Joy here...It's the day before hopping on a plane for Victoria, the capital city of the province of British Columbia, and The Man and our two friends headed out to the local park for yet another 65km loop. While The Man and his friend rode along at a fast pace ahead of us, my friend (the 60-year old who is seriously strong and a serious cycling idol of mine; she's also the one who took spinning classes with me all winter) and I headed out to the park at our own pace.
We rode under the crystal blue sky with the bright green leaves beside us and the cool wind blowing over our skin. We chatted about life, and we stopped chatting entirely when riding up the steep parts. We enjoyed each other's company, but even more than that...I think that we are really beginning to enjoy the endorphin rush that comes at the end of any hard athletic effort. We find ourselves reaching the top of a particularly steep or difficult climb, and even though we're sweating and huffing and puffing, we're also smiling ear to ear! We're high-fiving and celebrating being able to haul our bodies and our bikes up steep hills and long hills and rolling hills; and we're enjoying being confident enough to ride down those inclines at breakneck speeds.
More than that, we finished this loop 8 minutes faster than
Sunday's loop and 18 minutes faster than last
Thursday's loop! Who doesn't enjoy a little hard, objective data like that that speaks to one's forward progress? I, for one, will admit that I'm a sucker for that kind of validation. "What? I'm faster than I was before...Yahooooooo!"
Let's just hope those endorphins last long enough to get me through the long and boring plane ride all the way out to the west coast!
Over and out,
Joy
PS - You can order poster-sized versions of the photo of the rider cycling in Gatineau Park that I've used for today's post. Please see:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/A-Cyclist-on-a-Scenic-Drive-in-Gatineau-Park-Posters_i3566421_.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment