RAGBRAI Recovery

I’ve been struggling to find the motivation to get back out there on the trails again after RAGBRAI ended.

I’m going to be completely honest with you; I think I’ve been on a bike about 5 times since I dipped my tire in the Mississippi. And two of those were on the stationary at the downtown Y, one was on my dad’s bike in Ames and one was on my other hybrid bike…

I officially “got back on the horse” if you will, Friday when I reattached the pedals and rode down Grand, around Grey’s Lake and over to Mullets for pancakes and eggs with a few of my favorite friends.

The mostly downhill trail to Mullets wasn’t bad, I didn’t have padded shorts, but it was only a 7 mile round-trip. Tackling that last hill up Terrace Hill wasn’t pretty though… I passed a girl running over near Grey’s Lake, and a mile later, I’m huffing and puffing in granny gear up my final (and really only) hill when I collapse on the front lawn of my apartment building and hear someone coming up behind me fast. IT WAS THAT SAME RUNNER GIRL! She damn near passed me.

Safe to say my quads aren’t what they were a few weeks ago, and my rear end sure isn’t happy with my Brooks seat anymore. I almost felt clumsy on my bike again… like it didn’t quite fit me anymore.

I suppose I have a few months till I need to become one with the bike again, but I don’t want to miss out on this great weather. I know Iowa. I know it will be snowing and the sidewalks will be treacherous once again in a few short months.

Considering tackling a new challenge, maybe a run… But I hate running, so that might be out of the question. I told myself after RAGBRAI I would let myself cool it on the cardio and increase my strength training and yoga. I really love yoga, but I just don’t see myself being good at it. With biking I felt like I was better than a good chunk of people who didn’t care to spend 2 ½ hours on a bike.

Now that I think about it, maybe I just need to put in the work and I could be good at anything. Time to stop wasting the summer “recovering” from RAGBRAI and just have fun with activity. Ah, who wants to go for a walk?