Everything I Learned, I Learned from Biking

Saturday, I participated in a Bike MS fundraiser event. (I'll make an updated Bucket List post later.) I was with Nuella (my bike) from 7:30 a.m. until a little after 5:00 p.m. 90% of that time, I was riding alone. Which provided me lots of time to think. I learned a lot of life lessons during that time, as well as during the month I spent training.

1. Stay covered.
Sunscreen, people. Very important. Reapply. Especially on places that don't often see the sun. And don't forget the lips! Being modest helps, too.
I wore the shortest, airiest pair of shorts I own, and the 15-20 mph headwind (which was constant, although sometimes it was a crosswind) kept blowing them up higher, exposing more sensitive skin to that afternoon sun. I got burned, even though I put SPF 50 on no less than 3 times.

2. Hydrate or Die
I only have one bottle cage on my bike, so I went out and invested in a larger water bottle. And made sure I had electrolyte packets. Even so, there was one point where I was getting severely dehydrated and planned to pull off to the side of the highway to try & gague how far I had until the next water stop. I could probably push myself another mile, but not much farther. However, when I stopped, I saw one of the support vehicles and thought, "Well, he's already here. Might as well."



It also helped to make sure that I was constantly partkaing of the living water . Dorky as it is, I made sure I had about 6 hymns memorized, and the playlist ran about 8 miles at my regular pace. One of them, I used on especially challenging climbs because the chorus included the words "ascended" and "conquer," and that little bit of word play usually gave me enough of a distraction from the hard hill.





3. HumilityTo be as aerodynamic as possible, it helps to keep your head down. Especially when going downhill.





4. StretchI am confident one of the reasons I wasn't sore Saturday night or Sunday was because I stretched every time I got back in the saddle. In life, if you don't stretch and push yourself to the limits, you'll never grow anywhere.





5. Communicate
Most were pretty good on the actual ride, but it drives me N U T S when I'm on a trail here in town and 3 or 4 people go whizzing past me without so much as a "Move it or lose it, slow spoke!" Sometimes, when I can hear them behind me and they don't say anything, I'm tempted to jerk to the left and do a little biker derby. Just to show them. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know anyone was passing me and I swerved because I didn't want to run over that grasshopper. If I would have known you were behind me, that little guy'd be a goner."
Also, motiviational communication can be great! There were signs the last 10 miles or so that said things like "Keep Going!" or "You Can Do It!" It would have been nice to see a few more of those around mile 30 or 40, too. I told myself numerous times, especially when confidence was low, "You may be the last finisher, but you'll be the last finisher."