A Hard Lesson in Irony
Friday's Ride:
Miles Logged: 9.6
Saturday's Ride:
Miles Logged: 36.5
Time: 2:58
Avg. Speed: 12.2
Total Miles Logged: 445.35!!!
Today's ride was....challenging. Ok, admittedly there are probably a few other colorful adjectives i'd rather use for that description, but for right now, we'll stick with Challenging.
So it's been awhile since my last really long ride...about 2.5 weeks with the holiday and my friend Jon being in town it was hard to get any miles in. But whatever, I didn't think it was a big deal.
About 5 minutes into the ride I was feeling like a total slacker.
We met up with the Omaha Seagull Flock in Ashland and went for a ride around there, really pretty except I was focused so much on not dying that I hardly got a chance to enjoy it.
When we first got there Brent, the cycling coach from Omaha was checking in with us to see if we'd put the bikes on a car rack because we'd need to check the break adjustment to make sure it wasn't closed/locked. Which was interesting because I wasn't aware of that being an option. But, since I had put my bike inside my nifty new spacious FIT, didn't think much of it.
The first 10 miles it seemed like I was going straight uphill. And maybe I was....but it probably wasn't that...which I will get to in a moment.
So it was a huge challenge for me. I was chalking it up to me slacking off on my miles for the first 3 hills, then over the next 4 or 5 I was thinking it was gravity having it in for me. About the 10th or 12th or what seemed like the 50th hill I was just flat out pissed. Everyone was just cruising along like there was no issue here. My legs were burning like hell, I couldn't hardly breathe...it wasn't good.
Then we hit a semi-flat spot for a few miles and I was ok....still not great. I just couldn't figure out what was going on. My lungs were burning and I literally almost threw up.
But when the next hill came up, I got about 1/3 of the way up, was going about 4 mph, and just stopped and got off. I was really mad that I couldn't do it. Mad that we were on a hilly course. Mad at myself for giving up. But i had no choice. If i continued I'd probably do some serious damage to the muscles in my thighs. Or, pass out.
So I started walking up the hill, which probably wasn't a good option for me anyway. But Brent stayed back and rode along side of me as I walked, which was really nice and ended up being somewhat of a life-saver.
As he rode along side of me he heard a sound on my bike and told me to stop for a second, lift up my front wheel and try to spin it with my hand. So I did as he said, only when I tried to spin the front wheel it hardly turned.
My damn break adjustment had somehow been bumped (or was adjusted by the bike shop from my tune-up) to the lock position. AWESOME.
I had gone the first 22 miles with my break pads clinging for their life to my tire wheel. But thank god for Brent...who knows how long I would have ridden on that bike before I realized there was a problem with it!!!! He is my hero of the day!
It was a bitter sweet moment because on one hand I was totally relived that I wasn't the problem, but on the other I can't believe how stupid I was to not have realized that the problem clearly wasn't me sooner.
Now I will definitely be lifting my wheels and checking the breaks EVERY time I ride.
But let me tell you what....despite the fact that my thigh muscles were nearly entirely shot because of the strain on them....after we started back up, my bike was buttery-smooth and I felt like a million bucks! Where as the majority of the first half of the ride I was going about 10 mph tops, the last half I was coasting around 16 or more. It just felt so easy...I honestly could have continued on for another 36 miles like that. Holy crap.
So lesson #586 learned. But it does come with one very comforting notion: that no hill will ever seem as hard to get up as the ones I climbed today with my breaks on.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe that some ice packs that my thighs will be attending to momentarily.
Miles Logged: 9.6
Saturday's Ride:
Miles Logged: 36.5
Time: 2:58
Avg. Speed: 12.2
Total Miles Logged: 445.35!!!
Today's ride was....challenging. Ok, admittedly there are probably a few other colorful adjectives i'd rather use for that description, but for right now, we'll stick with Challenging.
So it's been awhile since my last really long ride...about 2.5 weeks with the holiday and my friend Jon being in town it was hard to get any miles in. But whatever, I didn't think it was a big deal.
About 5 minutes into the ride I was feeling like a total slacker.
We met up with the Omaha Seagull Flock in Ashland and went for a ride around there, really pretty except I was focused so much on not dying that I hardly got a chance to enjoy it.
When we first got there Brent, the cycling coach from Omaha was checking in with us to see if we'd put the bikes on a car rack because we'd need to check the break adjustment to make sure it wasn't closed/locked. Which was interesting because I wasn't aware of that being an option. But, since I had put my bike inside my nifty new spacious FIT, didn't think much of it.
The first 10 miles it seemed like I was going straight uphill. And maybe I was....but it probably wasn't that...which I will get to in a moment.
So it was a huge challenge for me. I was chalking it up to me slacking off on my miles for the first 3 hills, then over the next 4 or 5 I was thinking it was gravity having it in for me. About the 10th or 12th or what seemed like the 50th hill I was just flat out pissed. Everyone was just cruising along like there was no issue here. My legs were burning like hell, I couldn't hardly breathe...it wasn't good.
Then we hit a semi-flat spot for a few miles and I was ok....still not great. I just couldn't figure out what was going on. My lungs were burning and I literally almost threw up.
But when the next hill came up, I got about 1/3 of the way up, was going about 4 mph, and just stopped and got off. I was really mad that I couldn't do it. Mad that we were on a hilly course. Mad at myself for giving up. But i had no choice. If i continued I'd probably do some serious damage to the muscles in my thighs. Or, pass out.
So I started walking up the hill, which probably wasn't a good option for me anyway. But Brent stayed back and rode along side of me as I walked, which was really nice and ended up being somewhat of a life-saver.
As he rode along side of me he heard a sound on my bike and told me to stop for a second, lift up my front wheel and try to spin it with my hand. So I did as he said, only when I tried to spin the front wheel it hardly turned.
My damn break adjustment had somehow been bumped (or was adjusted by the bike shop from my tune-up) to the lock position. AWESOME.
I had gone the first 22 miles with my break pads clinging for their life to my tire wheel. But thank god for Brent...who knows how long I would have ridden on that bike before I realized there was a problem with it!!!! He is my hero of the day!
It was a bitter sweet moment because on one hand I was totally relived that I wasn't the problem, but on the other I can't believe how stupid I was to not have realized that the problem clearly wasn't me sooner.
Now I will definitely be lifting my wheels and checking the breaks EVERY time I ride.
But let me tell you what....despite the fact that my thigh muscles were nearly entirely shot because of the strain on them....after we started back up, my bike was buttery-smooth and I felt like a million bucks! Where as the majority of the first half of the ride I was going about 10 mph tops, the last half I was coasting around 16 or more. It just felt so easy...I honestly could have continued on for another 36 miles like that. Holy crap.
So lesson #586 learned. But it does come with one very comforting notion: that no hill will ever seem as hard to get up as the ones I climbed today with my breaks on.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe that some ice packs that my thighs will be attending to momentarily.
Wow, like doing a run with weights on! Now the next time it will feel Really easy!
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