Yesterday, I had a doctors appointment at 12:00 noon and was home by 2:00PM. I immediately jumped on the bike and headed for my favorite ride that I save for special occaisions. It's a 40 mile ride, 20 out 20 in, down the coast along high cliffs with fantastic views, gruling hills and fast decents, with wide breakdown/bike lanes.

When I was about 5 miles out, I felt really good. My speed was higher than usual, my heartrate was lower, and my cadence steady and quick, my gearing monsterous. It crossed my mind, briefly, that mabey I could make a shot at my fastest time.

In my endorphine haze, It became absolutely clear to me. This was pay back time. Pay back for all the times I turned away that fourth donut. Pay back time for for that time I left the bar early to go to sleep and my buddies ended up drinking all night and had "The Best Time Of Their Lives". Pay back for all the carrot sticks and apples I ate while Burger King was just across the street. I laughed aloud and planned to spit shine the bike and show up early to the next club ride where I'd pull at the front all day turning to laugh at the boys falling off the back while I was firing snot rockets with wild abandon. Absolute uphoria.

I was on a record run.

Then, at the end of the out lap, I turned to take it home and my world came crashing down. Now, a little late, my memory kicked in. To a savy rider, a quicker pace, an easy fast candence, and a low heart rate out of the blue means something. As I turned, I am embarrassed to say, I was surprised to find that I was facing a near gale force headwind! All the euphoria, all the ego instantly left me alone and tiny, 20 miles from home. My speed crawled, my cadence was erratic and my heart went through the roof. I thought to myself, how am I going to get through this? Suddenly, the dark clouds parted a little, and a beam of sunlight shown down on me. It came to me as scripture. WWJCD. What, Would, the J is silent, ChrisL Do? I called on all my inner ChrisL power (good thing he was asleep at the time and wasn't using it) and slowly composed myself. I got in my best areo position, and started to get my cadence under control and my speed back up.

The pace did come back up a fair bit and studying the gauges I came to find that I still had an outside chance at the record. I beat through it, sceaming at times, and experienced more pain than I can remember.

Now, sitting in my warm house, one hot shower, 800 mg of Advil, and one flat tire (when did that happen?) later, I'm pleased to say that I've busted my fast time by a whopping 21 minutes when half the way out I thought I was finished!

In the end, after the endorphine was gone, it occured to me that this emotional ride was pay back. Pay back for all the mundane rides I took in order to keep my legs. Pay back for all the smiles I've given to the mean spirited people on rides. Pay back for all the flat tires one of which, ironically, I must now go deal with.