Thursday, August 7, 2008

The Biking Debacle, Part II

***Staring Señor Queso***
(names have been changed to protect the not so innocent)


And so the biking continues...

So after Saturday's less than stellar ride we made plans for our next epic ride to take place Tuesday evening (by we I mean Señor Queso and myself).

Tuesday rolls around and after a less than great day at work I was ready to blow off some steam. I head to my apartment to meet Señor Queso there and get ready to go. By the time all is said and done it's going on 6 before we head out to ride. With a 40+ mile ride ahead of us I knew we were going to be cutting it close on daylight, but here goes. We're headed out on the same hilly nightmare of a ride that Geoff tried to kill me on a few weeks ago.

We head out and make our way to the Arboretum. I'm feeling great at this point and riding strong. I even had the pleasure of leaving Señor Queso in my dust once or twice. God it was great to see him sweat and pant and struggle to keep up, because I knew my turn was coming. We make it to the end of the Arb and take a left up my least favorite hill, but somehow I pull through and the real riding begins.

From that hill its pretty flat and forgiving for a while. On our way out we pass Geoff, Greg and the riders of MadCity Velo on their way back from the very route we are headed out on. We make a few turns and are watching for our next turn, which will be a left. We come to a stop sign and stop. Señor Queso is on my right, the intersection clears and we start to go. I head straight as its not our turn.....Señor Queso makes a hard left cutting me off! As I kick and flail trying to get my shoes to unclip every profanity is streaming out of my mouth. A lady about 100yds up the road has stopped to watch the commotion. Just before I completely hit the ground my right shoe unclips and I half catch myself. This is not, however, before I managed to jack up my rear wheel and drivetrain in the flailing/falling process. I manage to hobble my way out of the intersection and stand on the side of the ride trying to regroup. My back, hip and knee are now killing me from the twisiting flailing falling motion that took place. My biggest fear however is that I broke the bike, but after a close inspection it looks like there is no major damage done.

We get back on the bike and start to ride. Every pedal stroke hurts. Its somewhere between a cramping and a searing pain and I am finding it hard to breath. But we're not even half way done with the planned ride. I keep riding hoping that the pain subsides, but it doesn't. At this point I'm not sure how I'll make it another 5miles let alone the rest of the ride AND home.

Again, I fall back on the game of mind over matter. It's all about hitting that wall and breaking through it. Right? Well I played that game to the very best of my ability and rode on. Of course now every time Señor Queso rode near me I flinched expected to be bucked from my bike. This led to a very twitchy and uncomfortable ride.


Lesson learned?? While Señor Queso is my most trusted mechanic and very dear to my heart, he is not my choosen riding partner. Too dangerous!

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