Goals and getting to the finish line | loopnscc's Blog

About a year ago I went for a bike ride on a dusty old bike that I had bought just out of college.  The seat didn't stay up and my legs got tired, but I finished my ride.  I eventually got the bike working and all the little problems fixed and started riding more and more, but it was always alone.  I found out I really liked cycling and found a bike club in the area and joined it.  Riding with others is different from riding alone, they push you to go harder and farther.  They expose you to their passion and you find out it's yours too.  They start talking of going on long group rides and a seed is planted in your brain.  That seed is someday I can do that too, finish a century ride.  That's riding a hundred miles.  I will admit you have to build up to it, start slow and tick off your goals. 

Last year I accomplished the 40 and 50 mile rides.  This year it was up to a 70 mile ride and finally today I completed the 100 mile ride.  I started off in on group at around 7 and did the first 40 miles.  These people are my social friends, but I can ride a little faster then them, but they kept me in check. Like the jockey holding back the horse on the back stretch, they made sure I didn't go out to fast, but in these rides there are different lengths and they only wanted to do 75 miles, so at the second rest stop another group from the club rolled in and they were going the full 100 miles.  So with the first groups blessing I jump ship and finished the ride with my second group.  This group rode faster and harder and pushed me to finish strong. 

I finished the 100 miles in 5 hours and 50 minutes of ride time.  That's about a 17 mph average which I am very happy with because I was hoping for a 15 mph average. 

It felt good accomplishing this goal and knowing my legs are thing that got me there.  I guess that's why I love cycling, because at the end of a ride the only thing that got you from point A to point B is your own determination.