Setbacks, scrapes and successes

You might want to sit down and read this over a large glass of wine or stein of beer or carafe of coffee, whichever you prefer. It came out long...oops.

After a great weekend on the bike, I was very optimistic about last week. One of my fitness friends even pointed me toward a Yoga for Cyclists workout to do! I took Monday off cuz I was wiped out and did this yoga workout on Tuesday morning. I started sneezing in the afternoon and by morning I had a full-blown cold with chills and everything. Talk about disappointing! I was all geared up psychologically to get on the trainer on Wednesday morning; instead, I spent the morning wiping my nose and scrambling to get the morning's activities reworked. (We had a MOPS meeting that morning (a REALLY good one!) and I had to let people know and make sure the women at my table were taken care of). Oh yeah, and my husband had a medical procedure that afternoon. So no rest for the weary, eh? Long story short, I made it through the day, and the week, nursing myself back to health (while also trying to help my husband who had that procedure on Wed....AND keep an eye on my little one), never once getting on the trainer.

Saturday morning arrives, and there was never a question. We were going for our scheduled training ride. After watching Il Lombardia of course. We rode the trail near our house, and it was super cool to just stroll out on our bikes from our driveway instead of hauling the bikes someplace. Of course, this meant we had to go downhill FIRST, and it was all uphill on the way back. I remained calm and just went with it...full of Tylenol Sinus+Headache medicine in my bloodstream. (My husband jokingly called me a doper. Cuz I rarely ever take medicine when I have a cold.)

Surprisingly, I felt good! And after an hour I felt even better. I was surprised how well I handled the slow 15km incline back up to the top, especially The Wall (remember from last week?). I did stop once when I had about 200m to go, but hey I had a cold! The worst part was when I continued on and realized it had leveled off a lot and I was nearly at the end! Never give up...

Sunday was more of the same, except after Paris-Tours this time. Well, almost the same. I left a little more blood on the pavement, and this time it was just stupid. I had a really clumsy day on the bike! I lost count after the third time (eyeroll emoji), but I literally fell over and wasn't even moving! The first time I made an embarrassing rookie move at a stop light of all places - fell over still clipped into a pedal. OMG I think I actually did that twice (where's that head smack emoji when you really need it)! THIS my friends, is why you don't buy a beginner a $4000 Roubaix as her first ride. smh

So yeah, the back of my right leg is getting really intimate with my chain. If I continue this, I'll have nothing but ground meat back there by the time November 10th gets here. Fortunately/Unfortunately, this scrape didn't hit the previous wound. I really need to take better care of my bike! And ME! The worst part was in one of my "falls" I banged up the derailleur enough that I had a mechanical right in the middle of our ride up The Wall. Thank goodness I married my husband because he knows how to work on bikes. He fixed my chain so I could finish the hill and get home. Boy is this bike gonna be ready for it's "initial tune up" in a couple of weeks!

I'm not the only one who got a couple more scrapes. My brand new saddle (oh right! I got a new saddle!! Hold that thought...) had a scuff mark on the back, and my pretty new bike also has a couple of scuff marks. Maybe I should have started with a used mountain bike that was already scuffed up. Oh but I LOVE my bike!!!

So my new saddle. OMG I FINALLY have a proper saddle! My last one was such a mismatch for my new bike, we affectionately referred to it as my "big booty seat" or "Big Bertha." It was like sitting on a freaking squishy pillow instead of a bike seat. On Saturday, I barely felt my new seat (which is a positive thing), and on Sunday, I felt MY seat as soon as I put it on the new seat - yup I was a little sore. But adrenaline is an amazing thing, is it not? Once I got warmed up and the adrenaline kicked in, I no longer felt the seat underneath me.

We met our first "fellow cyclist" along the trail. A retired military gentleman who had a very cool carbon LOOK bike. He said he only started riding since he turned 50. How's THAT for some motivation?! He also wore a kit from a bike shop we want to visit up the coast. Great chat. Hope we run into him again.

Before I end this week's novel (ahem), I must mention the successes I've had. Personally, I think knocking out over 60km in a weekend with a cold is pretty cool for someone who was merely a cycling "FAN" only three months ago. But on the weight loss end, I've reached the minus 10 pounds mark! Yay me! Yay CYCLING!! Who knew doing something so fun with my husband outside of the bedroom could also be such a great calorie burner! Win-win all over the place, up hills and down hills and all around :)  So my clothes are getting a little looser and I finally don't feel like my boobs are up to my eyeballs anymore. FINALLY! Hallelujah! (It's the little things that matter most, seriously.)

If I had time to edit and shorten this thing, I would. But it's bedtime now and someone is trying to convince Daddy she still needs to play. Tomorrow is Reptile Day at Preschool, and she LOVES creepy things that only boys are supposed to like, so we need to go make sure she gets her little princess beauty rest before her encounter with snakes and Galapagos turtles. Am I right?

Thanks for reading.

Go ride your bike this week. If you fall off, get back on. Keep moving forward.

Seize the Ride.  PS - THE Ride is in LESS THAN A MONTH!!! OMG! And Peter has finally officially posted about it on his social media channels. Thanks Gabri ;) See y'all soon.