. And climb. J automatically starts to encourage me. He's been training and not struggling like I am. He tells me "you're amazing, keep it up, you're so strong,". Ordinarily, this would annoy me. Today, I eat this up. Because inside my head I'm telling myself "you can do this, keep it up, we're almost there". Telling yourself positive things really makes a huge difference. Having J tell me those things in my time of need is refreshingly nice. Thanks, babe.

I'm trying to go as fast as I can because it's not the long days of summer anymore. Darkness is coming faster than I would like. In my speed, I'm also wearing myself out faster. At one point on a hill I need to stop. J asks me if we can at least walk instead of stopping completely. Ah, he's worried too. Pushing a bike uphill is not a great task. I decide I don't want to stop anymore.

See, this is the thing, I feel that if I can't complete this loop, I probably won't be ready for our trip. It's do or die. Give it all you got! I dig deep, really, really deep. When my mind says stop, I look down at the ground in front of me and concentrate on my legs. How are they turning? What muscles are firing? What if I tweak this? Concentrate on the up instead of the down? This gets me through.

We reach the top as the sun is setting behind the mountains. This is an area that has been heavily burned. Fireweed is the first thing to grow and here it is almost as tall as I am. It is spectacular! We cruise along easily on soft roads and stop worrying about the time.

And then comes the downhill. Our bikes are stiff and we feel every bump on the way down. Also, the grade is fairly steep and our bikes are trying to zip down. We are sliding down our handlebars to grip the brakes. This makes me feel like my nose is inches from my front tire. It doesn't take long for my hands to start getting tired. We stop with five miles to go and J tells me that he can't wait for this torture to be over. Whew! I am relieved. I thought it was just me.

When we hit the main road the temperature drops and the visibility starts to get sketchy. Luckily, we don't run into any vehicles and go as quickly as we can. When we see the lights in the distance I think we do a mental high five, which becomes a real high five in the parking lot next to our truck. I will do this ride!