If you had asked me a year ago if I would ever bike for 50km, in a row, without stopping, I would have laughed at you and reached for the cheese. Well, a person can change a lot in a year, and yesterday I rode my bike for 50km. As I was getting ready to leave my husband told me "the wind is against you on the ride out, just fight through it and on the way home, you'll feel like a rock star." The wind was steady, and, according to the weather network, 22km/hr. So, here is my ride.
2 km - Get buzzed by a car for the first time on Portage. I was buzzed a total of four times, all on Portage. After the second one I stopped being scared and started hoping the drivers could read lips.
10km - Almost pulled over to call Ken to pick me up. Convinced myself to go 5 more kilometers. I had this conversation with myself frequently over the course of the ride.
12km - See my first dead animal, followed shortly by the first of many banana peels.
15km - Want to stop, tell myself I can turn around at 20km. My self is relieved by this prospect.
20km - Let self know I am a liar. Proceed to tell self to stop being whiney little bitch.
25km - Stop on side of road, eat my snack and stretch a bit. Feel some of the blood flow back into my ass and am invigorated. Turn around and head home.
The way home was uneventful. I stopped one more time at a gas station to refill my water bottle. The wind was now behind me, and although Ken said I would feel like a rock star, I did not. I just felt tired. My two favourite moments of the ride were: number one, making it that first 25km. Number two, after being tailgated, buzzed, then cut off by a man in a blue truck, I pulled up to him at a red light and got to call him an asshole to his face. That one almost felt better then making it through my ride alive. Three cheers for me, and heres to the first of many 50 k's!
3 comments:
YES! Love this post. Especially being able to speak your mind to the local a-hole.
And to think a year ago the cheese would not have been homemade cheese!!
Way to go on your first 50km. Speaking from experience you'll have that exact same conversation with yourself each and every ride and it's okay to have a different answer and sometimes turn back and sometimes push further.
We should really try and go together so that we can call random drivers assholes together as the zip past us. Plus, we could call even worse names to the people running who pass us - it's happened to me but in my defense it was a horrific headwind and I swear that doesn't count when you're running.
I went today put didn't go as far as I had planned but my reason was that I forgot my water bottle at home and didn't want to push it without proper hydration - you should try that excuse sometime it's great!!
Lindsay
50 km is a very long way! Glad to read that you persevered though. I on the other hand am a born quitter.
Greg
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