Saturday, April 3, 2010

Great Day For A Bike Ride

"What I need is someone who will make me do what I can." Ralph Waldo Emerson
And that's exactly what I had today.

I was off of work Friday and hoping to get in a long ride, but the weather did not cooperate. Cycling in 20+ mph winds is not the smartest thing to do, so instead I got in a 3000 yard swim and a 2 hour trainer ride.

But today - today was different. I woke up to a slightly chilly morning that promised to get warmer as the day went on and very little winds. My TNT cycle team was meeting not far from my house and riding on the country roads near me. I had a friend pick me up with the intent on cutting the course where necessary to make it to my son's 11:00 soccer game.

When we started out, I was with two of our faster guys. My goal was to stay with them as long as I could and then cut over when I needed. But when we got to the "cut over" place, I realized that if I did that, I would be on my own. For some reason that did not appeal to me today, so I decided to stay with them and then get sagged forward if I needed to.

But I never needed to. They pushed the speed and pushed me and toward the end when it was getting close on time, they got in front and blocked my wind so we could go faster. I pulled into the soccer fields (escorted by them to make sure I was safe) just as the game was starting.

Yes, triathlon is an individual sport, but sometimes you need to ride with others who will push you to do what your body is capable of, but which you wouldn't normally push yourself to do. Thank goodness for awesome teammates.

1 comment:

RockStarTri said...

Sounds like a great riding day!