Woke up at 9 AM, ate cereal with milk and some carrot salad, double-checked my gear, brushed my teeth, got dressed, put sunscreen on and then I left at around 10:27 AM. My goal ,as mentioned in my last post, was to cycle at least 70 km round trip from my starting point. According to the map, my path was estimated to last 3 hours and 18 minutes assuming constant speed. In short, I successfully accomplished that goal, but in 5 hours and a half. Find out why below…
Forgetting Some Gears
I performed three lower-body stretches and three upper-body ones before cycling in an attempt to reduce the soreness experienced last time. Ten minutes after cycling, I realized that I forgot my gloves, but I decided to continue without them. Although I remember vividly tracking my workout through Google Fit for the first 46 km, the app glitched and it lost all the data (Urgh…#!@). I remember being so mad at myself and it sort of distracted me for the rest of the trip , making me wonder if I should start over, because I really wanted the data.
The First Major Uncomfortable Feelings
Nonetheless, I kept going while making sure to record the remaining 24 km effectively. I will test out Google Fit a couple more times to make sure I understand how not to lose the data next time on smaller paths. The first 34 km was a breeze and I remember feeling confident that I could easily cycle for three more hours non-stop. Little did I know how atrociously wrong I was.. Once I entered a road called Covey Hill path, things got excruciatingly painful. I had to cycle uphill for the entire 19.5 km straight.
I made three stops in total throughout just to soothe my legs temporarily and on my third stop, I found a small table, laid my stuff on it and completely collapsed on the soil.
The lactic acid buildup was just too much for my hamstrings despite cycling with the easiest gears and going as slowly as I could. At first, I thought that momentum generated from downhill riding at the other side of the hill would allow me to rest incrementally after spending a lot of energy cycling uphill but the other side of every hill only led to other even higher hills!! I was always deceived by anticipating downhill paths which shattered my confidence and my positive mood!! Imagine being convinced that it will get better only to realize that it gets worse and your legs are giving out. That was a real mental struggle. I was sooo eager to finish that road and I realized how grossly underprepared I was. I thought I ate enough in the morning so I did not bring any food, but I got really hungry halfway. All I could think of were sandwiches with peanut butter and jelly, eggs and muffin mixed in Greek yogurt.
However, I kept thinking how much more pleasurable this journey of freedom was compared to my previous occupations. I also remembered some of the athletes that I admire and how they pushed through adversity in fatal and critical moments on big stages. I had to dig really deep in me and use all sorts of thoughts to carry myself forward. I was making all sorts of exaggerated movements and noises to vent off all of that extreme fatigue. At the end of it, I rushed inside to make myself some sandwiches and yogurt with muffins. It felt so relieving to just reward myself with the foods that I have been thinking about the whole time cycling.
Aside from the hardships, the landscape once again was stunning. It was a combination of forests and fields.
My Next Stop!
I found out that the increase in elevation was was because I was approaching the mountains where the Canada-USA borders were located. Seeing a glimpse of it from far away made me think in the back of my mind that someday, I will go beyond those mountains and see what beauty awaits me.
To be continued…
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