On getting home.....

The last two rides have been rough.  Thirty five miles between the two days.  In order to avoid getting lost again I did this before leaving.

It did the trick.  These were the road I had to turn on.  I take great pride in the fact that I risked not writing a R or L by each road and still made it home.  Thankfully the direction part of the ride was early because part way through it rained and washed off all the ink.

At about the last 2 miles I decided that I didn't want to be on the bike another minute.  If I thought I could have walked home I would have thrown the bike in the ditch and done it.  I was so tired that I knew I couldn't.  Everything hurt.  I was hungry.  I was done.

I set out today to on an easy, flat stretch and was just going to do 10 miles or so.  The first half was perfect.  I was composing my blog in my head as I rode.   I was going to force myself to look at the positive and write a blog entry about only positive things.  I was foolishly optimistic.  Then I turned around to come home and realized I was riding straight into the wind.  Wind strong enough at times to feel like I was going backwards.  I struggled through it talking myself into being content with the slower ride. The very end of this route ends in a pretty steep hill, but I know once I get past it the last mile is fairly flat with a couple of spots where I can coast.  I got past the hill and did something wrong with shifting into a lower gear.  All of the sudden I was pedaling but the pedals were just spinning.  The chain had slipped off.  I have no idea how to fix a chain so I got to walk the bike the last mile or so home.  So.  A trip to the bike shop tomorrow, and a request to teach me how to maintain the my new toy.

Not going to sugar coat it.  Right now I hate the bike.  :-)  Later I won't.  Later I will like it again.

The bike and my struggles though are not the point.  Raising funds for cancer research is.  Thanks to all who have read so far.  Please keep reading and if you are comfortably able, please consider donating to cancer research.  Copy and paste the link below.  It feeds right into my page for the event.

http://dc14.ridetovictory.org/site/TR/Events/2014WashingtonDC?px=1214699&pg=personal&fr_id=1070