I haven't posted in a while. So, I'll fix that now. I've been training actively this spring for two separate cycling events. One of them already happened, the Alien Run race in Aztec, New Mexico. It was really fun. It's a 25 mile mountain bike race. I took a digger 2 miles into the race when I endovered in some soft sand and my knee augured into the sand. I was glad it didn't land on a rock instead. I had a feeling that when I reached down to feel my knee and it was numb that it was going to 'leave a mark'. I made it through the remaining 23 miles of the race. I finished about in the middle of the pack. I had a blast and I finished. Those were my goals. I'll hopefully get to do it again next year.
After the Alien Run, I redirected my attention to road cycling. The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic is this coming Saturday and I've been hitting the road as often as my body can take it. We went to Nebraska last weekend to visit Shiela's folks for a few days and I took my bicycle with me so I could keep up my training. That was really fun. My first ride was about 25 miles when I cycled from the Colorado/Nebraska state line, Venango, to Madrid near where Shiela's folks live. Then the following day I rode from Madrid to a bit north of Lake McConaughy. That was my first half-century ride! The last 5 miles were really hard. My bum was very sore and my legs were getting weak. But I accomplished that miles stone with a 10 or 20 second stop in Ogallala for a red light. Thirty minutes after the ride with some re-hydration, food and stretching, my body felt pretty normal. The first few minutes after finishing were a little scary for me. My thighs felt like they were on the verge of cramping up. I've not felt that before. But, like I said, stretching and fluids put me back in shape pretty quick. The following day I knew I needed to do a cool-down ride. So, with a 30mph tail wind behind me I rode 20 miles from Wallace to Southerland. It was the quickest 20 miles I've ever done, averaging 30-35mph the entire way. It was eerie how the wind would seemingly stand still when I reached 30mph to match it's speed. Pretty cool to be heading down the highway with no wind blowing in my face.
Then there are those of the motorists who are angry and especially so towards bicyclists. In all the biking I've done this spring, I've discovered that 1 in 4 southwest Colorado motorists nearly run me off the road and participate in illegal highway activities concerning the bicycle. When I was in Nebraska, I encountered plenty of traffic and yet the ratio was about 1 in 30 motorists who didn't provide a safe passing distance. Hmmmm...I might limit my road cycling to Nebraska from now on and limit my mountain biking to Colorado. I did my last pre-race ride last night, riding my bike home from work. It is a 32 mile stretch on Highway 172 and Highway 151. The first highway actually has a decent shoulder that i used quite often when mud, rocks and other debris were present. However, Highway 151 is a very different story. Little to no shoulder and what shoulder there is has about a 6 inch drop off onto dirt/gravel/vegetation and steep bar ditches. On a particular stretch, I had a car coming towards me in the opposite direction about 100 yards ahead, I had three cars behind me going in my direction about 100 yards back. There was no shoulder. I knew what was about to happen. I was moving along at 25-30mph. I knew if I tried to ride the white line, the three cars were going to pass me at the same time the other car travelling in the opposite direction would meet up with me. Not good, not save, and not legal. I positioned myself in the right hand tire track of the highway. The cars did not pass, until the other vehicle travelling in the opposite direction had gone by. However, the third car back stopped in front of me three times waving her fist at me as though I had done something wrong. She would have continued this very real case of road rage if it had not been for me pulling out my cell phone as I was riding along and pointing it toward her to take a picture of her car/license plate and then dialing 911. As soon as she saw me holding up my phone, she accelerated in a hurry and got out of there. I'm guessing she knew she was in the wrong. I didn't turn her in, how ever, the car was unique enough and so was her hairdo. So, I'll be watching for her since this incident happened very close to where I live. Now I will agree that there are a LOT of bicyclists with bad attitude out on the highway, but stop and remember that not all of us are like that. It's pretty unfair and stupid to assume that ALL bicyclists are like and. Then a motorist ends up taking out their aggressions on us innocent and polite cyclists. Oh-well, I plan to go back to the mountain biking after the Iron Horse race this weekend so the motorists will be inconvenienced by one less friendly cycler. Have a great day everyone! :) Drive happy, not angry.
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