Confessions Of A Flabby Ironman

Life throws interesting curveballs at you sometimes. The trick is to know when they're coming so you can get out of the way. In between all of the mechanicals I've had with my bike and the vagaries of work (which aren't that bad, but the time adds up) I tend to think that I'm farther away from the Ironman than I've ever been. This past weekend, I headed out with the club I ride with (Twin Cities Bike Club) to Winona for a couple days of riding. In ways, it was really good to be out of the city for some serious focusing and riding, but in other ways, it was just another one of those curve balls.

from my journal over that weekend....

Musings from a marooned cyclist

I feel a bit stranded out here in Winona. I also feel incredibly young. I'm easily ten years the junior of anyone here, and htere are lots of social connections that on a trip like this become much more apparent that I'mnot a part of. I mean, it's alright, it just makes me wish that Angela and Gina were here. I think I spent most of the day thinking about Ang. Exploring new places without her these just isn't the same experience. Ang isn't a cyclist, and she'll never do an Ironman (though she's probably more psychologically sound for that) but having her around is really nice.

For it being a college campus, the silence is pretty deafening. With no radio , and not really hanging out iwth anyone, there's more than adequate time to be alone with thoughts. There's been a whole cornucopia of stuff that I've needed to write, and I'm not sure where to begin.

I was actually "Up and at em" right away this morning, which is a little different I guess, but when there's some build in excitement, it's probably easier to wake up. I was actually out the door by about 5:14, nervously checking my bikes in the rear view mirror, thinking that I'm going to see my new bike rack fly off my car with my bikes splattering behind it. Luckily, such was not the case today. It's SO cool being able to just hook the bike right up. No fuss, no muss.

As soon as I drove into Winona, I was thinking about an acquaintance that had gone to school for a semester at the college we were staying at and had areally bad experience there. I guess the question mulling around in my brain all weekend was, "Why was this place so bad?" Frankly, it looks nice than the Augsburg campus, and if you really wanted to devote yourself to school, the atmosphere seems accomodating. Anyway, the jury is still out. Point in my friend's favor? The dormmer I'm in is kind of scuzzy. Then again, it IS a dorm.

When I got down to Winona this morning, the first thing on my mind was to find the ride start so that I could get things put together. I really wanted to do the 100 mile route on Saturday and that meant getting on the road early. Because I got on the road right away, there wasn't any chance to get my dorm room for the weekend. After I got back, the office wasn't open. I finally did get my room, but it was kind of annoying not knowing where to go to get a room. I didn't want to have to sleep in my car.

Heading out from Winona, as soon as I hit the first overtly large hill I realized the gearing on my Team just isn't low enough. I think my biggest gearing on the back is a 23 and when you have to bike up a mile/2 mile hill it just doesn't work. My heartrate was peaking almost right away. If there's one thing that sucks about being big, it's that it's that much harder to climb up a hill. Oh, but the benefits of being big and going down a hill? That's another story.

The weather today turned out to be really hot and sweaty, and since I'm doing 65 tomorrow, I took the 65 mile route today too. I was still really concerned about my bike. The front tire was making noise and I had no idea where it was coming from. going the extra 35 miles, I THOUGHT could have broken the wheel again. Luckily, the bike made it through in one piece. I was especially concerned about it though.

Oh, the downhills. Heading into a town called "Rollingstone" there was this completely amazing hill. Picture this. Off to the right side is a 200-300 foot drop that looks down into a really amazing farm in a valley. To the left is forest that climbs for anothe 150 feet. In front of you? Just a LONG and curvy drop. I think that I've found there's no better drug than flying down a hill. I've been over 40 mph on my other bike, but I've never been over 50 mph. I actually hit 52 on the downhill into rollingstone. It is SOOOO intense. Knowing that you have to be in complete control or you're going to crash is kind of a rush. I think it's definitely one of the things that makes cycling worth it as a sport. I wouldn't really want to take any other kind of equipment down a hill at that speed. Not rollerblades or a scooter at least.



This isn't the hill I was talking about, but you can get an idea of how high things are. I'll post about Sunday when I get home tonight, but it's a start. Sorry for the sparse posting!