It's amazing how, even after all the training I have done, I still get the butterflies when taking on a new ride, must be love :) Today was my day to explore SF based cycling so naturally I got on my bike and rode across the bridge, up Mt. Tam and back... easy peeazy... okay so it didn't go quite like that. I visited the Sports Basement website and lucky for me they have Sunday morning bike rides. It immediately went on the calendar. The ride description said: beginner to intermediate... I thought okay so I'm gonna have a leisurely ride, it'll be nice for a change. I drove over to Sports Basement bright and early at 8:45 to find myself in the middle of the escape to alcatraz triathalon race... these guys were going so fast they made me feel like I was standing still! My morning was already getting exciting and I hadn't even gotten on the bike. I met up with the other riders, some regular and some new and laughed inside at how comfortable this all is now. Talking bike brands and butt butter as if I knew it like the back of my hand. After a few introductions we started heading out... towards the Golden Gate Bridge...up and over we went. I already began writing this story in my head because that's when it started. But I'll get to that later. After about 11 miles we got to our first rest stop and I thought ... not bad. I chatted with the other riders, bragged a bit about having done the ALC ride but also through in the caveat that I'm a new rider, basically saying don't expect me to do great. I then asked the obvious question "so where are we riding to?" The rider casually responded "oh to the top of Mt Tam" I nodded my head and said "oh, okay that's cool". Was it really cool? What was so cool about it? Other than the weather ofcourse. I honestly had no idea what it meant to climb up Mt Tam. So sticking with my ALC tradition, slow and steady wins the race. I had already shown up and was now "in" the mix of things... the only place I could move was forward. And, so I did. We began to climb a steady grade of about 7%... it started off fun... There were a few teaser descends that kept life exciting (hey, what can I say I get bored easily). made my way to the rest stop and then proceeded to ask "are we done?" to which I got some laughs, hmm... Im being serious. Nope. We were not done. We climbed more and at some point in this second phase I decided I have a love hate relationship with Mt. Tam. She was amazingly beautiful with intense cedar and pine smells, she was cool, and foggy with just a hint of sunshine and she was beginning to be a b$*%@! I hit my mental threshold and was now searching deep inside for more mojo. What came to me were a few questions from a fellow rider about who was my favorite Nascar driver or Racing horse, to which I really didn't have an answer. We chatted briefly about the Death ride and then I got my second wind... Within a mile I was in a parking lot. I looked up and saw a small kiosk with a bunch of people standing around. Shit, how the hell am I going to get up there?! I waited for another rider to catch up and then I presented my questions "how do we get up there" to which he replied "wooo hooo... we made it" and I thought what is he smoking?! We still have to go up there! I followed him down the parking lot and sure enough... I was wrong. The rest of the group was there... a walking path led to the view point up top... clearly I had arrived and I was tired. We fueled up and got going on what was a nice descent, once you got over the climb to get out there. And then ofcourse the chaotic GG bridge on the way back meant one foot out at all times and worse case scenario push them away! It was crowded!
Sigh... it started out a leisurely ride (in my head) and evolved into an intense monster which really put me to the test (guess I have been trained well... wink wink).
So the funny thing 3 years ago after I first bought my bike, a coworker took me on an easy ride but it meant going over the bridge. I clearly remember having to clip out just as I was climbing up the hill to get to the bridge, then getting yelled at for going to slow, being scared to death of the 2 turns on the bridge, and making it to Marin only to refuse riding back over... I needed a car to take me back... and that's exactly what happened. At the time I could say that I tried... and that one small step eventually led to 3000 feet of climbing up Mt. Tam.
Lesson learned: Don't give up, go slow and steady, but don't give up. Take a break but don't forget to get back on. That's kind like life...it throws us curve balls and makes us feel insecure about facing a failed task... but facing it is what makes that failed task a successful achievement.
Until next time...
ritu
