quasigeostrophy | Epilogue

I don't know when it will completely sink in that I set out to do this six months ago and pulled it off. I've had soooo many interests and hobbies over the years, I've fallen into the "it never gets completely finished" trap so many times. I still think the fund raising was more difficult than the training for the ride. I have already changed my mind, too. Because the fund raising was such a "challenge", I had pretty well decided up to the day of the ride that I was not doing it again. Well, having gone through it once, and knowing several folks who have done it at least twice now, I didn't hesitate as soon as I crossed the finish line to say that I would do it again.

I met some wonderful friends, from training this summer and especially on the ride. I got involved with an important cause, that I want to help fight more. My mother has Type 2 diabetes (if I am keeping straight which is which - she is not insulin dependent), that she developed about 15 years ago, and some of my co-riders have Type 1, and several of them were riding for their own children with the disease. Aside from the cause, I loved the camaraderie. I was convinced to get out on the dance floor Saturday night. Six months ago, I would not have thought about completing the ride, much less danced for two hours in the evening of that same day (although I think it helped me keep from getting stiff after the ride). I have never seen more beer in one place before in my life. I don't like the taste of beer, so I steered clear of it, but it was obvious everyone was having a good time, and I did not observe any drunken, irresponsible behavior whatsoever.

I want to climb the hill better. I want to improve on my ride time and cut down my rest time. My total time was 11:05. My actual time riding within that was 8:56. My butt survived. Yes, it was sore, but even by the plane ride on Sunday, I wasn't too bothered by it. The one thing that I am now motivated to do is bring my weight down. I had no problem with my weight while training this summer, as I've read plenty of evidence of being able to be in better shape by being more active, so I wasn't worried about weight. I'm still not "worried", per se, but I figure if there is less of me on the bike, that's less work I have to do to climb hills.

As the whole weight loss issue goes, I don't know if something happened physiologically, or if my subconscious is already acting on my mindset, but since I've been back, I have not been eating as much. I worked my way back to real food Saturday night and Sunday, so I'm not sure if I'm still just getting used to that, but I didn't want a big lunch yesterday. I haven't even taken lunch today. I couldn't finish last night's pasta dish. Heck, I didn't even want to finish my bowl of cereal the last couple of days. Any exercise physiologists out there have an idea? Can a 105 mile bike ride do anything permanent like that?

Hill training is another issue. I even said something to D, the Indiana chapter coach, on the way back to the truck after I had just finished. "You're a great coach, but there is not a damn thing you can do on a bike in Central Indiana to prepare for the conditions we encountered here today." He agreed and said all you can do is ride...

And so I will...