Two Wheel Blogs

Route: Marine Loop
Tunes: Wilco, KICKING TELEVISION

Well, that wasn't pretty. I'm so embarassed, I'm not even going to post my usual time, distance, and pace stats. For the record, I rode the standard Marine Loop; I did so in a little over two hours, and my average pace did not threaten the 16 mph mark. Pace was not today's goal. "Just getting out and doing it" was. I could have -- and probably should have -- ridden yesterday, but I didn't, choosing to do my now usual 6-mile run on the Nickel Plate trail instead. Doing a 6-mile run once a week, which is all I've been able to manage lately, is all well and good. But it would be better, no doubt, if I did some runs in between the 6-milers on Saturday. I've not been able to manage that lately.

I wanted to ride before I settled in to watch the Super Bowl, and I did not want to do so at the Y. So I suited up and headed out -- for only the third mid-winter ride of my life. I took it easy, as that was all I was capable of. It's funny -- and a little sad -- how much fitness I've lost since last summer. Granted, I didn't expect to be clicking off the miles at 20 mph pace. But I'm used to riding this route faster. To have to creep along at what feels like, by comparison, a sloth's pace ... this whole experience left me wondering where all my fitness has gone? And will be I able to get it back?

I mean, it's not like I've been sedentary since last season ended. I've been going to the Y, and I've been running. The thing I think I realized is that, last year, I was able to ride at the pace I did every day because I pretty much rode every day. And for all the time I've spent riding the stationary bike at the Y, I have not done the one thing that gets you in shape to ride a bike: riding one. I have not pushed pdeals that move a chain that move a wheel over a road. To ride faster, you have to ride. I've not done that.

On the plus side, at this time last year, I'd not ridden outside yet. Now, I've got two under my belt: one Belk Park Loop, one Marine Loop. Okay, it's not much, but it's a start. In terms of fitness, I didn't expect to be close to where I was last year. At the same time, I didn't expect to be so far from it, either. I know it will be a long road back to where I was. A long and often very slow road. One mile at a time.