The need for speed. Or not.

Maverick: I feel the need...
Maverick, Goose: ...the need for speed!

Have you ever noticed how fast people are moving these days?  On the highway, at the grocery, seems like wherever you go people are trying to go faster.
Yeah, well, that ain't me.  I have proved that by trying to get back into running. So, here is a philosophical question: is my run really a run if it is slower than my walk? Enough of that. I am only venturing out on two feet instead of 2 wheels to do something to keep my bones strong, and I get bored walking so I shuffle. I can actually shuffle about 3 miles without breaking into my walk. Unless, I want to speed up, then I break into my walk. Comical. I really hope nobody is out on the greenway taping me. That would be truly embarrassing. But, no matter how slow, I get my 3 miles done.

Since I am training for the fall ride with Team in Training, (El Tour de Tucson) which is a relatively flat (hallelujah!) ride, and I am not training to ride the hills (can we just call them mountains?) of Lake Tahoe, I am starting to feel the need for (a bit) of speed! I will never be a rider like Paulie, he isn't human, he rides up Mt Washington on his bike. Yes, his bike climbed Mt Washington, my car has not even done that. I will never be like Matty the punk. Matty just turned 30, I can call him a punk. You know, someone who is only 30 can go out the night before, have a few drinks and still get up and ride 100 miles the next day.  Yeah, I remember being 30, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.   I will never ride like that skinny little fart, Jim Kimball. I just ride like me, a little faster than I used to be, a little faster than some, not as fast as most, but I get there.

I have made a lot of progress over the last year and a half on my bike. The hill on 44, that I did on my first ride ever on my new bike, with sneakers and flat pedals, huffing and puffing like old engine number 9, shifting wrong, is not a hill to me anymore. Sure, I am still slow on the climbs, but I can make the climbs.  Coach Henry said I was a stronger rider than I give myself credit for. And that may very well be true. I am a strong rider, maybe not a fast rider, but a strong rider.  Some of the progress I have made has been in the way of technique. I learned to pedal downhill... it helps get your keester up the next hill. I have started standing on the pedals, when I crest a hill, just to break the tension a little bit. And, I can actually drink while I am on the bike. That is a new skill I developed this year, goodbye camelback! I rejoice in the little milestones.

Since I am training for a flatter ride, I will tend to ride flatter terrain around here. And, since I am riding flatter terrain, I will tend to go a little faster. My average speed is now getting up to over 14mph, when it used to be a little better than 12 or 13 mph.   Not a huge amount faster, but a little. And, I am okay with that. I am not trying to be Paulie, or Matty, or Jim the skinny little fart. I am trying to be me. Me on a bike, enjoying the ride, noticing the scenery (seeing the wild turkeys in the driveway that those up ahead of me totally missed!), loving the weather (even if it is like riding into a hair dryer -- thanks Alison for the analogy), and clearing my mind. I guess the bottom line, is that it doesn't matter how fast I finish, but that I finish.


ps: Cancer sucks.

psps:  Spent a day in June taking pictures of the TNT runners that were doing the Fairfield Half Marathon, had a blast and got this great shot of Jamie Botteon, College Freshman, DI soccer player, and leukemia survivor. Go Jamie!