On the Train

So I’ve started training in earnest for my Herculean four-day bike tour coming up in late May. After a few experimental short rides to make sure everything was working right in both bike and body, I’ve added some longer rides this past week. On Wednesday, I did 10 miles, and today, I rode for an hour—slightly over 12 miles. And here’s what I have to report: so far, so good.

I almost derailed myself last night. While doing a little core workout, I slipped and fell off my exercise ball—what a klutz! I fell onto my right hand and shoulder, and was initially worried that both would be injured enough to interfere with my training schedule. But I iced them up pretty well and hit the naproxen sodium again. I was almost afraid to go to sleep, knowing how motionlessness seems to allow injuries to get a firmer grip. On the other hand, “sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care” (Macbeth) also knits up the injured parts. And this morning, I felt, well, not perfect, but not too bad either, considering that a large part of my larger-than-it-should-be body came down relatively hard on my poor right side.

So, after walking the dog and downing a little caffeine, I hit the road, or more specifically, the bike trail. We have a lovely rail trail about 10 miles from my home, and it’s perfect for training because you don’t have to deal with traffic or traffic lights. It’s also reasonably flat and surrounded with lovely scenery. In previous years, I’d worked up to riding from my home TO the trail, then riding the 9-mile length of the trail, up and back, then riding home FROM the trail. Whew! Even then, I filled up my jeans more than I could’ve wished to, but I felt healthy and strong. Love to get back to that kind of shape. I don’t think it’ll happen in the next six weeks, but it CAN happen.

Anyway, today. Cool morning for early April in the Florida panhandle—somewhere in the mid-50s when I got to the trail. Stiff little headwind—about 9-10 mph. But there was that blue, blue sky and the surrounding greenery, and again, I felt like a kid on my bike. I even had the chance to help out another woman cyclist—new at this, she said—who was trying to top off her tire pressure but didn’t quite understand the intricacies of her Presta valves or the pump she’d borrowed from her boyfriend. The teacher in me loves little chance opportunities like that to instruct and encourage someone.

At the turnaround point, the nagging headwind turned into a friendly invisible hand pushing me along, and somewhere about halfway back, I hit 20.2 mph! Woo-hoo! No surprise that I came back a lot faster than I went out, so I had to add a little coda of a few more miles at the end to make it a true one-hour ride. But what a coda! I didn’t see the peacock today, but there were goats and a pair of friendly boxers (dogs, not underwear LOL) and one blue, blue, bluebird standing guard on top of his house.

So the training, so far, is going well. I don’t want to increase my mileage too fast—that can lead to injuries. But I do want to try and be up to two one-hour rides on consecutive days by next weekend. Stay tuned to see how I do. And keep those cards and letters coming (also known as comments :D )!