With all good intentions, I set the alarm for 6 a.m. for this morning, looking to use the “trainer” my buddy Lloyd Hensley loaned me for use at home. I jumped out of bed, no aches from yesterday’s first 30 miler! On my way back from the bathroom, stopped for a glass of water, still ready to go! But my wife was sleeping on the sofa next to my bike. Oh darn! I can’t wake her, right? So I crept back to my warm bed, with Granny Gears and Big Ring Gears dancing in my head.
6:15 am rolled around, and standing before me was my wife of 28 years, Anchana, whispering: “Hon, time to get up. Time to train…!” I love her, I really do…
So, downstairs I go, grumbling at Pauline, grumbling at the challenge that got me to this point, pulling on t-shirt, shorts and looking for my sneakers…remember, I haven’t yet graduated to clipless pedals.
Turning on the ceiling fan. Firing up the TV, still wiping sleep from my eyes, I mounted my wheeled steed ready to take on the world for the next hour…OUCH! I forgot about the butt-bone ache. Yep, the nether region was still a tad sensitive from yesterday’s saddle battle.
I pedaled slowly for 15 minutes, I figured that would help me warm up a little and find the most comfortable spot on the saddle. No, I didn’t stretch (sorry Lisa Dannembaum Shaw). So, I figured I’d done enough warming, and kicked it into the Second Ring…yes, shifting gears with authority, as I learned on the road yesterday.
Moving through the gears, feeling good. I was ready: “Engage the Big Ring!” I figured this was it. After all, I’d mastered 30 whole miles yesterday, let’s try something nasty. I moved through all the gears I had on the rear wheel and then stood in my pedals as if cycling victorious through the Arc D’ Triumph in Paris…I stood pedaling for, oh, at least 45 seconds before QUICKLY AND WITH AUTHORITY shifting back to the Granny Gear and the smallest cog I could find! Boy, I’d forgotten until that moment how my thighs felt Sunday as if impaled on forks!
I slowed the pace, working out the thigh ache, watching yet another series of news stories reporting another story about how unfair the news coverage has been on the elections…recycled from the previous half-hour segment, and then the weather, oh yes, and the traffic reporting for the umpteenth time!
My cadence was much easier with zero pressure, as I thought to myself: “Self, this is boring!” I lasted about 40 minutes during this session, thinking all the while that I’m going to hit the streets tomorrow morning rather than sit here, watching the same old news, and nearly being decapitated by my ceiling fan.
Don’t get me wrong, this is all quite exciting to me. I am looking forward to the Valero Bike to the Beach (Oct. 4-5), but I think I’ll benefit more from riding bumpy roads, suffering through “moving” saddle time and looking for potential attack dogs rather than sitting on a trainer for 1 hour each morning. Like many, I’m remembering that I need to be mentally challenged as I train.
Tomorrow will be a new day, with a new approach to training…the streets of Helotes!
Later dudes and dudettes! Tony
Read Pauline's story and support my fundraising in her memory.
6:15 am rolled around, and standing before me was my wife of 28 years, Anchana, whispering: “Hon, time to get up. Time to train…!” I love her, I really do…
So, downstairs I go, grumbling at Pauline, grumbling at the challenge that got me to this point, pulling on t-shirt, shorts and looking for my sneakers…remember, I haven’t yet graduated to clipless pedals.
Turning on the ceiling fan. Firing up the TV, still wiping sleep from my eyes, I mounted my wheeled steed ready to take on the world for the next hour…OUCH! I forgot about the butt-bone ache. Yep, the nether region was still a tad sensitive from yesterday’s saddle battle.
I pedaled slowly for 15 minutes, I figured that would help me warm up a little and find the most comfortable spot on the saddle. No, I didn’t stretch (sorry Lisa Dannembaum Shaw). So, I figured I’d done enough warming, and kicked it into the Second Ring…yes, shifting gears with authority, as I learned on the road yesterday.
Moving through the gears, feeling good. I was ready: “Engage the Big Ring!” I figured this was it. After all, I’d mastered 30 whole miles yesterday, let’s try something nasty. I moved through all the gears I had on the rear wheel and then stood in my pedals as if cycling victorious through the Arc D’ Triumph in Paris…I stood pedaling for, oh, at least 45 seconds before QUICKLY AND WITH AUTHORITY shifting back to the Granny Gear and the smallest cog I could find! Boy, I’d forgotten until that moment how my thighs felt Sunday as if impaled on forks!
I slowed the pace, working out the thigh ache, watching yet another series of news stories reporting another story about how unfair the news coverage has been on the elections…recycled from the previous half-hour segment, and then the weather, oh yes, and the traffic reporting for the umpteenth time!
My cadence was much easier with zero pressure, as I thought to myself: “Self, this is boring!” I lasted about 40 minutes during this session, thinking all the while that I’m going to hit the streets tomorrow morning rather than sit here, watching the same old news, and nearly being decapitated by my ceiling fan.
Don’t get me wrong, this is all quite exciting to me. I am looking forward to the Valero Bike to the Beach (Oct. 4-5), but I think I’ll benefit more from riding bumpy roads, suffering through “moving” saddle time and looking for potential attack dogs rather than sitting on a trainer for 1 hour each morning. Like many, I’m remembering that I need to be mentally challenged as I train.
Tomorrow will be a new day, with a new approach to training…the streets of Helotes!
Later dudes and dudettes! Tony
Read Pauline's story and support my fundraising in her memory.
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