On Saturday I rode from north of the GG bridge to home in Los Gatos, about 95 miles. Maybe it was the long day, maybe it was the 19 days in a row of biking, but Sunday morning I felt like I'd been hit by a bus. I suspect my body had been sending that message for a while, but my brain wasn't going to accept it until a day that I didn't plan to bike. Monday was a marked improvement and I took a mountain bike out for a quick hour ride to make sure the legs still worked and remind them of what they were going to need to do.
It was different to ride on roads I know. For the last 30 - 40 miles before home on Saturday, I was riding on roads I've trained on, including rides with the same bike and bags loaded up to simulate what this was going to be like. I imagined people who might see me and think 'there that guy goes again, haven't seen him in a few weeks'. But my imagination was answering back 'I'm not the same guy that rode through here a few weeks ago. I may look exactly the same (except maybe a little slower), but I'm a different person than I was the last time I came through here. I've tried 15 different beers since then, I've seen things, I've accomplished things, I've thought about some things and I look at them differently now.'
It was mechanically a good time to stop. My GPS has been confused about altitude the whole trip, it thought the sea was at about 4,400 feet about sea level. On Saturday it decided to stop thinking about altitude at all, so I saved all my data once I got home and reset the stupid thing. Also, about 12 miles from home a spoke broke, so I limped home with a wobbly wheel and a rubbing brake, but got to take it to may favorite local bike shop for repairs.
So it's back to the road for me, looks like we're about 2/3rds of the way there. And I think more than 2/3rds of the hills are behind us.
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Sent from my Treo(r) smartphone
2 comments:
Congrats on making it home to Los Gatos. Must have been good to sleep at home and get a change of clothes.
Now get back on your bike! ;-) There are beers to be drunk and pies to be eaten.
--Zack
PS. Let me know if you want to pickup your Trek OCLV its in my office untouched.
Hi Jon.
Glad to hear you were able to take a re-charge break at home! Question about the 15 beers...are you including stuff like Bud Lite, or are they 15 interesting beers?
Good luck on your re-start.
--Brad
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