Monday, January 12

Riding with Bill

If you ever think you are in good shape, try going for a bike ride with Bill. Friday we decided to do a longer ride together. He picked the route, commenting "it has some challenging hills, but nothing too bad." I should have known, after all he has done many many athletic events that are ridiculously hard. I guess I felt a little confident because I have been doing a lot of riding.

We got going and after about 2.5 miles I began to panic. It was hill after hill after hill, and not much downhill at all. I asked Bill how much longer, and he said only a couple of more hills. Another 2.5 miles and I began to breakdown. All my confidence was gone; I was in pure survival mode. Bill of course said it was only a little bit more; by the way, he was not struggling at all. He flew up each hill.

Somehow I convinced myself to keep going, and then we hit gravel! Gravel and road bikes do not mix. At the fork in the ride, Bill decided to try the road he doesn't normally do. He knew both roads led to the same place. Bill thought we should turn around, but I just didn't have the heart to go back over the hills to the other road, which would then have more hills. I persuaded him to press on--how long could the gravel actually last? 2+ miles later, and we finally came back on onto the road.

Needless to say, it was another interesting bike ride. We ended up not going as long after all the walking (Bill couldn't really clip in after getting all the dirt/gravel stuck in his shoes). I was adequately humbled to push myself even harder. Bill thinks he is "out-of-shape" because he can't go do an ironman or something, but overall he is in much better shape than me!

2 comments:

Amy said...

Oh wow, I can sooooo relate! Peter is the same way. I'll hike with him and think that I'm just weak and pokey. But I do have to say that afterwards when I hike with "normal" people my Peter-training always makes me feel super fit!

Natalie said...

That's funny! If Amy has "Peter-training," then I have "Neal-training." I hiked Hidden Peak (at Snowbird) with Neal the week before I did a marathon. I was whooped and left feeling weak and lowly. But, just think, you pushed yourself! It's so good to do that when you're in the middle of training. One question: If you climbed so many hills, surely you got to ride DOWN some, right?