The rain kept up all morning and afternoon, then finally came down in the last ten miles of my 51 mile long ride today. The trip took 3 hours and 14 minutes (which would take over 7 hours for the ironman distance). Halfway through the ride I met up with two friends that liked going fast. Any energy I had stored was used up pretty quickly, but I certainly didn’t let them know that. I learned how it felt to draft behind someone. What a big difference it makes when the person in front of you breaks wind. Let me re-word that… What a difference it makes when you’re riding in the draft behind someone and they break wind (I don’t know how that got in the sentence again). Hopefully you get my drift (no, I wasn’t the one in front). You don’t have to pedal so hard to keep up with them. That was pretty neat.
Anyway, biking (cycling when I get better) has so many distractions.Your mind has no choice but to think about them. Thoughts like: am I in the right gear, will my derailer make the transition without popping the chain,did I eat enough to put my body through this, am I having a heart attack, I’m going to need two strategically placed mirrors to find out the damage my seat is doing to me.
Now, almost 4 hours after I got home, my legs are tired! Now I know the allure of a ranch style house. Actually it’s not just my legs, my whole body is tired zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry, my head hit the keyboard (because I’m so tired, ya see?). Sitting comfortably in bed, with no muscles moving, I can’t wait to run and bike in the am.
