Eye of the Tiger!

Somehow I survived the 58-mile Zoka training ride on Saturday, though if someone had been driving behind me blasting "Eye of the Tiger" I probably would have enjoyed it more. Saturday officially marks the longest ride I've ever done on the bike. When my alarm went off at 7:30am I was thinking to myself, "Why the hell am I getting up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday to go ride my bike in the rain for 60 miles just so I can get dropped on hills and end up abused and punished?" I honestly don't know what I'm thinking most of the time....

We started the ride from the 405 Exit 9 P&R and of course there was immediate climbing heading into Newport Hills. Somewhere halfway on the ride (I think maybe Issaquah-Fall City Rd) there was a monstrously long climb that nearly killed me and left me about a good 5-10 mins behind the main pack I'm sure. There was a smaller slower pack of about 2-3 people behind the main pack so I was trying my best to not let them slip too far ahead.

About 30 miles into the ride I was so convinced I was done that I have no idea how I finished. The guys on the team are absolutely awesome and two of them came back midway through the ride to make sure I was still back there. They even rode with me up the hills when I was nearly grinding to a halt. I apologized profusely for being so slow but they didn't mind at all and I was happy for the encouragement.

I think what I love about cycling is that point at which you hit the wall but then astound yourself at your ability to keep going. You learn that your body really can do things that you don't think possible and that it's really all a mental game. I felt great when I finished the ride (even though I was the slowest) and looked back at all the times I thought "I'm done....it's over!". At some point all this pain will make me a great rider I hope.

I'm durable

I found out officially as of Tuesday afternoon that I didn't break anything in the cycling crash. Yeah :) Of course, I had to pay a $25 copay, take 3 hours off from work, and sit in the waiting room of the doctor's office for an hour before he said, "Nothing broken. You'll live. See you later." Why they can't tell you these things on the phone and save you a trip is beyond me. The wrist feels better but is still a little sore. I finally got back to bowling last night and managed ok with an ace wrap.

Beware large cargo planes with propellers...

I went out for my first ride today since the crash two weekends ago and it was certainly memorable. I started out on a team ride but had some instability in my wrist so went home, wrapped it up, and headed back out to do the south lake loop on my own.

I turned into the Renton airport and was cruising along, enjoying my ride, and checking out this very large military cargo plane parked along the fence with all four propellers going. Yeah, those of you who are smart are probably thinking 'oh no'. I don't know what I was thinking about, but it certainly wasn't the amount of force those propellers put out. So in a matter of seconds I was engulfed in gale force winds, desperately trying not to fall over, all while continuously bouncing into the curb. How I didn't fall is beyond me but the worst part of the whole ordeal was the look on the faces of the airport workers who were standing next to the plane. They were all bent over laughing, probably thinking, 'what an idiot!'.

And the moral of the story is:
Beware large cargo planes with propellers. They are not bike-friendly.