Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Mad at my road bike

I've been doing a lot of miles on my road bike lately and it's gotten to the point where I'm just sick of it. I think it's because all of my rides have been hard, either physically or mentally. I either go really far, which pushes my endurance, or pressure myself to go fast, which hurts my legs and lungs. For some reason I can't just go on a pleasant road ride and enjoy the scenery.

The last straw was discovering that I'd gotten a slow-leaking flat and having to change the tire yet again. I took off the wheel one day, changed the flat another, and had my roommate pump it up the third day (I got really mad at the pump and almost threw it out). My bike is still sitting upside down in the hallway with its wheel leaning against it. So it's taken the better part of five days to fix a flat. I have no desire to even touch the damn thing.

But since I can't sit on my butt and expect to lose weight, I've found other activities I enjoy. For example, I think I'm starting to like hiking. That's really weird because I used to adamantly refuse to go with my friends. Lately, though, it's been really fun. The weather has been unbearably hot (I work from home and don't have A/C), so it's nice to get out in the hills to cool off a little bit.

One of the trails up the street from my house is a ridiculously hard climb that's more of a workout than a hike. I've been doing that at least once a week and the last time I really pushed myself to the point of exhaustion. I've been struggling with that lately so it was good to see that I really can make myself breathe hard without hurting my soul.

On the top of Mount Sanitas with a few friends last week (I'm in the visor).
The smile on my face is genuine, as is the boob sweat.

And since I can't give up biking entirely, I've begun mountain biking again. I've joined a few groups on Meetup since I don't have reliable buddies to hit the trails with and I don't feel comfortable being in the woods by myself with a bike I don't yet know how to fix. So far, I've done two rides in as many days and it's been incredible. The people are super supportive and fun! I've also been learning some real skills, which is good because so far I've just been holding on for dear life.

My Sunday mountain biking excursion.

A long ride (for me) Sunday and running + biking yesterday (an accidental two-a-day) have completely exhausted my legs, so I'm taking today off because I need to. Then back to the grind on Wednesday. And I really do mean "grind" because a group I ride with does hill repeats on Wednesdays. I may do just one repeat and head for a beer early because I'm still mad at my road bike.

I just wish riding would get easier. But unfortunately the following saying really does hold true: "It doesn't get any easier. You just go faster."