Shut up, Legs!

We are into Week 3 of our Century Training and we have two of our longer Saturday rides behind us.  To the more seasoned cyclists 30 and 36 mile long rides are not long at all, but to me, my longest ride being just under 60 miles and that was a year ago, the work that goes into these longer rides are killer.  Our first ride was way worse because, being from Michigan, riding in 90 degree sun for 3 hours on hills my legs were not conditioned for, was a b*^&#.  Compounded by the fact that we were on roads I was not familiar with, riding with Adam, who is so much more in shape than I am (jerk) and that we ran out of water 10 miles from home made me into a whiny and very tired person who could not sustain what we wanted to be a pace of 17-20 mph.

I was miserable and it is so unbelievably frustrating to know you are gutting yourself trying to keep up with someone and they are still pulling away from you! I wanted to kill him, but I didn't have the strength.  So we spent a significant amount of time going much slower (12-14 mph, and 7-9 mph on some of those g*& d@!#$ hills).

But there was hope!

There was an MS fundraising century ride that was going on whilst we were pounding out our pitiful 30 miles and the organizers were kind enough to let us refill our water bottles so we wouldn't keel over on our way home.  If I hadn't been so sweaty and gross I would have hugged her.  Thank you so very much!

Side note: it probably would have helped if I wasn't wearing my pink and black Fat Cyclist jersey.  Black material and sun are bad choices.  But I was stylin'.

Anyway, we managed to drag my sorry carcass home and continue on with our lives and training for another week.

This past weekend we had our 36 mile ride planned for Saturday, but we weren't going to be in Lansing, we were going to be in Petoskey to go camping with the best people in the world and we weren't comfortable trying to come up with a 36 mile trek in a place neither of us were familiar with.  We felt it would be a poor life decision.  So, we did our ride on Friday riding from my in-laws house in Big Rapids to my parents' house in Reed City to Hersey and back to Big Rapids.  This one was much better.  I was about to sustain our pace much better, in part because a) it wasn't a billion degrees, b) it was cloudy, c) it was mostly flat and d) I am very familiar with the trails we were riding on.

But then! (dun dun dun!)

I rode over something bad on our way back and got a flat. Frick!  But fortunately my handy-dandy patch kit was able to save the day and we didn't have to change the whole tube!  I had never been so glad I had a patch kit in my whole life.  It was annoying to have to stop for a half hour to fix it, but all in all this ride was much more successful than the previous week's.  I only had to tell my legs to shut up 4 times instead of 20!  So glad I had Jens Voigt humor to pull me through.

Even though we have 6 more weeks before we ride our century for the Michigan Pink Tour, I am finally, for the first time, feeling like a century is something I am capable of.  During the first two weeks of training I was rather, shall we say, unsure of my ability to condition myself to do this ride.  But today, after 2 unplanned rest days because of camping and my exhaustion from Friday's ride, we went out for an at pace ride for 14 miles.  And it felt easy! 17 mph? Puh, nothing!  I felt great! I even felt great riding at 17 mph after going up a steep hill at 20 mph from base to summit.  I know that sounds like nothing, I did it.  And I am so freaking proud. I can't believe after 2 weeks of training how much my body has changed and I am really looking forward to where I will be in 6 weeks.

So if you're in Michigan and feel like riding for Breast Cancer Research, I'll be there, with my husband and wearing my 'Fight Like Susan' Fat Cyclist kit.

Come ride with us!

What is Strong?

"What is strong?"

The answer is so varied.  What do you think is strong?

"Is it muscle?"

I'm not going to pontificate and try and answer it.

"....Or something more?"

I know that there is always more, more that you can give, 

more that you can do.  A well of determination to dip into.  

I'm trying to keep mine.  I start training for a century ride 

(100 miles) on Monday.  We have eight weeks of training 

before we rock out this ride.

"Is it measured in miles or milliseconds?"

It's going to take us 6 hours, at least, that's what we expect.

I'm nervous, incredibly so.

128.7499 miles.  It seems so insurmountable.

Lansing to Big Rapids.

"Is it your best time or your worst day?"

But training builds you up slowly, which is exactly what I need.

One turn of the cranks at a time.

".....Maybe strong is just what you have left when you've used up all your weak."

What Is Strong? (60 second) from Saucony on Vimeo.

Great commercial by Saucony, a shoe company based in the US and Canada. It is one of the most motivational commercials I have ever seen. I saw it this weekend for the first time while watching the Tour de France. Excellent commercial.

**Authors note: I am not sponsored by Saucony, this post is not, nor is this blog, affiliated in any way with Saucony.  I liked their commercial and decided to write about it. 

Why Not Us?

As you all probably have figured out by now, I am a huge Detroit Red Wings Fan.  And as I write this, I am watching my boys fight for breath in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the San Jose Sharks.

I follow the Detroit Red Wings on Twitter and they asked for motivational videos.  I, of course, tweeted back with this:

and a fantastic re-speeching (I didn't know what else to call it) done by the cutest five-year-old!

He watched Miracle so many times he had the speech memorized!  And he's so freaking cute.

Anyway, as a part of their motivational movement, they started a hash tag, #whynotus because the (1-0 Detroit) Wings have never, in franchise history, come back from an 3-0 deficit in the playoffs.

This season is special.  It's the 20th season in a row that Detroit has made the playoffs.  20 seasons straight.  Since I was four.  (yes, I'll be 24 at the end of the month)

So let me say this to you, my wonderful, talented, hardworking Red Wings.

I believe in you.  You have won four Cups in my lifetime.  You can make it five.

When you first signed Datsyuk, my Dad and brothers didn't think he was very good, didn't think he'd be able to hack it in the NHL.  I believed in him, he was my instant favorite, right behind (2-0 Detroit) Yzerman and when Stevie retired, he became my #1 man.

I admit there are and have been players that I haven't particularly liked, but I refuse to abandon my Wings.

You guys are rocking it out so far this game.

Be the first.  Come from behind.

I'll be here, on my couch, in the stands, for years to come.

Wearing my gear.  Loving my Wings.

Why. Not. You.

Even if you lose tonight, I will throw my wings up at graduation tomorrow.

GO WINGS.

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