Train of Thought

I move the remotes to the back of the couch, slide out the bike, line up the front block. Glance one more time outside - I can't wait for spring. Magazine - check....TV - check...Phone on charger - Check...Interval app set - Check....Go!



GET READY



I hate the way the little computer voice says get ready. What is that clicking noise? I probably have to oil the chain. I wonder if five minutes is too long for a warm-up? Seriously, is someone calling for me already? I'm 75/300 seconds into the warm-up, and someone is already hollering for me. Sorry, but Mom's on the bike. Warm-up is the hardest. I listen to my kness crack. They feel good once the cracking stops. I wonder if its a release or if its damage. My feet go round and round.



HIGH



1, 2, 3 I begin my ritual of counting the "hard" repetitions in my head 8, 9, 10 I really should just buy the stupid computer thing already...what is it called again? How would it work on a trainer, would I hook it to the back wheel? Usually it goes on the front...yeah, I usually see them on the front wheel. I'll have to ask the guy at the shop that 25, 26, 27 It's funny how my thoughts race with my legs 45, 46, 4-



LOW



Wow, I'll have to speed up a bit. 46 times two is what? I can never do math on the bike. I think that's where my accountant brain draws the line - no math on the bike. Whatever - I didn't hit 50 so it aint no 100. My goal is 100 - should it be? Maybe it should be 90...that's supposed to be a sweet spot. I flip the T.V. channels. The remote never works right. I can't get it to shoot the DVR from the angle I'm at, but it will change the channel of the TV in the other room - go figure. 1 vs. 100 - good show to zone out to, good show to pay attention to, each a little bit.



HIGH



Crap I wasn't ready that time 4, 5, 6, wonder how many revolutions I missed? I think next time I'm going to shorten the low intensity and lengthen the high intensity 15, 16, 17 instead of adding intervals. At some point you just run out of time right? 30, 31, 32 I think I'm just going to shut the TV off, nothing is on anyway, 47, 48, 49, what gear am I in today? I didn't even look 50, 51, ..



LOW



Good one. The second and third one in is always good. I wonder if that's how it will be when we take our bike tour in June - will the beginning miles be knee cracking warm-up, middle most enjoyable, end a get-it-over-with-already? I hope it's a nice warm June. Not crazy warm, but warm with breezes and clear skies, sun kissing us the whole way, bright enough so that we really feel its dark when we venture through the tunnels.

HIGH

1, 2, 3, 4....48, 49, 50, 51, 5-

LOW

Wow! Good one! My mind is clearing. My thinking races with my feet, yet slows them down at the same time. It is so odd. I really miss being outside on the bike. I think maybe I should just buy a new bike at Target. So it's a department store bike - big deal. Sure I'd rather have a Trek or a Giant, but really, in the price range I can afford, it's not like I'm getting a carbon fiber frame or a world class fork. I'm getting the bottom of the barrel and will beat the crap out of it. Maybe it would just be better to get the nicest low end bike than the lowest high end bike. I wonder how much of the tripled price is simply for the name brand and not for the quality.

HIGH

1, 2, 3,...wasn't ready again. I cannot even imagine going back to 15 & 20 intervals. Winter is killing me, 17, 18, 19,...my legs are still swollen with muscle but now with a neat little layer of winter fat covering them as well, 35, 36, 37,...they feel like blubber midway through the rounds...this is ridiculous 45, 46, 4-

LOW

Pathetic. I'm pathetic. I should be eating more, I mean less, I mean less of most of what I have been eating and more of the good stuff. I need energy. Why is it that I can zone out for hours at end on the bike but intervals kill me? I literally feel like throwing the phone across the room if it doesn't shout "cool down" in the next ten seconds.....

HIGH

1, 2, 3,.......47, 48, 49,...almost there...50, 5-

LOW

Finally. A good one. When the sun comes out again, I'm going to be running the dog next to the trailer. I wonder if it would be best to train him on the grass first to go slow, or if that would be too loud with the trailer bumping around all obnoxiously? I wonder how much weight I need to put into the trailer in order for him not to jerk it if he gets excited or spooked...I'm thinking two water bottles cartons will do it. 48 bottles each of 8 ounces...there's the no math on the bike brain again. I have no idea how heavy that is.

HIGH

1, 2, 3....seriously cats!!! Why do you insist on coming over when I'm on high??? It makes me nervous enough that you are even interested in me on this thing, 37, 38, 39, I hear so many horror stories of squirrels and spokes, 48, 49, psst, scoot!!!, 51, 52,.

LOW

That was six. Phew! It's hard working back to where I was at before the winter. It's getting light out earlier and stay light longer, but I know the first ride back outside is going to be tough. I should start simulating hills on the trainer. Maybe not though, because hills were always easy for me. It was the straights, remember? Everyone seemed to long for the long straight roads and I just died on them all last summer. The constant peddling, that was my weakness.

COOL DOWN

I wonder how the trainer will have an effect on me come spring. Will those long straightaways be easy now? Or easier? I hope so. Will the hills now be murder? At first they will, of course. I think my overall speed will improve.

My thoughts are no longer on bills, troubles, medical problems, kids. My mind is clear. My body is tight and fit and healthy.

My world is in place. I pedaled my way there. All without leaving my living room.

I am officially a cyclist - I love to bike

I realized this past weekend that I don't just like to bike, I love it.

I know that sounds pretty simple and doesn't really seem like something that would require a lot of thought, however, it still surprised me when the idea struck me.

I love to bike.

I started biking as a form of exercise, to gain muscle strength, to trim a few pounds. I continued because I liked it.

But I seek it out, plan around it, and look forward to it because I love it.

I love the way the wind feels.

I love zipping around corners.

I love working hard to get up a hill, and then racing down it.

I love that I can simultaneously do something that burns so many calories while just hanging out with my kids.

I love that its mostly free, that maintenance is easy, and that I can spend as much or as little money on the hobby as I want.

I love that its changing my outlook on things like vacation and free time.

I love that I don't have a TV show for every night of the week now.

I love that whether there is a half hour of daylight after work or three, there is plenty of time to get in a quick ride.

I love the clothes, the gear, the feel of the saddle.

I love passing cars and even, call me crazy, getting buzzed by cars.

I love "taking the lane" and using hand signals.

I love being part of another society, a group all our own.

I love to bike, and therefore I am a cyclist.

Who knew?

Don't Judge a Book by its Helmet

"Be careful!"

Two little words. They mean well - they shouldn't be enraging. Its almost comical really.

I'm sure it would get a good laugh, and I'm sure tomorrow I'll laugh about it. Because it is kind of humorous, right? Except tonight it isn't.

Not to me tonight. Not to me sore and wishing I was just the same and carefree as everyone else seems to be.

I was out on my bike ride today - my newest obsession in my quest for fitness. I have found that I love to ride. When I ride, the only hurts I feel are good hurts, like the burn of exercise a normal person feels, the burn of muscles rebuilding, getting stronger. Not the aching of joints and shots of nerve pain, but pure strong exhilaration.

Yet one of my problems is I get dizzy. I'm on meds too, and one of their side effects - you guessed it - dizziness. Double doses of dizziness, great!

I don't fall down (yet), but it can be disorientating. So I decided if I'm going to ride a bike and zip down hills and fly around corners and share the road with cars, I'm going to wear a helmet. Because with my luck, one of those moments, those zipping moments, will be the first time I fall.

And herein lies the problem.

Because I don't go all out with the style - I don't commit. I ride a mountain bike, as of now, until I save up enough pennies for a road bike. I wear jeans. Yep, jeans. I wear a light, or white, t-shirt, and its usually baggy.

None of this builds a picture of speed in your head, does it?

So I can see why the friendly neighborhood man thought the helmet a bit out of place. I could see why he might mistake me for someone else, someone with a more severe disability.

I can see, just a teeny, tiny, eensy, weensy bit why he would smile at me like I am "special."

Yet I am mad!

"Be careful," he says as I pass, with that smile you reserve for children or the naive or the slow.

"Be careful."

And I ride on, enraged.

But I still wear my helmet. Most of us should wear helmets. Some of us need helmets. Others don't need to know why.

Tomorrow I will laugh about this. For tonight, though, I just ride.