C'Mon and Ride It (The Train...errr... Bike)

Well, the jig is up.  Despite my insistence to be a bumbling around mess of an athlete, I somehow managed to come across as slightly bad ass, landing myself on a certified podcast.  Northeast Athlete, a podcast dedicated to exploring local athletes across the Northeastern United States likely needed some comic relief for their listeners sought me out as an accomplished, experienced athlete for one of their episodes!  I know.  I was a little concerned by their definitions, as well. But hey, I'll act like a fool on camera for anything, so I readily agreed!

If you've been a long time reader, most of this won't be news, but if you've got an hour to kill, check it out !  Jacob, the guy that interviewed me, spent quite a bit of time asking about my training tips regarding running, swimming, (HAH!) and biking (double hah!).  I gave him the best answers I had, which might be useful to approximately two people (you're welcome) and humorous to the rest of you.

Needless to say, the poor guy was probably looking for something more insightful regarding my three favorite bike workouts than what he got....(Spoiler alert!)

1.  The one where I don't crash

2.  The one where I don't have to stop

3.  The one where I don't have to shift or ride in Aero.

Cripes, Rae.  Get it together.  This fear of the bike thing has been way overblown.  WAY overblown. And while 2020 certainly hasn't been the year to chase dreams in terms of PR's (you need races for that!), it really has been a year to step back and get back to basics.  For me, it was the bike.  Earlier on this summer, I was so darn proud of myself  of getting out to ride my bike twice a week (NOT ON THE TRAINER!!) , while keeping my sanity and running almost every day.  Really, I was killing it.  C'mon, look at me, riding my bike!  Outside!

Right.  During one of the conversations I had with my *pseudo* (only dubbed as such cause he's letting me do my own thing until it's time for Ironman training) coach, amidst all my self congratulating on these amazing 10 mile rides twice a week, he bluntly asked me when I was going to stop playing and work my weaknesses for real.

Dumbfounded, I told him that was EXACTLY what I was DOING.....HELLO! (was he not paying attention??)  He paused for a minute (why does this man put up with me??) and carefully replied "Since when does doing something twice a week make any significant change?"

Mic drop.  What perfect sense.  I was, as usual, going around in my little Rae world, working what I liked to best and avoiding the scary bike in the corner.  Dammit.  I both love and hate it when he's right (which is usually the case).

So I made the most intelligent decision at the time and showered him with legit reasons excuses as to why I couldn't bike more.  I don't ride more.... because it takes more time to get ready.  Duh.  It is so NOT the fear of riding.  NOT the cars.  NOT the fact that Webster is windier than Kansas in a tornado (it's not, I'm prone to hyperbole).  NOT the fact that my legs were tired.  NOT. 

Running....I posited....took 2 minutes to prep.  Shoes.  Shorts.  Bra. Visor.  Hit start on the garmin.  GO!

So he casually asked me how long it took for me to get ready to go for a ride.  I replied....at least twenty minutes.

Now it was his turn for a jaw drop.  No way, he countered.  Takes me...2 minutes.  And with that, I laughed.  Alright, I said....lets put this one to a test.  You prep your ride, I'll prep mine, let's write down the steps and time it takes and we will compare.

So, with SCIENCE on the line, we conducted an oh so well executed "experiment" of how long it takes to get ready to ride a bike.

Ride one involved a prep time for the Banter (AKA the coach)  of 5 minutes and 40 seconds (he posits there was some sort of spousal white knighting that made it take longer, but whatever).  His easy steps:

1.  Change clothes

2.  Pee

3.  Start Garmin up to locate satellites

4.  Get water

5.  Pump up tires (every other ride)

6.  Go

Simple enough, right?  This assumes all ride gear is good to go (usually is for me too) and we haven't ridden in a few days (or step five might not be necessary - which I digress, I always check, but this is his set of steps, not mine, so we will let it be).  

Ride one for our hero Pants (yep, that's me) clocked in at a 24 minute prep.  This again, assumes normal behavior.  Here are my easy steps to go on a bike ride:

1.  Check the weather

2.  Check windy.com to see which way the wind is blowing

3.  Debate if the weather is perfect enough for a ride.  I see there is a 5% chance of rain three hours out.  Seems risky.

4.  Ditto for windy.com.  ESE winds of 8mph seems kinda dangerous to me.  (It's not). 

5.  Get bike off trainer.  

6.  Clean hands from copious amounts of grease accumulated from step 5.

7.  Change bike wheel

8. Bring bike upstairs

9.  Pump up tires

10.  Turn on bike computer

11.  Check power meter.  Re calibrate (yes, every ride).

12. Check brakes...back and front.  

13.  Add enough water to both bike hydration bottles to provide for possible trip to Africa.

14.  Change into bike kit

15.  Get ID, money, snacks, and the kitchen sink just in case I need it.  

16.  Realize said packed "just in case" stuff does not fit in jersey pockets.  Change.

17.  Sunscreen up (lube is for wussies)

18.  Helmet and bike shoes on

19.  Braid or low pony tail hair.

20.  pee

21.  Wipe down glasses so they don't fog

22.  Double check weather and windy.com in case the forecast or radar or wind changed in 17 minutes.  It hasn't.

23.  Double check brakes in case they failed in 12 minutes.  They haven't

24.  Lock door and wheel bike out

25.  Mount bike.  Pray.

26.  Look both ways for cars

27.  Pray again.  Quell stomach queasiness and deep breathe to get heart rate down and debate a quick run to the store.  We are totally out of canned black beans and there could be an emergency need.

28.  Debate peeing again

29.  Curse and turn on bike computer

30.  Look both ways for cars again.....check 3 miles in each direction to ensure there are no cars ANYWHERE in New York State on the road (can Cuomo fix that for me?)

31.  Heave a big sigh, clip in, roll out and try not to fall while clipping in to my second pedal.

31 easy steps, right?  My first attempt, I was out the door in 24 minutes, which means I'm either damned efficient with that many steps (woot, multi tasking!) or...um....we had a big problem.

Ever the problem solver, I turned to my trusty group of training buddies.  I surveyed five of the guys I ride with, including the husband.  Once we established that ride prep did not include pooping (which adds 15 minutes, did you know that??) they all came back at about 10 minutes of prep, averaged together.  This told me two things.

1.  My coach is not human (I knew this).

2.  I had some work to do.....

I vowed to do two things.  One being to get my damned self on the bike five days a week, cause if I wanted to be a bike beast, I clearly needed to C'mon and Ride it!  (The bike).  More rides = more efficient prep time and less freak out time (theoretically).  And two, to time myself for the first week to see how close I could get to the Average Joe...or Greg...or Matt time....OR how close I could get to the super human banter bike prep time.  It was so on.

Ride 2 - Out the door in 14 minutes.  I chose the right outfit, checked weather once, and cut out steps 5-8 and 26- 28.

Ride 3 - Out the door in 6 minutes!  6!!!  This one, I didn't check the weather at all.  I also brought one water bottle, had my bike already in the garage good to go, and cut out steps 5-8, and 26-30 - including forgetting to turn on my damned computer.  Whoops. 

Ride 4:  4 MINUTES!  4!!!  I was so excited about this prep  I forgot to be nervous!!  I have no idea how I accomplished this one, but with this feat, I had proved my point to myself and was now done with the experiment.  I doubt I'll ever get down to the mythical "2 minutes" but this was a sound stopping point. 

The point of this is....you can have an excuse for anything.  And if you want it bad enough....your desire has to outweigh your fear.  It did.  With that, I vowed to keep at it, riding 4-5 times per week.

I started this experiment about a month ago - I'm pleased to say that in the last 30 days, I've ridden my bike twenty one times.  That's probably more outdoor rides than I did in all of 2019, save for races.

One small car back on track for the train wreck that is my bike, right?  

I think I can, I think I can...