Family Adventure Ride
Some of you probably may have already inferred from the mounting evidence in this blog that things were not going well for me at work. When my ride time is dictated almost entirely by the radar map with little consideration to my Outlook calendar, you may have guessed that I'm either a wealthy aristocrat retired to a life of leisure, or that I'm nearing the end of my time at my current job and in need of a new source of income.
When I learned late last week that I likely have cleared the final hurdle in my job search (still don't have the papers in hand yet, so I won't further jinx myself by revealing more), Mrs D asked me how I wanted to celebrate the big news. Make a big purchase? Go out to some fancy restuarant? Buy a bottle of expensive champagne?
While her suggestions had some appeal, I quickly formulated my own special celebration -- a family bike adventure/overnight escape. I had hoped to make the get away once I had signed papers in hand with a start date for the new job, but with the weather being iffy for the week (only improving on the tail end of the week, but that's when I'll need to be resting up for my next race) I planned our premature celebration trip to depart on Sunday.
All smiles for the departure
By planning the get-away at the last minute, it forced me to deviate from my training plan for only the 2nd time over the last five+ months as it was too late to consult with The Coach to modify my schedule. However, don't confuse a family ride for a rest day. Our 26.6 mile mostly flat ride from Orleans to Hynannis pointed us directly into a 35+ mph constant head wind on Sunday. The cars that passed by us may have believed that I was pulling two little girls, but they were wrong.
At times when the girls went silent and all I could hear was the wind buffeting my head, I grew certain that what trailed behind me was a 2 ton sail boat with its masts fully extended in an effort to capture every last air molecule to fight my forward progress. Mrs D had nothing in tow and reported out to me later on that her only challenge was in keeping the bike upright in the cross winds. But believe me, my legs and lungs on the first leg of the "family ride" probably would have had an easier time had I stuck to The Coach's planned work-out for the day.
The hard efforts required of me due to the wind actually were much appreciated. When we arrived at the Days Inn hotel after pedaling for over 2 and 1/2 hours, I not only felt no guilt for skipping a session on my training schedule, but I felt fully justified in devouring my allotment of 3 cup cakes.
Al getting ready to dig-in and refuel
We had picked the Days Inn as our overnight destination because they had numerous kids activities planned, all of which were included in the $109 per room rate. Little did the proprietors realize that the purported kids activities were actually ideally suited for famished family cyclists! Our first pick-me-up was the cup-cake decorating session to help with our glycogen levels.
Then next up was a trip to the warm indoor pool to loosen up the muscles and help with Lactate removal from the tired muscles.
Then back to the hotel room for the two free one-topping Papa John's Pizzas so that we could carbo load in preparation of our return leg on Monday.
I'm the Lucky One!
About the only bad thing that I could say about our stay at the Days Inn was that it was located in the midst of strip mall hell. Had it been located out near the beach, then it truly would have been the perfect celebration, but then again it probably would have cost us WAY more than we had planned. And given that our stay was just for one night, and with all that the hotel had to offer us, we hardly noticed the surrounding area's lack of appeal.
Our return trip on Monday was again another 26+ mile trek, but now with the only slightly diminished winds at our back, we made far faster time with likely far fewer Watts powering our adventure (unfortunately I can't claim that this leg replaced a work-out). Armed with the warmth generated by so many fun memories packed into just 24 hours, and winds that were so strong and beneficial that my oldest at one point exclaimed "Thank-you Mr. Wind", we were all smiles on the way back to Orleans.
You can't see me in the shot above snapped while I was riding (which btw is evidence that my focus on bike handling skills has had some success!), but I too had a smile on my face. The adventure was initiated with the impending good news of my job situation, but that wasn't what fueled my smile. At one point in the ride as the wind super-charged a modest descent into a 35 mph thrill for the girls, my oldest was beaming and blurted out "I'm so lucky!". A bit later in the ride Mrs D thoughtfully shared that "If it wasn't for you, D, I wouldn't be out enjoying a ride like this." But what all three of my girls didn't realize was that I am the lucky one, and if it wasn't for Mrs D, I probably would have "celebrated" my new job alone by counting calories and accumulating more kiloJoules while churning out more of the planned work-out sessions.
Rides like this might make it hard in the future to keep up with my racing schedule. These celebration rides might also tempt me to only stay at the new job for a short period of time so that I have reason to celebrate again with another family adventure!
