SO, last weekend I did my planned 60- and 50-mile rides. Before my training partners get all uppity about how I train too much and am totally nuts, let me state for the record that the MS Society’s TRAM brochure training program explicitly stated that I was supposed to do that. When I am given a training program, I follow it to the letter. Unless I am going above and beyond it like a crazy person. But I digress! My weekend rides were totally manageable and left me feeling somewhat prepared for this monstrosity of a ride. Though I will admit that I purposely chose relatively flat routes, so as to avoid lots of teeth-gnashing and whining, which may technically have been a wimpy call.
I spent a bunch of the weekend on Beach Drive, which is a massive biker haven on the weekends. It’s the best biker-people-watching opportunity of all time, which has allowed me to make some earth-shattering observations. For example:
- Not everyone who has a fancy-ass bike and coordinated spandexy outfit is good at riding. This weekend I actually managed on two separate occasions to pass fancy-pants biking dudes—while going uphill! Granted, this means they were riding approx. 5 mph. Regardless, for me this was the equivalent of winning my own personal Tour de France.
- Conversely, sometimes people who seem to have no game at all—e.g some guys in khaki shorts and orthopedic sandals with He-Man calves—might pass you like you’re standing still. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.
- I have an irresistible urge to catch up with and pass people who are not wearing a helmet because to me that means they are NOT serious bikers and thus I must try to show them how it is done. The same urge surfaces when I see the following: women in tube tops, people riding 700-lb mountain bikes, and that guy I saw this weekend riding a racing-bike-style tricycle. Not kidding.
- There are not a lot of ladies out biking! On Beach Dr I am usually outnumbered, like, 8 to 1. This is a strange change from my day-to-day life where the ladies at work (at a women’s organization) outnumber the men 44 to 3. This makes me want to recruit MORE lady bikers!! Watch out, friends! I’m coming to get you.
One final observation and then I will shut up for the day: I think that my fellow TRAMmer Time bloggers--and my adorable parents, plus my awesome aunts who will be along for the ride--are really hysterically funny, and at this point that is the #1 reason I am looking forward to the ride. I mean, if you don't count the obvious do-gooder reasons for looking forward it, that is. You all are the best!
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