Inspirational Women...

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Joy here...Today being Sunday I had planned to head out with the boys and their wives for another epic bike ride through the national park. The friend who dragged her daughter up through the park two weeks ago with me wasn't able to come, because she's fighting off a cold, so the other friend (the kind one who gave me tissue to dab my crank wound when I fell over from STANDING STILL when she last rode with me), was game to ride in the park with me while our husbands rode ahead of us on their merry way. So she and I set out in the park, grovelling up the first steep climb. All the while I could hear the other friend (the one with the daughter) in my head. The last time she rode, she told me "when you're riding uphill just go at your own pace; don't slow down and lose your momentum to wait for someone and don't go too fast and blow up your legs." Over and over again in my head I could hear her voice as I struggled up that first climb. When I got to the top, the friend I was riding with decided that after two nights of not sleeping, she didn't want to tax herself by riding a whole loop of the park, but assured me that I could do it by myself. She said that she rode the loop all by herself in May, and was confident that I could do it alone. Her confidence in me helped to give me confidence in myself. And as an aside: this friend is turning 60 this year. She's a total inspiration to me, because not only is she a really nice and interesting person, but she's also super fit. I hope to be half that fit when I'm her age. So having her vote of confidence ringing in my ears and the advice from my other friend playing in my head, I figured I would trundle forward all alone and try to tackle the upcoming hills in that park.

All the way, I just kept on hearing them in my head. I listened to their advice and their support of me, and I hoped that I wouldn't fall over while descending at 70 km/hr!!!

The day threatened rain, but while I was out on the ride, the clouds began to blow away; the sky turned blue; and the sun came out. All the while, there was a nice breeze, and the weather never got too hot. So I was able to suffer up those climbs and wait at the top lookout point for the husbands to meet up with me. We had a bit of water and a snack, and they congratulated me on my lone triumph through the park. I felt really good, and it was nice to see all the guys re-evaluating this chick who doesn't know what the heck she's doing on a bike! ;) I even rode part of the way with them from that lookout point, but then they were doing one more climb, while I turned off to head down to the parking lot to wait for The Man so that we could ride home together.

While I was riding on my own, keeping to my own pace and just struggling as best as I could, I got to thinking about those cycling friends who have been nothing but supportive of me along the way, and from that I started to think about just how many inspirational women I know. I mean, Nomi and I started this blog, and one of the things that some of my friends have said they enjoy about it is that it's a "women only" blog. They like the fact that Nomi and I are real women who struggle with household demands, husbands, schedules, work, kids, weight, confidence issues etc. etc. And Nomi, for sure, is one of those inspirational women I know. I really can't tell you how awesome it was to get to run with her that month of May in Malaysia. Her friend, Lulu, is another inspirational woman; she's someone who started her own weight-loss and fitness journey and has enough enthusiasm, energy, and optimism to fuel a flight to the moon and back again. I have sisters and friends aplenty who are all really interesting, dynamic, ambitious, caring, giving, smart, powerful, and crazy people, and I think that it's worth it to take a moment to say that I was able to make it through today's ride because I was able to think about all the women friends I have or have been lucky enough to have had along the way who inspire me. I know that pop culture likes to pretend that women get into "catfights", pettily fighting over men or money or clothes, but in my experience, friendships among women can be really valuable and can offer a whole lot of support, especially when you find yourself on a road bike all alone on a road amidst trees and rocks climbing up into a brightening summer day.

Over and out,

Joy

*The pictures of my bike are a little out of date, because I now have Speedplay clipless pedals on it, but this picture was taken when I first bought the bike and figured I couldn't handle learning how to ride a new bike while being clipped into my pedals simultaneously.