Bailed

Yesterday was just not the day for the ride I wanted to do.

Plan: Long loop (up 62, down Smith and 305) done in the morning pre work in three hours.

Actual ride: Up 62, bailed down seven mile gulch, to 305 and out in less than two hours.

Bike: Curtlo

Complications: HEAT. I usually am ending my rides around nine, and to be starting that steep, exposed climb at nine on the hottest day of summer thus far totally took me out. I can't believe I was such a pansy in retrospect, but at the moment, it felt like the end of the world and I just wanted to get out. I was slowly pushing up stuff that was climbable, and moving at a glacially slow pace, with heart racing near max. I'm sure all the armor doesn't help things.

In addition, I started to have derailleur problems that I traced to a nearly totally frayed cable. Luckily I was able to get it into the lowest gear and leave it there or the cable would have busted. That left me with a two speed using the front. Okay for the climb, but I didn't want to coast back down to the car from the top of Smith. So much for the "extended cable replacement interval I was trying. Amazing the slop the Sram system will put up with.

Of course, by the time I got back to the car, I felt great again, and continued to feel great the whole day. Goes to show that our perceptions are not always reality. Gives me a lot of respect for those ultra-endurance folks because I know there are times in every long race where you feel like crap and just have to throttle back, maybe rest , and go at it later, knowing it will feel good or decent again.

Sort of like life actually. The real struggle is the struggle not to lose heart or panic when everything feels overheated, slow, steep and hard. It is a discipline, and sadly not one I am the greatest at.