New Year's Day Ride

January 1st
40-ish miles

A new year, filled with promise and as-yet unbroken resolutions. Across the country, old running shoes are dusted off for a hopeful jog or two and moribund blogs are given a couple of posts before being forgotten again.

So, once again, the goal of this blog: To document every non-commuting ride on a bicycle this year. Or, at least, through January ....

The New Year started off pleasantly hangover-free, as I had gone to bed at 9 P.M. The weather was cold and dry and I invited myself onto a ride with Cristina and Dan.

We hit up Oregon City and the ride was uneventful except for Dan getting a flat.

I had been sick off and on throughout December and hadn't broken a sweat on a bike since the last Crusade race, in November. I had been promised a flat and easy spin for this ride and, as we started to head into the hills outside of Oregon City, I became vocally grumpy about the hill work.

Normally, I am the definition of "easy-going" but there is something about fatigue and the promise of further strain that brings up fear and dread, and this leads to tunnel-vision, caustic thoughts, and general unpleasantry. More on this in a moment. Anyway, Dan and Cristina saw my suffering and we headed back to town. I started bonking (note: I generally hate dorky cyclist lingo like "bonking" but it really is the most appropriate term for this situation. I will endeavor to use one or fewer dorky cyclist terms per post.) in Milwaukie and my stomach was doing flippy-floppies all the way to Tiny's off of Hawthorne, where I downed a turkey sandwich with much gusto.

Most of my longer rides have been as much of a mental struggle as a physical one. It generally goes like this:
0 - 20 miles: Oh man, I love riding my bike!
20 - 40 miles: Oh ... uh ... we might have a problem here.
60 - 80 miles: This is bad. I really should have ridden my bike more.
80 - 100 miles: Fuck. I am going to die. Would it be cool if I just lie down on the side of the road? You guys can pick me up later.
100 - 120 miles: I might be able to finish this. I can't really think too straight. Cheeseburger.

One lesson to be learned from this internal monologue is that I REALLY should train more. Another is that I need to have a positive attitude throughout. At some point on every strenuous ride, I become convinced that I will not finish. And part of the struggle is to overcome this fatal conviction. Wouldn't it be easier if I rode the whole way with a certainty (hopefully, a certainty that is somewhat grounded in reality) that I have the ability to finish? I have noticed that the positive attitude has a pretty strong correlation with calorie intake.

I spent a great deal of last year nursing a knee injury. I might have nursed it more than necessary and I might not have engaged in the best recovery activities but my main take-away is that I should never have injured it in the first place. I blame Mad Mike and his absolutely insane early-season grinder through the Estacada hills. Or, rather, I blame myself for going on this ride with absolutely no preparation.

I did just a couple cross-country mountain bike races the past year and they were suck-fests, in that I was constantly trying to suck air into my poor lungs. I was absolutely unprepared to race and they weren't that fun, because I spent the entire 2+ hours just trying to hang on.

So, here are my four cycling resolutions to break this year:

1. Keep a positive attitude.
2. Ramp up the miles slowly, but steadily.
3. If I show up to a mountain bike race, have the ability to ride Cat 2 without going into hypoxic shock.
4. Bring a peanut-butter and honey sandwich on every single ride, no matter what.