Instead of starting the New Year off with a Bang!, it started off with a Doh!
I had decided to participate in a New Year's Day ride, sponsored by several local bike clubs and stores. The event was an informal group ride on some bucolic roads north of the city. It was the first goal on my 2005 list of goals.
I had a cold. A cough. A sore throat and possibly a fever. It was raining and I was underdressed. The person I planned to ride with couldn't make it after all. But dammit, it was on the list! So I went.
The route was 20 miles, which I could normally knock off pretty easily, but feeling crappy made it something of an ordeal. As well, I haven't done group rides in a over a year and I'd forgotten how much my self-esteem takes a beating when my mountain bike is put to the test against all those sleek road machines. Even with all my positive self-talk I wasn't able to keep from feeling discouraged when I was left at the back of the pack.
So when I finally got my miserable, self-pitying, ill self back to the car I was not exactly coherent. I took off my front wheel to load the bike into the trunk, jumped into the warm car and promptly drove off without the front wheel.
I didn't realize until a few hours later when I got around to unloading the car. I drove the 40 minutes back to the site and there was no wheel to be found. When I got back home, someone calling numbers from the ride's sign-in roster left a message about the wheel, but by force of habit my finger hovered over the erase button and pushed it before my addled brain could stop that reflex.
So, no front wheel. My poor bike looks bereft. It fumes at me and stares accusingly. I'm sure I'll track down that wheel at some point, but it sure is a dorky way to start off the New Year.
At least my nasty cold is abating and I'll be in shape to jog for the first time since last Wednesday.
On the running front, I was encouraged by a comment Dani left on Mia's blog (Congratulations, by the way, Mia!) Dani said it took her over two years to go from a 12 minute mile to a 10 minute mile, and another year to get down to 9. Somehow, that made me feel a lot better about my own performance, even if I never get that much faster. It made me realize that this running thing is something that takes practice and patience. So, thanks Dani!
3 Comments:
Thanks Megan! And I was a little bit shocked to read that about Dani, too. She's definitely one of those people that I've idolized in terms of fitness, so that was inspiring to read.
For you, I was on a Century ride many years ago, and two strapping fellows had secured their bikes to the rack on top of their car by removing the front tires and hooking the frames as they were supposed to do. They were parked next to us, and we walked back from the registration table as a group, getting ready to start our ride, when they discovered - to their horror! - that they had left both front wheels at home in their garage. So it's not just you!
Also, that's a fantastic start to the new year - a 20 mile bik ride, in bad weather and poor health, topped off by a journal entry that uses the word "bucolic". I mean, really. You are such a star.
Mia
You really need to give yourself a huge WELL DONE for doing that ride in spite of many available (and more than reasonable when it comes to the sickness) reasons to skip it. The front tire is a ball-buster but we all do that slap on the forehead stuff sometimes. I hope you have been able to locate your tire.
Glad you're feeling better!!
Megan -
You maniac! I'm sorry to hear about the illness and front wheel, but man, you rock! Twenty miles when you don't feel well?! I think that's an impressive start to the year. And I'd have lost my front wheel by now if I knew how to take it off :).
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