My friend Warren posted this on his blog this morning - Bicyclesoup. I want to talk about challenges. I am going to do the same race he is talking about. Yes it's going to be 98 degrees (weren't they a boy band?), yes the race is 5 hours long and yes I've tried this before.
Two years ago I attempted the endurance race in Bedford, it was hot and I wasn't quite prepared. I managed to get in 3 miserable laps - I think there's a post about here somewhere. I know I felt pretty much like crap during the race (factors other than just racing and poor prep). This year as the forecasted temperature has climbed and climbed, I'm looking more and more forward to seeing what I can do. I'm not out to win in terms of beating the other women who are entered. I'm not out to beat anyone in fact. I'm going with the frame of mind that as long as I can get three laps in, maybe four then it was a successful day.
I face all sorts of challenges heading into this - my longest ride to this point this year is probably right at 20 miles and timing wise the longest was probably a little more than 2 hours. Time isn't always on my side in terms of prep. Recall I wanted to ride all winter to build my endurance up, but Splinty came into my life in December and I spent 3 months off of the bike instead of enjoying the mild, ride friendly weather. I've had my share of mental anxiety due to personal and work related stuff. Things took a good turn when I switched shifts and jobs, I'm enjoying working 330-1130, my new coworkers are fun and my job is interesting again and sometimes even fun. School is over so I have more free time than I've known in years.
I've been riding more than in the past years. According to my Garmin, I've ridden 576 miles this year and my first ride wasn't until January 31st and even then the first two months of the year I was limited because of those two nifty metal pins that were holding my finger together. Recently I've been battling flat tires (this crap started the last ride before Splinty was born believe it or not). I hopefully have that solved for now by using tubes again. I'm not even going to think about tubeless tires for a couple of months.
The other challenges this week have been hydration and nutrition. I'm a picky eater so I have just kept on with my normal diet; but I've certainly added more water - tonight I will try to get in an extra 60oz plus some gatorade. Tomorrow the plan will be the same. Gonna have some pasta in a bit to hopefully add some energy stores. Then tomorrow I will spend most of my day prepping food etc for Saturday as I won't get home from work until around midnight Friday. Then I will have about 6 hours to sleep before I have to get up, throw everything in the Jeep and head to the race.
It's going to be hard, it's going to be hot; but I'm going to make the best out of it. At least if I can ride for 3 laps or 3 hours total, I can say that I did well. It's just a training ride for me. The goal remains the ~33 mile Rotor Meltdown in October.
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