Orlando, FL – Simply a Training Ride

I have written about charity rides, community rides, and instructional rides. There are also those days of just “training”. What is that all about?

My ride started about 11:30 am with one of my fellow teammates. After the ADA Tour de Cure, the season for hard training was put on the shelf for a short time. That means not waking up at 4:30 am during the week to train. I have taken a little time off of the intense training schedule (4:30 am is intense to me at least) to give myself the luxury of sleeping in during the week until 5:30 am. Weekends are a bit different, though, for training. They don’t start as early. They don’t always happen (yesterday rain and thunderstorms killed my plans to ride). Today’s ride goal was to enjoy a nice sunny day here in Florida, and not much else.

At first, I thought there was not going to be any wind. HA! There was the wind, and the sun, and the humidity, and HEAT! Every training ride is an opportunity to work on something. My focus targeted pedaling smoothly, keeping an even pace and cadence, and enjoying the ride. Since it was also so windy, my teammate and I got to practice switching lead. So many things to work on seemed overwhelming at first. As I got through the warm-up of the first few miles, though, the focus became easier. I have missed just riding.

So while I was intent on training, I let my enjoyment of riding take over. I’m not saying it was easy to ride. In fact, today was HARD! The wind would gust in. Ugh! “How am I going to get through this again,” my brain said. That inner voice responded with “Easy! Just pedal. Don’t mash. Relax those elbows. Tighten that core.” Tracy’s voice was mixed in. Z’s voice echoed. But somewhere amidst all of that, my voice shouted, “What a blast! Look how good you are doing and how far you’ve come.”

Wildlife sighted today: a black snake. It slithered on its way. EEWWW!

Decision point: another lap or head home? Today – head home. The heat and humidity took its toll on me. The last few miles sped by quickly. While I didn’t go as fast as I wanted to, the end result was not too shabby. Tired legs, sweaty salty skin, a big smile (though maybe it just showed on the inside), and the desire to head out again soon! Every ride doesn’t have to be dramatic, fast, or long. They only need to be fun.

The ride ended with a stop at the local Starbucks for coffee and oatmeal. A great way to top off just “training”.