Originally Posted by Machka
It is MUCH easier to be tempted to quit when you're out there by yourself.
Last night, as I rolled in to the end of the Boston 400 at around 2AM, Tracey, our ride organizer greeted me by saying, "wow. Finishing the hard way."
"What's the hard way?"
"Alone."
Everything about that ride was fun and enjoyable, until the last few hours, which found me alone, in the dark, climbing up 1000 ft to the base of Crotched Mountain, surrounded by forest, shadows and the hobgoblins of sleep deprived hallucination. Even though I was 80% done with the brevet, there was still a part of me that just wanted to abandon right then and there, just to make the fear, fatigue and isolation go away.
Congrats on getting through your 300, Machka. All the more so for doing it alone. Hope the wind is kinder to you on the 400. I bruised my left shoulder when a pickup nearly sideswiped me on my way home from work last week, and it twinged with a bit of sympathy pain when you described the pain of your post-recovery shoulder.
If the cold proves tenancious, I found that cough drops helped clear my lungs and made it a little easier to breathe. I discovered this too late to stay in the fleche last month, but the drops were very helpful on the 300 I did the week later. Also, the astringency of the cough medicine was a nice complement to the sweetness of typical gels and energy drinks.