In the Balance:My Trek to the Cape

Well, I am on the bus writing this long-hand which I will later type into the computer at home. Yesterday I rode from Boston to Cape Cod – 104 mile trek with my friend Andi. She lives on the Cape so we have a lovely destination.

I haven’t been doing as much riding as I need to be doing to prepare for the Harbor to the Bay AID ride on September 20th. (I have been busy teaching riding.) So, I was a bit worried about this ride which was about 30 miles shorter than the September ride but still over a hundred miles.

In fact, I hadn’t ridden in over a week and a half. I took nothing but my riding gear (stuff to change tires, phone etc.), a pair of underwear in a plastic bag, and a folding toothbrush. I was worried I would poop out after fifty miles. I was also worried that it would rain.

As luck would have it, the weather held until we got to Andi’s home, showered and were making dinner. We were blessed and probably the fact that we both carried all of our rain gear in case helped too.

At about mile 75 I was quite tired but a stop and ice cream helped me push through it and I felt better than I had expected to all in all. We made a few substantial stops and ate a ton. For instance, we had second breakfast! This is so unusual for me who doesn’t even eat first breakfast half the time. Even with the stops, we got there around 5:00 PM having averaged close to 14 mph.

I know the intense training I did early in season in preparation to race, paid off even thought I had been off the bike for over a week (except for short – very short – rides to and from the Bicycle Riding School). It made me away that my overall fitness is pretty good.

My partner recently commented that we tend to take our fitness and riding ability for granted. I think he is right.

I was recently in the market talking to another riding friend and telling her I was worried about the Harbor to the Bay ride. She said, “Pata you know in your heart you could do that ride tomorrow if you had to.” I thought about it concluded that she is right.

However, this has not always been the case for me. (At one point I was 220 pounds and very out of shape.) I feel lucky to have found “exercise” that I love and that feeds my soul. I have to remember that I am blessed in this regard and that not everyone enjoys health in the same way I do at this moment. I need to remember that although this level of fitness requires work, the payoffs are great in terms of my emotional, physical and spiritual well being.

In the next six weeks before the ride and thereafter I need to make more time to ride. I owe it to myself. It keeps me balanced and although it is easy at times to get imbalanced and stressed out trying to meet the demands of others – it is worth the effort to create a balanced life with time for myself and my bike.