Digital Gee

You wake up, and part of you is trying to talk the rest of you out of riding this morning, whining mostly, of course, and you get dressed anyway, and you get on the bike, and you put in some miles (in my case, ten), and you feel the wind and the sun and the blood rushing through your veins, and you smile because you overcame the Inner Couch Potato once again, who is getting more and more upset with you because you ride?

Sure is to me!

berts

that's me tomorrow morning at 05:30 - i'm trying to get rid of mr. potato but he keeps persisting.

webist

Yeah. Some of my best times and distances have come on days where I reluctantly started out on a leisurely ride only to find myself hammering after a brief warmup. Those are really sweet days.

Olebiker

Oh man, I hear what you are saying. The alarm goes off every morning at 5:30 whether for work or riding. Sometimes I am tempted to just turn it off, roll over and pull SWMBO closer for a couple of more hours of sleep. I know, however, that if I get out and ride, I will have a great time and feel really good about myself.

That's what I told myself Sunday, so I hopped right up and went out to get the paper. The sky was overcast and it had rained all day Saturday. But, I thought, how many times have you not gone on a ride because it was overcast and rain was predicted then the sun came out and I missed a perfectly good ride.

So, I talked myself into getting ready and going to the ride. A good sized crowd had assembled at Cabo's Tacos. Many of them in shoes still wet from Saturday's ride. I had not ridden on Saturday morning, choosing to stay home and help SWMBO get ready for the guests that were coming over for paella and sangria Saturday night.

About five miles into the ride the rain started. I wasn't sure if it was really raining or if yesterday's rain was just dripping off the trees. We kept on going. It kept on raining. Not hard, mind you, but enough to soak my socks so that they became weighted like little flywheels that, once you got them started, kept my momentum up.

Then one of the newer riders got a flat. Her friend Beth decided to turn the flat into a class on changing a tire. We stood around watching Beth demonstrate her tire changing skills....in the rain. She's a doctor, though, and a pretty smart lady so I guess that was the thing to do. I deferred to her judgement.

About a mile further on, the new rider got another flat. We stood around again while her husband changed this flat this time....in the rain. Once the tire was repaired and pumped we turned onto St. Joe Road. The sky ahead looked ominous and we were heading right towards the black clouds coming in at us from the Gulf of Mexico.

The rain never got heavier, though, and, after the hot weather we have had, God's gracious rain felt good. Another right turn onto Tram Road found us on one of the great joys in my life: brand new asphalt. Noone in the group had fenders (mudguards, Nigel) so drafting would be uncomfortable given the roostertail flying up from each rider's rear wheel. We rode side by side on the lightly traveled road, spaced far enough apart to avoid the tire spray from the riders in front of us.

We only rode 21 miles at a very sedate pace and we got soaked, and we all agreed that it was a good day to have gotten out of bed.

GrannyGear

Have to admit, that Couch Potato voice doesn't give up easily no matter how much I beat him back, he's returns the next day....almost have to admire his persistence--wish I was half as tough minded as he is. Then, of course, there's his sister Guilt. She follows after him, whispering in my ear. Jeez.

p8rider

Digital Gee,
Like Webist, I find that it is on days when I least feel like getting out of bed at 5:20 that I usually perform best. It's ironic, but in any case, I use that fact to motivate myself to get up and get going I might break one of my personnal records! My actual worst times are anytime I return from a trip. I travel for business and regardless of whether I fly in at an early hour or late the next days ride is always a poor effort. I think just getting to meetings catching planes and sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings takes a greater toll than I like to acknowledge.

Roody

I only recently discovered the joy of pre-breakfast rides. For me, that's at 10:00 or even 11:00 AM, since I work 2nd shift and have to sleep late. Still, it's cooler in the late morning than in the afternoon, and the oatmeal sure tastes good when I get home.

Household hint: I put the oatmeal and the water, sugar, fruit, peanut butter (yes, I eat peanut butter in my oatmeal!) in the dish before I ride. Then I just microwave the whole mess while I'm changing out of my cycling clothes. Can't wait for that breakfast after an hour long ride!

Raim

Roody, whats the specific quantities and ingredients for that recipe? Think I'd like to try it.

p8rider

Another thing to keep you going. Today I knew I was not going to have a record breaking ride. The previous two days I had set record paces for me so today would be slower. What I did was work out a new route extension to take me from 9.42 miles to 10.61. I have been wanting to officially increase to better than ten miles so figured it out last night and rode it this morning it's a nice addition. Otherwise on recoup days I take certain sections (usually hills) and use a different gear combination to look for improved performance. Just a few more things to keep my interest going in addition to the beautiful morning mist.

stapfam

Just come back from an evening ride. At 6pm I did not want to go, but still phoned my corider on the Tandem for a 6.30 start. Daylight is short at present so we only have 2 1/2 hours to do 30 miles and get a cup of coffee and a cake on the seafront 12 miles away. We got moving, but both of us felt sluggish, legs were tired, breathing a bit hard and the heart rate was up on normal readings. Got to the cafe and checked the computer. No wonder the legs were tired, breathing laboured and H.R. up. We had gone out at our fastest average speed for this ride. Continued on, Pulled one gear higher than normal up the big hill and were still talking to each other, even though the HR was in the upper limits. Got to the off road bits and steamed along, and realised that all our averages were higher. Then we had our highest record. We came off on a downhill at around 35mph.

IF I ever feel like chickening out on a ride again, I will put that thought to the back of my mind. That ride was fantastic, even if it felt like hard work for most of the way. Even the "off" had its good side as whilst waiting for the wife to recover us, we discovered a Local Beer that we had not tried before that was fantastic. It looks as though the only damage to the tandem is a shredded front tyre so other than a check on the wheel, we got away lightly.

RonH

I don't have this problem very often, since I bike commute 4-5 days a week.

Bob Gabele

I find this website to be my motivator. I ride six day/week now. My problem is that I NEVER feel like riding upon waking up, which is usually about 5:45 AM. I need a good 45 minutes to an hour to get in the mood. That's where this site comes in. After scrolling through the latest posts and answering a few, I'm feeling like getting out on the road. This morning, for instance, I thought I may even skip the ride. I ended up doing 50 miles (a long ride for me).

I'm very glad to have found this site!!