Better, but not great!

I was born with sports in my blood, my parents put skates on me at the young age of 4. I figure skated for many years to come, most of those years at a very competitive level. So, early in my childhood I was driven to be my best. That best has changed over the years as I have grown and also with life changes that we all experience.

If you would have asked me when I was a teenager if I saw myself mountain biking, I would have said no. I wanted to be a professional dancer and singer. But, I was not fortunate enough to have a singing voice, I did get the dancing moves and can still break it down today, although I think my niece thinks differently.

I was first introduced to mountain biking by yes, you guessed it a BOY. Yes,  I was dating a guy who was a mountain biker and introduced me to it summer of 1994. I am the fortunate one to be able to say that Green Mountain was one of my first rides and I could tell you I never ran into another mountain biker, usually runners and we mountain bikers got some funny looks back than. I wasn’t a serious biker by any means, I did it for pure recreational purposes. But, I did enjoy riding my bike, going to some beautiful places and smelling the woods behind every pedal stroke.

I biked for 6-7 years before taking time off the bike and sliding into a  somewhat normal life. I say normal, cause if you ride a bike, or do any sport for the enjoyment of pain well, you might not be normal. During that time I was married and the other person was not an outdoor person such as myself. But, one day I saw someone on TV and he reminded me how much I loved biking. So, off to the bike store I went where I purchased my first ever road bike. I actually remember my first road ride. I was by myself, rode out north up towards Boulder. I got on the bike and was so excited, I think you could see my smile all the way in Wyoming. I thought wow this is fun, but man I’m out of shape. I looked down to discover that I had only ridden 10 miles. Oh dear AP, you have some work to do.

After the excitement of getting back on a bike I was so thrilled, but something was missing, what was it, I had a new road bike, I had my old mountain bike....oh wait, yeah, old mountain bike, I wonder what it would feel like to get on that again. So, out I pulled my old steel machine and dropped her off at the bike shop for some fine tuning. I was so excited to pick her up and get those wheels rolling on some singletrack. Excited was just it, until I got on a mountain bike trail that had some elevation gain. Oh my what have I gotten myself into, this hurts.

Sadly, my marriage ended shortly after, I found myself single again and all I had were my bikes. Soon after my separation I had met another mountain bike guy, he asked me if I wanted to join him for a ride up at Lair O Bear. I said sure of course, not knowing what I was getting myself into and having no idea what was ahead of me. We arrived at the trailhead and it had been raining, eager to give this a go, we got the bikes rolling. Now, this individual was an elite rider, I had no idea what I was in for. Being kind and supportive he encouraged me all the way up. Huffing and holding back tears of pain, I managed to make it half way up. I had no more juju, no more strength, no more power to pedal the bike uphill. This was a whole new world of cycling, that I had walked upon. Although, I cried and wanted to die, I didn’t give up. I continued to ride my road bike and upgraded the mountain bike. This was a new beginning for me and my biking years to come.

For years, I rode and rode and continued to get stronger and faster and after having a medical condition finally answered, I was on a new better and stronger cycling path.

Finally there came a time where I wanted to actually race my bike, which leads me up to this blog today. I’ve always had that competitive nature about myself, I raced on a team a few years ago and did okay middle of the pack most of the time. Actually I think each race I completed I was in 5th place. After that season of racing, I just wanted to ride my bike. To get out there and explore more trails, more amazing singletrack that takes you as far out as possible. I did just that, I have been to some beautiful places on my bike in multiple states. So when it came a time for me to decide if I was ever going to race again..well it wasn’t a hard decision for me to make.

This year I am so grateful to be racing with an elite team of racers. They are fast and I could only hope to be as fast as some of my fellow racers. But, racing is something different for each person and for me, it is proof that I had worked hard over the past few years to be where I am today. So, I started my race season off with Battle of the Bear, this race was fast and exciting and coming in 3rd place for my first race, meant I was off to a good start. My second race was June 2nd, BetiBikeBash is the name of the race, this is an great event, a race for women and only women. I had a new bike this year, I felt great coming into this race and was ready to take my next podium. But... I was not the dog in this race, but rather the fire hydrant and was handle some humble pie. Even having improved my time from last year to present year, I was unable to catch the fastness that was ahead of me. 2012 my time was 1:00:31.6 and this years time was 52:21.1, an improvement but just not enough to make it happen, being 3 minutes off the first place winner made me realize that I had to dig deeper to be faster.

As always I enjoyed the race, but was reminded just how much faster the girls I ride/race with are. I’ll continue to get out there and dig to my inner fastness for the next race, which is 5 miles uphill. Anyone that knows me well, knows I’m not a fan of tons of climbing,  but I’ll do what I can to make this happen with a performance I know I can be proud of.

So, as we approach the weekend and a warm weekend it will be, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend, playing bikes, having fun with friends and I know I am due for a beer.

My song... hmmm this one was hard this time cause I was feeling a bit ho-hum from my racing performance, but I always try to find the best part of a situation and rise above it! I remember this song from high school, there was a performance that came to our school and they played this song as an opening act. This song sums it up for me today.

Much love to all my people and readers! May you have a wonderful weekend and until next time. Peace out!