109 mile ride

A No Ride Saturday

The last couple of weeks have been difficult on the bike. Nothing compared to what a cancer patient goes through, to be sure.  But this week, I had to pause and come back to myself, what I know about who I am, what is right for me. And what I knew was that if I had another bad week {no matter what anyone said, no matter what goals I had set for myself} I would not be able to look forward to Saturday rides any longer. So, I gave myself permission to just be, create a plan and come back to a place where I could beLIeVE that my body would allow me to accomplish this goal of 109 miles.

CSI Albuquerque

The Crime: Killing of a Ride at 5 Miles to Go

The Suspects:

"The Handlebars": known to be to aggressive in their setting, the handlebars could have been responsible for the excruciating shoulder and elbow pain.

"The Seat": new to the scene, the seat has a rock hard personality and sharklike cut from front to back, which is known to press on nerves in the gluteus maximus to get desired pain-inducing results. The Seat could have been the culprit in the persistent hip/sacrum and leg pain.

"The Cleats": recently rehabilitated, the cleats seem an unlikely suspect, yet their penchant for starting small fires in the toe and ball of foot area continues to be an area of needed therapy and could have been the reason for the need to constantly remove the left shoe.

"The Tire Brothers": while underinflation was clearly a culprit last week, this week's fresh filling of air likely took care of these brothers' desire to create the feeling of pulling a wagonload of bricks. However, during this week's investigation no suspect can be ruled out.

"This may be a collaborative killing..."

(Here's what you need to know about this silly part of the post...a. i can't stand csi miami, b. i can hardly tolerate David Caruso's character c. David Caruso says the most inane things on this show...if you click on the above link (killing) you'll get the theme song.) (p.s. sorry if you like csi miami.)

Elevated!

"The very scenic Frost Road Loops begin and end at the 4-Hill's Smiths. These are favorite rides in the summer to get away from the heat of the city. They have great views of the Sandias from the east, the Manzanos, and South Mountain."

This is the description of essentially the ride we did today, plucked from a website that I could not figure out the source of, so I can't quite credit. Nonetheless...THEY LIED!

A. This route DOES NOT get you 'away from the heat of the city', as though one were going for a lovely holiday, oceanside.

B. Views? What views...I didn't even notice, I was too busy creeping up the hills, telling myself, "Just make it to the next crack in the road. Good girl. You can make it to the next crack in the road."

Here's a map...just to give you the FLAT visual:

The highlighted blue part was our route.

The red x, you ask. That's the place I stopped and had a good cry.

Oh, but wait, this doesn't include from Albuquerque to Tijeras:

 

Not so bad, you're thinking. Looks pretty flat to me  ~ ON THIS 2-D MAP!

The ride: 53 miles, elevation increase 3,350 feet!

Hills from Albuquerque all the way through Mountain Valley Rd, including a second time with Sedillo Hill...yep, Sedillo Hill is uphill BOTH WAYS! How does that happen?

But in the end, crack in the road by crack in the road, I made it! (Took one 5 minute break in the SAG Vehicle to get my act together after the crying.)

I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR! Well, when I got home it was more like, HEAR ME SNORE, but you get the point!