Kangatopia

On Saturday, Shep and I hauled our asses out of bed and drove out to a nearby town for another bike rally. The night before I had enthusiastically downed a bowl of pasta and fake, protein rich meatballs and so was as ready as I could be for what I figured would be a hilly, endurance testing, overheated ride through the Texas countryside near where I spent many childhood days bored out of my skull.

The experience was pretty typical. We arrived, unloaded our bikes, picked up our packets (or in this case, a number and a t-shirt), waited at the start line and then slowly made our way through a crowd of cyclists trying not to knock down, or get knocked down by, another rider.

There were some hills.

It was hot.

Then, oh my God, the chipseal. Christ. It was a beating, and I was hating the ride and hating that I dragged my sleepy ass out of bed at 6:30am to be brutalized in such a fashion. By mile 15 I was already considering loosening my grip on self respect and pride and taking a sag wagon to the finish line. At mile 20 we crossed a county or city line and the chipseal stopped, and all was well.

Then, it just got hotter and hotter. We stopped at every rest stop and took full advantage of the heavily diluted Powerade and water and whatever shade there was.

At the last 12 miles of the ride, Shep sped off to try to finish in under three hours and I moseyed along with hope that I wouldn’t have to be taken in by ambulance. During the last 8 miles, I met up with another cyclist – an 8th grade history teacher – and we helped each other limp our way to the finish line via the magical art of conversation. It’s amazing how hard exercise can be made easy through commiseration.

I found Shep at the finish line and then took advantage of the cool misting fans, and a huge spread of sodas, water, sandwiches, brownies and ice cream. Shep and I both realized that eating after a rally is key to replenishing our energy supplies – as, for once, we weren’t exhausted. We normally train 4-5 days a week on 16 mile rides. Shep also plays hockey 2-3 times per week, but for me this ride of 45 miles is a bit more than what my body is used to handling. It surprised us both how much of a difference eating right afterwards made to our energy levels the rest of the day.

There’s a good chance I will ride this rally again next year. However, this year I think I am going to wait until September before I’ll go out again on another long ride. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to motivate myself just to keep doing the 16 mile training rides in spite of daily high temperatures well over 100.