My Life On A Bike

Spring finally arrived this weekend, yeah!!!  We enjoyed a wonderful day playing in the dirt with friends and unknowingly avoided a disastrous day on the bike.   After 3 hard weeks of riding, last week  was rest  for me.  Of course, I did not  obey the rules and over extended myself one time too many.  That’s no surprise. 

We were suppose to go with the Atlbike.org crew to the gaps on Saturday, but plans had to be changed at the last minute.  That move turned out to be quite beneficial.  My legs, heck, my whole body, was still so fatigued by Saturday morning that I could barely get out of the bed for our 6am wakeup call.  It was official.  I had NOT followed the rules for a true Rest Week and was anything but recovered.  How fortunate that I was not going to be in the gaps to prolong my suffering with Cam and Keith. 

Instead, we were heading up to the Chicopee Trails in Gainesville for some early morning laps.  The Gainesville Sorba Chapter was holding a Mtn Bike Festival later that morning, so we would get in double the fun.   I was so relieved that we weren’t going to the gaps and I would get to ride my mountain bike.  In 3 weeks, I have only ridden on the dirt twice and was craving some singletrack desperately.   Although I have been enjoying alot of road riding lately, it will never replace the love I have for mountain biking.

Regularjoe, Ony, Clogger, and Peanut joined us for the extra credit unsanctioned secret ride.   Raja has not been able to ride as much as he would like lately, so he was riding like a wild animal just let out of the cage.  I, on the other hand, felt like a dead man walking, or rather, dead woman riding.   Oh dear, at first it was truly dreadful.   No, really, I had nothin’.    As I crawled on my belly, I told myself,  “give it an hour….the legs will either open up or fall off.  Let’s see what happens.   Oh, and next time you’re supposed to take a rest week, rest.”

Instead of focusing on my total lack of energy, I enjoyed the treats of first morning delights.  Sunlight streaming through the trees cast a beautiful glow to the white Dogwood blossoms and wild pink azaleas as the color of Spring slowly emerges.  I am especially fond of birds and thoroughly enjoyed the serenade of their wake up song.   The flow of Copperhead Trail is an absolute blast and the downhill sections got my juices flowing.

Sure enough, after an hour, my legs opened up and could turn the pedals faster than my earlier tortoise pace.   I was still extremely tired and knew I was dipping into my Overdraft Account, but did my best to keep things under control.   It made me realize just how much physical and mental energy is required to ride and take pictures at the same time, because I was having an extremely hard time doing both.

We got in a nice hour and a half, arriving back at the parking lot in time to see our friends arriving for the official Festival rides.   Tweety was there, despite having 2 broken “wings”, and he smiled as if nothing were wrong.   We wish you a very speedy recovery for your arms and leg, buddy.  You better get well so you can give me one of those big sweaty hugs;-) !!!!

Gainesville Sorba has done an excellent job of developing the trails of Chicopee.  It is a little sad that our efforts in building the Zig Zag trail have been replaced, but at least they are new and improved far beyond our initial attempts!   Trail building has come a long way from our work party days, and it is encouraging to see things move forward in a positive way.    The flow on both the Copperhead and Flying Squirrel are fabulous and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.  

I had a ball riding with our train of cyclists even though I was beat.   It is such good, clean, inspiring fun.   Motivating and invigorating, it clears the mind and rejuvenates the soul.   These days, we are all clinging to that and finding whatever small bit of time in our busy schedules to make it happen.    If we don’t make the time to get out and ride, we will dip into the overdraft mentally.    The only Mental Overdraft Protection Plan that works for us is to get out on the bike!   Short, fast, long, or slow ride, it does not really matter.  As long as we ride.   

I may be taking another rest week, but it does not mean I will not be riding.  It just means I won’t be taking Cam on any mountain sprints or coaching Joe on any Roswell rides.  Rest is mandatory for me this week.  Gotta rest up for……………Moab in a week!!!!!!!!!!