Originally Posted by
Cutaway
How do you prepare yourself before a major event ride.. or even just a solo ride you've been looking forward to? Do you have a special mental/physical exercise a night before or just right before the ride, a special meal maybe.. what do you do? do you pray (for safety)?
Warning: Response may be offensive to some readers.
I ride for fitness and fun--if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it, so prepping isn't a very big deal for me. I expect difficult rides to be difficult; I knew that when I decided to do them. They'll be more difficult if I haven't trained, so I try to stay on top of that. When i do a major ride with a group of people I've ridden with for 20+ years, we perform what we call "the ritual pumping of the tires" before the start, but that's more or less a joke.
As for prayer: No way. If I believe in the standard American version of God, which I'm not sure I do, then I have to assume he knows my situation at all times. Seems to me insulting to question his attention span or his judgment, and anyway, why should he change his mind about throwing me under a bus just because I ask him not to?