Waiting on the other shoe

Steven Wright says that he plans to live forever and he is quick to point out that so far, his plan is working.  It was in this spirit that we rode the Ephrata Fondo this past weekend.  Oddly enough that feeling continues.

One of the unspoken rules in cycling is that you don't talk about certain things during a ride for fear of jinxing the ride.  If someone says, "Hey I'm glad it isn't raining," the rest of the group gives the silent, dirty look trying to convey the message, "Don't say that."

Other statements that must be avoided include "Wow, nobody has had a flat tire the whole ride !!" and "I thought I was going to cramp on that climb."  

With so many things that could go wrong at any time we were hopeful, but did not speak of our apparent good fortune as we rode. We knew we had it going and just kept our heads down and did our job.

Only when we were within sight of the finish line did we dare to open it up and stop worrying. We finished strong and I felt good.  Really good.

After dinner and the drive home I still felt good.   The next day my legs felt a little tired but were not tender or even sore.  I also wasn't so hungry that I wanted to eat everything in sight.  Hmmmm.  This was nice but let's wait and see.

A hectic work week meant that if I was to squeeze in a bike commute it would be Tuesday or nothing.  I woke up, dressed and rolled out feeling okay.  On the way in I felt strong and wanted, oh how I wanted, to throw in some intervals.  

The parking lot of the Best Western was hopping before the Ephrata Fondo

I recalled last year when I felt strong after the Goldendale Fondo and I jumped back into intervals too quickly and I felt blown apart.  This year I exercised some restraint and kept it easy on the way in.  On the way home there was a wicked headwind so I had an extra reason to keep it real. 

Four days after the Fondo, I'm feeling pretty good.

There are a lot of things I'm worried about in advance of the Dolomites.  Base miles, core strength, weight, personal commitments are all part of the equation.  So far, so good.