Cycling: Preparation

Day 22 #My500words written  in 2015, posted in 2016

I find that writing in the morning has the best essence for inspiration. My thoughts are fresher with ideas of things to come. Whereas, if I wait and write later in the day, so many other distractions flood the day and the inspiration is lost. I do feel a sense of lost of incompleteness when I don’t write at all. So although, I am writing my daily words of 500 at 10:12 pm and the inspiration seems faint. I still have  a desire to write.

So write I shall! Today, I woke up very tired from the night before because I was awaken continuously throughout the night for bathroom breaks, too hot, too cold and of course from constant banging from the upstairs neighbors. When 5:00 am rolled around I couldn’t sleep any longer. So I prepared myself to go on a twenty mile ride. Realizing that I didn’t have the proper nutrition to ride for that length of time. Instead of waiting for my regular store that I purchased my GU and protein bars from to open up, I stopped by the local fitness gym. They only carried some with energy bars that I was not familiar, leaving me to speculate on how my body would respond while exerting energy. 

I started my 20 mile trip north on A1A at one of my favorite places, The Cove in Deerfield Beach. It had been such a long time since I had ridden that route, some places didn’t look familiar. I love cycling by the vast ocean  and watching the waves come crashing onto the beach as I cycled by. I was pedaling about 14 to 15 mph, conscious of the lessons that Rick my trainer had taught me the day before. Pulling up my clips with the pedal, pushing back with my heel to develop an even cadence.  As I focused on what he taught me, my pedaling began to flow effortlessly and my the speed increased. I soon found myself in excess of 17-18 mph.  After a while I became hungry and I nibbled on the energy bars that I had purchased, trying to ensure I didn't eat it all up before the ride was over. I only had one water bottle and I discovered that one is not really enough for a twenty mile trip. In the future,many I decided to prepare to   two water bottles. 

I came through a patch of wet ground, and remembering Rick’s words of caution, do not ride on the white line when it’s wet and never ride your bike across the bridge when it’s wet. I really appreciated his guidance and even though I was a hired trainer, his passion for caring and being concerned were genuine, which I really appreciated.

Soon after passing Linton Boulevard, I reached my goal of 10 miles, I took a short break to adjust my saddle bag over the handle bars, drank some water, being extra careful to ration out the amount I needed for the moment and to hydrate myself back to the Cove. I still “bonked” out on the way back. Either getting in too many carbohydrates or not enough to sustain myself.  I still have not learned how to balance my riding out so that I’m not tuckered out on the way back. Then I remembered, I was tired because I didn’t get the proper amount of rest needed for a twenty mile ride. So these are some things that I must work on, plenty of rest, water, and nutrition for a long ride.  I did discover one more thing and that I need to have some better or newer riding shorts to help protect my bottom on longer rides. Whether writing or cycling, getting the proper rest before hand certainly fuels the mind and body to be prepared to function at it's best.