The (Re)Start of a Journey Pt. 2
It’d been 9 days since I started riding my bike again. Sometimes I could go on an actual ride, but other times I had to ride on the trainer or to the grocery store because I was too busy that day. My motivation was waning. Then I received a text from an old friend. She’d been following my progress since I started and wanted to congratulate me and let me know I was inspiring her. It was well timed because I needed a boost. Maybe someone was paying attention after all!!! Then a funny thing happened. I’d run into old friends and they’d all say something along the same lines. Then some new friends started chiming in as well. Always strangely well timed to when my motivation to was faltering. Before I knew it April came to a close and I’d managed to finish the challenge. I was feeling pretty good about myself, but was still lost about where to go from there. Then inspiration hit!!! I’m still not sure how or why I landed on the idea of trying to do 40 minutes of exercise for 40 days straight at 40 years old. All I knew was that I needed something to keep me moving forward. I felt better when I did some exercise and had goal I could work towards. Those 40 days were intended to be a mix of running, riding, kayaking, and whatever else I could think of that counted as exercise according to my Apple Watch. The encouragement continued much to my surprise.
In early June I’d hit my first weight goal; 165 pounds. As motivation to myself I’d decided that if the goal was reached I’d buy a new road bike. Enter Ocoee bikes. Being a mountain biker at heart I’d never really taken to the idea of road racing, so the super light race bikes held little interest for me. Matter of fact I’d sold my road bike several years earlier after I bought my Silent Cycles Cross bike because the Cross bike could go off road. So when Ocoee Bikes launched I texted Jack Kopeski right away. The Baseline 105 was exactly what I was looking for. A road bike designed to take the road less traveled; rough as it might be. Once this bike came in I was officially back to calling myself a cyclist. Everything revolved around trying to fit in the next ride, but racing was far from my thoughts. However something, or more accurately some people, were lurking in the shadows waiting to strike.
July 5th 2019 will forever be a day held in infamy. My Baseline was about a week old and I’d gotten in a few rides on it. It got me thinking about doing an organized gravel ride event. My hazy memory had seen a few that were within driving distance pop up on my Facebook feed, but I couldn’t remember the names of the events. Before I could stop myself I’d sent a message to a couple that I shall forever refer to as The Enablers. Thom Lerch and Monica Desjardins are two of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the privilege to know, but they also have a way of convincing you to sign up for events regardless of the potential aftermath. While Thom encouraged me by talking about how beautiful the ride was, Monica appealed to my baser side by basically telling me to put on my big boy britches. It was a devastatingly effective two pronged attack on my comfortable existence. Before I knew it I’d signed on the dotted line and registered for Hardford 50. I blame them…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Suddenly I needed to start training in earnest. Hardford 50 was a month away and I hadn’t ridden more then 30 miles on the road, let alone gravel, in almost 4 years. An amazing 36 mile gravel ride in the Cherokee National Forest had stoked the fires within me. I had enjoyed that ride more then any other in recent memory. More miles were needed though, so I turned to the Bubba Elite rides. Riding in a group was something I hadn’t done for a long time. I was deeply worried about getting dropped in the middle of nowhere. Turns out I had little to worry about, managing to survive the rides and getting dropped. Being able to hang on for most of the rides did boost my confidence leading up to Hardford 50 and I started thinking maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad. What’s the worst that could happen right?