Today it was another one of those, "It was the best of rides, it was the worst of rides". The last time I wrote with this heading it was back in February and it was cold.
Today, it was one of those days when the sun was shining nicely, the temperature was a relatively balmy 52 degrees, and I had the added incentive of knowing that when I made it to school today I would have passed 1000 miles!!!!! I left with a nice bounce in my step and ready to tear it up.
That’s when my body decided to remind me to never get too cocky.
For some reason I just didn’t have any legs today. No matter what I tried I just couldn’t get into the groove - the rhythm just wasn’t there. I was cruising along at a decent tempo, but every time I checked my times I saw I was falling further and further behind. For those of you who don’t know the route I follow every day it goes like this:
I start my morning with the big hill up Church Street and cross 25A to Elwood. From there I take a right onto Pulaski and pretty much follow that all the way to the Cold Spring Harbor train station. I take a right at the station (I never remember the name of that road and am constantly reminded of the time I got my mother-in-law totally lost because of that) and go about ½ a mile to Stillwell Lane. I turn left onto Stillwell and climb that hill all the way to the end at Cold Spring Road. That left and another put me onto Southwoods Road, and from there it’s just ¾ of a mile to the entrance of the teacher’s parking lot.
Today each of my split times just kept dropping steadily behind. No matter how hard I kept working it, I just couldn’t feel any zip in my cadence.
The absolute worst came when I met this guy I’ve been seeing on the road lately who’s obviously also commuting to work. He’s a fit looking guy on a mountain bike and usually I see him going up Stillwell. Now, I’m definitely not one of those elitists who thinks anyone who isn’t riding an $8,000 semi-custom road bike is scum - remember I have relatives who live in mobile homes and my own bike is cobbled together. So I always try to wave to those I see passing me in the other direction. I usually see this commuter on his mountain bike on the hill ahead of me; and then pass him easily as I go up the hill, always saying “good morning” as I pass.
Well, today he spanked me hard.
I saw him about a hundred yards ahead of me at the base of the hill. But today not only could I not catch him, he pulled away from me - on a mountain bike! That’s when I knew the cycling gods were not smiling on me today.
So of course the competitor in me just got mad and, although I didn’t catch him, I did manage to do a pretty fair job at coming up with a good split time for the last leg.
When it is all said and done, though, the reminder is there - I’m doing this to help other people, some of whom are too sick to even get on a bike and pedal.
I’m doing it out of thankfulness that the people I’m riding for are well and are winning their personal fights against the disease.
I’m doing it to help the American Cancer Society fund research to develop new tests so that my wife and children can stay cancer-free.
So I remind myself that it’s not about getting to the top of the hill first on the fastest bike, it’s just about getting there and fighting the fight.
I’m now halfway to my goal - here’s hoping I reach 2000 and then some!
Peace to you all and stay well.
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