What goes up...

Today was not my best display of athleticism. I made the attempt to follow in the wake of the local bike group that gets together a few times a week in hopes I might pick up a few tips or at least push myself to improve. Tonight just wasn't my night. As a relative newbie I was a bit scared to even show up but people seemed very friendly and I found myself riding with some fellow lady cyclists, I'm sure could have wrecked me but thankfully they stuck with me and rode the 17 mile loop instead of the 30 miler.

I was pushing myself more than usual but I knew I could handle it. Unfortunately despite my ok stamina and cardiovascular abilities when out biking you still have to know when to change gears when you ride up hills. So my temporary lapse in cognitive reasoning left me in too high a gear pedaling up too big a hill from a slow start. So first my chain got stuck because I didn't have enough momentum to change gears as fast as was necessary for me to maintain a forward motion. I tried to rectify the problem by putting all my strength in to the pedals until a calf cramp ripped through my right leg and essentially paralyzed me as I was clipped in on my bike unable to do anything but fall... and that's exactly what I did. Right in the middle of the road. Luckily no cars were around and my riding buddies alerted the cars to my predicament before I became road kill.

As I lay on the ground, both feet still clipped in, I remained unable to move my cramping calf muscle and was finally forced to punch my heel to get out. I could barely put weight on my leg. Limping, I hung my head in shame as I walked my bike up the hill. Once at the top I hesitantly clipped in and rode for the next 4-5 miles with my toe pointed down trying to stretch my calf muscle out and keep pressure off it as it threatened to give out again. As we looped back we decided to attempt the little hill again and I swore it wouldn't defeat me. After all, as a long time equestrian, if you fall off the horse you get back on! Only off came my chain and I tipped over again. This time I was lucky enough to unclip one leg and fortunately fell in that direction so I caught myself this time. One of the other women lost her chain as well and we both stopped to pop them back on and managed to finish our ride without any further problems.

What a way to make a first impression. I'm hoping I got all the kinks out before the race and the 30 miles will go by as smoothly as possible.

For the rest of the week I'm taking a multi vitamin and drinking as much as possible to hopefully stave off these killer muscle cramps! We'll see how it goes...

Listening to: The A Team/ Ed Sheeran