The Thing I’m Doing This Year #13
On Saturday, May 17, I went for a bike ride with other people.
Prior to Saturday, I had done three other rides with other people; two with Bill Kellick, one with Sam Van Why … ever … The 6,000 other rides by myself and my thoughts. Good Lord, I’m a sad and lonely individual.
I rode with Rachel Beck, one of my all-time favorite people, and two of her friends, the brother-sister team of Kara and Gabe.
We went north on the Santa Fe Trail from the Air Force Academy to Palmer Lake. It’s 10 miles with a gradual incline with a few steep, short hills. I usually try to push it the whole way up and fly back down the trail. So in my mind I think of the route as sort of difficult, because I make it difficult.
Riding with Rachel is much more pleasant. We chatted. Took it easy. Stopped every once in a while. I loved it. I would do that again in a minute.
The next day I hiked to the Incline Sign and two intervals beyond. I dropped four minutes to the Incline Sign from the week before. I’m a long way away from the times I need to do to accomplish my goals, but I think my nerdy, systematic approach is going to work. A stepping stone goal is to get to the Incline Sign under an under, then get to 57 minutes. On May 18, I got to the Incline Sign in 63:20.
Again I’ve gone faster many, many times, but I feel like things are coming back to me. Even on the very difficult sections of the trails, there are parts where you can make up time. Run even. On May 18, I remembered that. I remembered that to get to a great time you really have to go for it. You really have to push it, but at the right times. I also remembered that after the Incline Sign, you can ease up on the intervals. The trail gets a little bit easier.
The best part on this hike … besides getting to the Incline Sign four minutes faster … was my stopping spot. I went 14 minutes past the sign. I stopped at one of the most beautiful sports on the trail with a majestic view of Pikes Peak. The next bit after this spot takes you over the hills and through the woods to grandmother’s house. The trail gets softer. I’m looking forward to that. I’m thinking my next hike will go to the 7.8 sign … lots of running if I do it right.
The other big news … I got down the mountain in 47 minutes. The same time as last week, even though I added about a half-mile or more. A huge improvement. Huge.
My trail song inspiration this week comes from Young the Giant, “My Body.”
“My body tells me no, but I won’t quit cause I want more.”
The next installment … “Humans of Volleyball”
