Too Much Cycling

For the second week in a row, I spent a Saturday morning on my bike. Why do I keep doing this? Don't anyone tell me I'm not a good wife. Yes, I am in shape and the rides don't kill me, but surfing is much less painful than this riding stuff. Rememer, I don't know how to ride slowly when I'm in a group. Today was no different. But, see, this riding stuff is helping my husband get back what he misses: his fitness, his energy, his physique. So I make the effort to get someone to watch our kid so that we can do the local group rides. This week I even called some of our former cycling buddies to come and join us. Perhaps we should have done our own ride. That would have been much less painful than RIDING UP TO THE TOP OF SEPULVEDA! What was I thinking? I'm not a climber. Still, I gutted my way up that hill, determined to be the first woman in the group who made it to the top. At some point, another woman passed me. That's when I had to dig deep and go into the racer mindset. Unless she could fly up that hill, she was not going to get away from me . . . even if it killed me. So I found my rhythm, got comfortable, watched, and waited. I thought she might run out of steam. She did. See, this is what happens when you're a former racer. You can't let that part of you go. Your ego makes you hurt yourself. Yes, I was the first woman up the hill (and probably the fourth person up the hill). But it's a hollow victory. I'm sure I'll be walking funny tomorrow. On a positive note, the riding is helping my mate. I actually expected to get a call from him while I was climbing the hill. I didn't think he would do the climb. To my surprise, he did it. I think he dug just as deeply as I did. I was, and still am, impressed. As for Sunday, I'm going surfing!