Pedaling toward Jesus

Blinded by the light

These are weird training days for Evo.  With the Equinox fast approaching the sun is lining up so that every time I turn east in the morning (and every time I turn west in the evening) I encounter this deity-like light.  I've been doing intervals on the way in to work twice a week and it seems to be paying off.  I'll find out this weekend when I pin on a number and race with the Cat 3 old men. 

This week, after my usual fifteen minute warm up, I crossed 220th street and took a deep breath and checked the time on my bike computer. As it ticked over I got out of the saddle and with a firm grip on my bars I cranked. On the first pedal stroke, my right pedal sheared off. 

Yeah, I know !

To my amazement, I stayed up, managed NOT to gore myself, or even scrape myself. I coasted to the side of the quiet street and stepped off the bike. I looked at the bottom of my shoe to see if there was a pedal stall attached. There was not.  I looked around. I could not see it anywhere.  I paused and tried to get my pointed head around what had happened and what I should do.

Hottie and I shared a cup of coffee before I rolled out, so I knew she was awake. I called the her and in a few minutes she brought the team car with spare pedals and tools (is she AWESOME of what?).  Tux came along for the ride and seemed happy to be out. I know I broke all of the self sufficient rules, but if I had called for a ride home and then driven to work that would have been more fuel burned and a good workout missed.

Hottie is ALWAYS prepared to take a picture..  

Note the Stanley Coffee mug, the Road ID on my right  wrist, the Stella 300 on my helmet 

(the helmet was on sale for CHEAP) and my frame pump.  

I have NEVER had to use the frame pump for an on-route flat..

After the bike was returned to working order I kissed the driver of the team car, I resumed my ride.  In five minutes I was doing intervals and sucking air.  During my recovery between intervals I pondered upon my pedal failure. My thoughts ran from, "I am so freakin' strong, the other riders should just step aside and let me win all the races this year," to "I know I lubed that pedal a while ago..."  In the end I concluded I was just cheap and had squeezed a bit too much out of my pedals.

As I turned the right hand corner the sun blinded me and I had to come to a complete stop just so I could see if there was traffic on the road. There was; I waited and crossed and resumed my workout.

I had a home project that I tackled over the long weekend. I took of Friday to get a head start.  It was manual labor that, among other things, involved mixing ninety bags of cement in a wheelbarrow with a shovel and then shoveling it into the forms I put together using twelve doors that were left over reclaimed from our remodel project.

My hands are numb and my back is sore. My neck is sunburned. My body feels a strange combination of being a grandfather yet feeling alive from the aches and scratches that remind me I am living a full life.