Pre-Ride Jitters
I departed for my 5 days at the Climate Ride (again, not too late to donate!) with a bit more anxiety than I normally have before a big race. I felt anxiety about driving in NYC, where cabbies honk their horns like aggressive riders at a Crit barking at me for opening gaps; I worried about whether my car would be safe while I left it there until the end of the ride as I had visions of the valet’s abusing my car like in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). I also was concerned about whether or not I’d figure out how to put my tent up as until last night I had never slept in a tent, never mind erected one on my own.
My tent is up!
All the anxiety came to pass though once I found myself out on the bike. As it turns out, the one thing I probably should have been concerned about was finding my way to each destination. Not surprisingly, I somehow missed what seemed to be some very well marked turns. But given that I had no time constraints and no concerns about missing any deadlines, I welcomed the navigation mishaps as an opportunity for an added excursion and extra time to enjoy new roads. While nothing that I’ve seen thus far has been overly scenic, the route has mostly meandered through the bucolic country side, especially today. And there’s nothing like new territory to add some variety to your training plan.
No Racers Allowed
Yes, that’s right – I’m still following my training plan. I’m here on a mission to make a difference with Global Warming, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m also selfishly using some of this time as my own mini-training camp. It does make me stick out a tad, and I have to figure that at least some of the participants here think that I might just be trying to show off. Aside from a rider from the Rails to Trails Conservancy (Ken) and a little friendly competition of town line sprints, there’s no desire on my part to compete while I’m out here. It’s a charity ride, and not a race. But given that I probably have 5 to 10 times as many miles under my belt this year than most of the other riders out here, the differences in my abilities out on the road are rather stark.
I had a hint that there weren’t going to be too many rabbits on this ride when we lined up to kick things off yesterday as I was the only rider donning a team kit. But it was only after riding for a while that I realized that there weren’t any other racers amongst the group, and that sorta came as a surprise to me. I suppose because I surround myself with racers in my cycling life, I just assumed that at least a portion of the racing community would make an appearance at the Climate Ride. But it seems as though I’m the only one out of the 150 or so other riders. I’m not sure what that means – is the racing community as a whole not aware of Climate Change? Or is the racing community such a small fraction of the overall cycling community that I should have expected to be 1 out of 150?
I’m not sure what the answer is to that question. All I can be sure of though is that I’m getting some great work-outs in at my Climate Ride Training Camp!
