Day 222: Headwind / Tailwind

Update: 208.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 10 lbs to 60 lb goal.

I just realized that in 2 days I'll have maintained my 50 lb loss for 100 days. That's not too shabby. Course, its also time to hit that last 20 lbs.

I started feeling not-so-hot on Thursday and had zero motivation for getting out and riding over the weekend, but the Livestrong ride date is starting glow on the calendar now. 19 days until I put my butt on that skinny little seat and pedal for 70 miles. Realizing that I need every bit of training I can get, I forced myself to get out and put a couple rides in, logging more miles towards the effort.

On Saturday I set out to ride to St. Paul and back, home of the famous St. Paul Rodeo, and also home to a little espresso shop called the Bankers Cup, which is literally in an old bank...vault and all. A round trip of 40 miles, this would be my longest training ride so far, with a few 30 milers being my longest before. I figured I'd ride out, grab a cup of coffee at the 20 mile break, and then head back in.

Since my motivation was low, I knew I'd have to just keep pedalling and fight the urge to turn back. To make matters worse, I hit a headwind within the first few miles and it didn't give up the whole way. I normally cruise around the 15-16 mph speed for my routes, but I was maxing out at 11-12 mph for most of the ride. At about the 16 mile point, after taking on the oncoming traffic to pass a slow moving combine, I pulled over and considered whether or not I wanted to push on...I really hate a headwind. After a few sips of water, and an inspiring Marvin Gaye's Mercy Me coming across the shuffle, I decided I'd forge ahead. The last few miles into St. Paul weren't that bad after the tiny break, and I was really glad that I didn't give in to my giving up.

I had a quick small espresso and then started back to Keizer. I had hoped and prayed that God wouldn't change the direction of that wind and that I might get a little help on the way back, and sure enough it held for most of my ride home. I have three gear rings up front and normally hang on the middle ring, peeking at about 17-18 miles mph when I really am moving along. However, for a good chunk of the ride home I actually had to step up to my third ring as I was cruising anywhere from 20-23 mph for good chunks at a time, and probably not dropping below 19 mph until I was fairly close to Keizer. The wind was really pushing me, and I didn't even feel like I was working. I started thinking that I could maybe handle headwinds a little better in the future if I knew that the tailwind would be that great on the way back.

I also put a quick 12 mile loop in yesterday, but the mid-day 95 degree heat on top of still not feeling 100% really zapped me, but I know every mile is a good one right now. And somewhere in the past couple weeks I've crossed the 1000 mile mark this year for road biking. That's counting the almost-200 I put on Nicks bike on loan, as well as the miles on my road bike. I probably also have another couple hunny on my comfort bike, but I haven't added those into these numbers. My permanent bike computer somehow got reset, so I've had to piece together the data from bike logs, and GPS information. I'd love to hit 2000 miles before the end of the year, but that will all depend on the weather, which I hear will be an Indian Summer, but colder and wetter winter....well, according to the almanac anyway.

So that's it. Still needing to find motivation to get out somewhere, but with 19 days left, I'm feeling the heat catching up to me.

Hasta.