Once a routine is established, keeping it often seems easy. Getting to the point of creating the routine is often the hardest part – or, sometimes it’s just getting started. For me, setting goals has been the key to establishing a routine, but sometimes the goal isn’t always clear and establishing the routine can be somewhat challenging. Sometimes, taking even the first step can be challenging without the goal in mind.
Changing patterns and behaviors during the holidays can prove challenging as it is a time in which patterns and behaviors are already off-kilter. My goal this past week – the first week of my reset – was for progress and not perfection. I sought to focus my efforts on time…
It may seem unusual to consider a ‘reset’ just days away from Christmas. “Why not wait until New Year’s Day?” one might ask. My response would be, “Why wait? Why not just start the day you realize you need the reset? What’s the advantage of waiting?”.
I was delighted to spend time recently with Derek Josephs on his ‘The Health Movement’ podcast. We had a great time discussing the ride from Portland to Portland. Our discussion was focused on the idea of finding yourself again, but we explored any number of topics during our time together.…
Day forty-seven – the last day of riding and our journey will be complete. That’s a lot to process given the experience we have had. So many thoughts – too many to capture here, so – for today – I’ll stick with the immediate and write more about the aftermath when I’ve had time to process.
Second to last day – day forty-six! Hard to believe! There were mixed emotions as we set out this morning knowing that it was our second to last day, but we also knew that it was 105 miles with 7100 feet in elevation making it the third largest day on the trip in terms of elevation. We were tired with fatigued legs from yesterday’s ride and had one heavier ride in front of us before we would see the final day – day forty-seven with a fairly easy 65-mile ride to the coast.
Today was a tri-state day. We awoke and started our ride in New York, rode across Vermont, and finished our ride and are staying in New Hampshire tonight. I don’t think I’ve been to New Hampshire before. I learned late this afternoon that my sister, who lives in Ottawa, Canada, was about a half hour south of where we are staying tonight visiting a college with her youngest son. We both kicked ourselves for the lousy planning and that we didn’t know so that we could have seen each other. She’s been wonderful about sending me encouraging texts along the way and I don’t get to see her enough.
Today was a day to exhibit control. We started out with a cold morning again and had 84 miles on the docket with just under 4000 feet of elevation gain. While today was on all of our minds, tomorrow and Sunday were even more prevalent. What we did today would contribute to how the harder coming two days would be. We made a point of going relatively easy.
We have four remaining days of riding. None of the days will be trivial, so I am doing my best to conserve my energy for the remaining rides. Finishing the ride is bittersweet. As I think about things that I am looking forward to when I return to ‘the real world’, I thought about the luxury of having a coffee and an English muffin in bed and falling back to sleep. This is one of my most guilty pleasures and the idea of not having to get up early for a few days seems wildly luxurious. I am looking forward to it tremendously.
It was a cold start this morning with temperatures in the mid-forties. The sun was shining so we were able to warm up more quickly than previous cold days where fog had been prevalent. I opted for tights over my bib shorts today because I hate being cold and I knew we had several descents where the wind would be blowing, and it would be chilly. I removed layers at each rest stop and never regretted what I had been wearing or the layers I took off at the rest stops.
I was very relieved when I woke up on day forty-one as my body was ready for a rest after back-to-back century rides. The additional bonus was the proximity of the hotel to everything in Corning. Nothing seemed to be more than a 15-minute walk from wherever you were. This was going to make it a great day for getting out and exploring but also finding decent coffee, going to the museum and also my massage scheduled for the afternoon.
Today was another 101-mile day wrought with climbs and hills. There were, however, also some nice descents and an overall downhill after about mile 70. We were talking today about how we are managing to knock out 100-mile rides like they are nothing. It continues to astound me the power of the body and the mind.