We’ve been in our mostly self-organized groups for more than a week at this point. It took some time for us to find our place, but we did. Our group was considered ‘the slowest’ group and drew the early time slot to leave in the mornings. We were okay with it because a/ we don’t care and b/ we have the opportunity to watch the sunrise in the morning on many days getting to experience the most beauty in the early morning portion of the ride.
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The theme of today’s ride was ‘family’. My daughter has watched every episode of every season of ‘Survivor’ and is encouraging me to become a contestant. She says that they are struggling to find ‘older’ contestants and thinks that I would be the perfect candidate but also would be the perfect individual to vote off the island early as a threat. For now, I’ll focus on the remaining days in our 48-day adventure across the country.
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The body and mind are amazing things. It struck me in the last week or so how amazingly strong and resilient our bodies can be being pushed relentlessly day after day. Not only our bodies, but how our minds can carry us through the most challenging of moments and provide us with strength we weren’t sure our bodies even had. I am reminded of this daily as we ride lengthy rides day after day after day after day, and how we have come to accept 70–80-mile rides as ‘recovery’ rides.
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While our group left first today, we were told that the faster group also wanted to leave early but were going to ‘take it easy’, to which we all responded ‘bullshit’. At some point before lunch, they caught up with us confirming the accuracy of our ‘bullshit’ sentiment. What was unexpected, however, was that instead of riding past us, they stayed with us, and we battled the winds together. There were times when they pulled a little faster than I’d have liked, but for the most part we were all grouped together until and after lunch. It was an unusual mix having some of the fastest and not fastest riders ride together. We were keeping up at a pretty decent pace and working together.
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One of the things I’ve had to remind people of when they ask me about this ride is that it’s a ride – not a race. I’m far from the strongest rider on the ride. But I’m also not the weakest rider. There are days when I feel I can ride a little harder and push a little more, but then I ask ‘why’? I am enjoying my little riding group tremendously not only because of the people – but because I wake up every day knowing that I have ridden the day before to do my best to ensure that I’ll be riding a decent ride that morning. We crossed the halfway mark today, but I am happy to report that I have felt the same way on every ride – good, capable, stronger every day, and able to get through the day. I had a few rough days early on, but those were less about the ride the day before and more about dialing in my four elements – rest, pacing, fuel and hydration. In those cases, I believe it was more about the fuel and hydration. I may have pushed a little hard earlier in the day on those rides, but I believe it was mostly the fueling. This isn’t to suggest that anyone who is pushing the pace is doing it ‘wrong’. Not by any stretch. Everyone here is riding their own ride. My goal from day one has been to ride every pedal stroke of the country from coast to coast, and if riding a little easier every day helps to ensure that I am able to do and in a way that is comfortable and enjoyable, I’m all in.
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Today was a surprisingly easier day than yesterday, but also somewhat expected to be that way. The trend, I have found, has been that we tend to have a challenging day followed by an easier day. Nothing like a 112.5 mile ‘recovery day’. Oddly, that’s what today felt like. It didn’t have to be that way as we are still in South Dakota, and we discovered that South Dakota is exceptionally good at producing wind. We were blessed with an almost non-existent side-wind from the south making the ride manageable and, aside from the gently rolling hills, comfortable. The overall trend was a loss of elevation and while our legs gave us the odd groan at some of the longer or steeper rolling hills, we could feel the forgiving downhill trend on the back half of the day.
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The theme of the day today was grit. Grit brought on by early climbs that left us struggling more than we should have been, and wind. More and more and more wind. For the most part, the wind was from the south, but it still battered us along the way […]
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Today’s rest day was much needed and appreciated after several lengthy back-to-back days of challenging rides. Not only are rest days necessary for the body, but also for the mind. Knowing that you can sleep a little longer, eat breakfast a little later, nap if you wish, have no schedule to adhere to – and, yes, not get on a bike – is important for the mental aspect of this ride.
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We were like horses to the barn today as we rode our 76-mile ride into Rapid City with a rest day tomorrow. Tired after three days of 100+ mile rides, we were ready for a day off the bike. Sadly, the day included significant climbing along the way meaning our day would be longer than we had hoped with a lower average speed than anticipated.
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Beautiful ride today – just spectacular. Today’s ride started out with mild temperatures in the low 60’s. This would be our third 100+ mile day in a row. We still have a hilly 71-mile day tomorrow before our next rest day on Wednesday. I’ve been intentionally keeping it chill to […]
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