Am I a cyclist now?

My friend Andrew says today was my first real bike ride. If that entails powering through hill after hill after hill and crouching on the downhills so much I feel like I did 200 push ups, he might be right. We did the Great Western Loop today and it totally changed my view of cycling!!!

I bought a Trek 2.3 WSD 2009 off craiglist in preparation for the Mission Bay Sprint Triathlon. A coworker suggested it but only after talking about it with my Ironman friend Albert did I actually sign up. Though I’m trying to focus on half marathons this year, I was encouraged to do it because

It’s pretty much right outside my apartment and easy to access
It’s a sprint, so not too long of a distance and doable for a novice like me
It has the historical significance of being the first race dubbed “Triathlon” and will also be my first triathlon!

After getting my bike at a steal price that came with clip-ins and shoes, I first tried it out at Fiesta Island. Being attached to your bike-literally- is pretty scary and I wanted to try it out where traffic was minimal. Wearing my Garmin, I rode around until I got hungry and decided to see how far I went- 20 miles! Sweet! I then fell to the ground and got a scabbed knee because I didn’t clip-out… amateur move I know!!!

The second time I went out was with my cyclist friend Andrew who loves hills and loves riding at the hottest part of the day. So we climbed up Mt. Soledad, but the ascent wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought and was only about a 13 mile ride.

Today I decided to do a more scenic ride and my staff on trauma, Dr. Shackford, is an avid athlete (seriously, the guy is amazing) and he recommended a few trails.. one being the Great Western Loop. I figured “How bad could 40 miles be?” Um, Leslie, you might need to rethink that logic next time….

It was TOUGH. Climbing and climbing and climbing… at one point my legs were shaking and I wondered if I could even stay upright. And that was only 1/3 of the way into it. Thankfully I brought AccelGels and a waterbottle and my friend Andrew stopped to wait for me a few times, allowing some rest. He’s done a century before, on this same road, yet it was tough even for him!

He was joking about heading back the easy way instead of the full 40 like we planned. To that I just said “I don’t think about that. I just think about finishing.” When I say I’m doing something, I DO IT! Yes it was hard and yes I might not be able to move tomorrow… or the next day…. but damnit I DID it and it was fantastic!! I think I can say I’m a cyclist- so long as 5 years from now I can still tackle that crazy elevation