D*mn That Felt Good!

Sunday marked a pretty huge day for me as a cyclist. I completed my first ride over forty miles. This is a milestone I haven't achieved in at least a couple of decades, if not more. I owe a ton of credit for this to my buddy Josh, who in recent years has become a fairly serious cyclist. His persistence in getting me out to do rides, extend my pace, and generally push myself outside my comfort zone has been huge.

While I had been putting in a decent number of miles a couple of years back, none of my rides were every very long. My most common was a 17-mile loop along the river up near my house. I'd manage a couple of pushes to 25 by adding to that loop, but nothing beyond that.

This year's been different though - for a lot of reasons. The first is simple. Now that I'm closer to 50 than 40, I recognize that I don't want to be a fat tub of goo at 50. And, since I've get three years until then, I'm motivated to use them. Skiing in Colorado this Winter really brought that home. Between the altitude (which really hasn't effected me in the past, and the physical activity, I was just GASSED. Not just at the end of the day -- the first few runs had me wheezing like a fat guy chasing an ice cream truck. This was a brutal wake-up call for a guy who's generally been fit and athletic.

The bike gruppo upgrade has also been huge for me. My trusty Giant OCR now has more jump, shifts SO much better, and feels like a whole new bike. It should -- the Shimano Ultegra gruppo it now sports would be standard equipment on $4,000+ bikes. Having a bike you love to ride sure does help.

But it's also been building a steady base and then pushing to progress to longer mileage. I started out early doing my 17 mile loop a few times, just to get my "sea legs". Then I agreed to ride the Bike Ypsi Spring Ride - planning to do the 15. But as the event got closer, both Josh and my sister said I should do the 30. And I knew they were right. While that ride had some tough moments, it showed me I could do 30 no problem (actually 32.5, due to my navigational error). Now, my preferred weeknight ride is a 25 mile loop that incorporates the old ride. And I'm going out at marginal weather times I would have simply avoided before. I did the 17 mile loop last Friday despite low temps and high winds. Was it miserable? Yup. Did I return happy I'd gone out? You bet.

When lining up plans for Sunday, I quickly offered to Josh that I'd like to do the Saline-Manchester loop, which I knew was over 40. Happy to have me advance, Josh quickly agreed. In addition to being as beautiful as I'd expected (a perfect bluebird day didn't hurt), the ride went really well. I started off with my "unhappy knee" popping and grinding badly. Not a good sign. But after a few miles, that stopped and I started to find my groove. The rolling hills and moderate traffic on these country roads had the miles zipping by.

I did make one major discovery. Take food. At about mile 25, after a few climbs and some time battling the wind, I was on my last legs - wondering the the hell I was going to make another 15. Then I remembered the power bar in my jersey pocket! Fished it out and wolfed it down. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, I've got renewed GO!

Making progress. Oh, and dropping a few pounds, too!

-Sean-