I'm Ready -- I Think

Tomorrow we are taking off for upstate NY for our Finger Lakes bike tour. This seemed like a good idea at the time . . . a weekend out of the city, a chance to do some good mileage to prepare for a week long bike tour in Croatia. But the reality is that we barely rode up to this point. Exactly one week ago, we went for our lunch time ride and I was totally dragging. My legs felt like bricks. I was tired and lethargic and having second thoughts about this entire trip. I told Karlo that I can’t do it on the tandem (and I was the one pushing for the tandem). It was just SO HARD that I couldn’t bare the thought of doing a couple 50+ mile rides this weekend with it.

It was a sad and depressing ride last week and rather than looking forward to this weekend, I was starting to dread it. But then everything changed just two short days later. We went out again (on the tandem) for a ride, twice the distance of our lunch time loop. I don’t get it . . . this time I did great! I felt so strong and in shape. What changed in two days?

So now I think I’m ready. It’s all a mental thing for me. If I doubt my abilities, for sure I’ll have trouble. But as soon as I convince myself that I CAN do it, I’m good. Karlo insisted that we don’t bike at all this week. He said we need to be “hungry” to ride. But I’m sure he just wanted me ending on a good note. If I had another bad day, we’d be in trouble.

We’re taking off tomorrow morning for a 6 hour drive. My father said, and I quote, “I can’t think of one good reason why you would want to do this.” I think he was referring to the biking, but I assumed he meant sitting in the car for 6 hours . . . because to me, that is far harder than pedaling for 5 hours.

Stay tuned for next week for my full report and hopefully some pictures.