Lessons on wheels

The century ride is one week away. I’m as ready as I’m going to get so we’ll see.

On my ride today I was thinking about what I’ve learned during this summer of training. They seem like life lessons as much as lessons in how to train for a physical endeavor.

1. Set your intention. It’s not all mental but a lot of it is. As our weekly long rides got longer, each one seemed just about as far as I could go but then the next week I would go at least 5 miles farther, and it wasn’t just because I was stronger. It was because I raised the mental bar a notch. I thought, 25 miles today. And then 40 miles several weeks later. And 60 miles.

This applies to shorter rides, too. Last Monday we set out for a 20-mile ride. Halfway through Vic decided he wanted to check out something farther down the road and we ended up going 30 miles. My legs felt betrayed: “You didn’t ask us to do this!” They turned each hill into a mountain and slowed me way down. And the legs have been pouting all week, fussing over my right knee and insisting on extra days of rest.

2. Rest is as important as the exercise itself, but not too much of it. My training schedule called for starting out with 4 rides a week and increasing to 5. Maybe it’s my age, but 5 was too much. I had more energy if I rested nearly every other day. On the other hand, I took a week off around Labor Day to be with the family and because the training was getting boring. And then I caught a cold, which extended the break another week. It was very, very hard to get back on the bike after that and I still can think of all kinds of excuses not to. Well, one week to go!

3. Don’t compare. My last century ride was 10 years ago so I’m not thinking of trying to better my time or even match it. But my brother Dale, who challenged me to do this in the first place, has been fussing all summer about how poorly he’s doing in his training. He averaged 16 mph on a century 4 years ago and can’t come close to that this year even on shorter rides. So I wasn’t surprised when he announced recently that he’s dropping out. His excuse is that Judy, his wife, is in the mood to take a road trip to the Canadian Rockies and they have to get started right now. Yeah, right.

4. Have a buddy. Dale lives too far away to be a riding buddy but Vic has been a patient companion  on the long rides. He has even delayed getting a new bike so we’ll stay more evenly matched in speed. It really helps. And I am inspired to be faithful in doing the short rides on my own so that I can keep up with him on the long ones--at least on the straightaways and downhills.

But you, dear readers, are also buddies. You are cheering me on and it helps.

5. Discipline begets discipline and slacking begets slacking. I observed the latter in the last few days. I’ve been slacking off the biking, and then I found myself watching hours and hours of TLC TV, you know, bad bride shows and What Not to Wear. And devouring a whole box of sour cream donut holes. Recent scientific studies of willpower point out this obvious fact: discipline is a muscle that becomes stronger with use and affects all parts of your life.

Enough of the donut holes. I was back on the bike today. I'm raising the mental bar to 100 miles.