I know this started out as my hiking/trail running blog but I want to add biking to it now. As of today I now have a new respect for cyclists. Today I rode 14 miles in about an hour and ten minutes with a co-worker. We rode from the horse stables parking lot to the main front gate and then back all the way to the spillway between the two lakes at the other end of the park.
Just that ride alone was enough to take me out. My legs were about rubber by this time and my muscles were screaming. My co-worker, Richard, had circled back to stay back with my several times and finally had gone ahead and waited on me at the spill way.
On the way back he told me that he would try and go slow enough to stay with me. I would have never made it without him. I needed the encouragement he provided just by being there. My right knee started to hurt about a fourth of the way from the finish line when I had just two more small hills to take on.
I was able to climb them but the will power to do so was amazing to even myself. It made me see how much more you could push yourself with someone there than when you are by yourself. There were two other cyclists out there who very quickly came by us on a very steep hill. Even they spoke words of encouragement as they came by. I am sure they had been struggling like I was when they were first starting out and remembered how it felt.
I hope to keep at it with Richard and one day be able to be an encouragement to someone else on the road as they struggle up a hill on their first bike ride in Oak Mountain State Park. After I survived Richard teased me by telling me how it was nice for him to just take a leisurely ride through the park for once.
I commented on how I had to use every gear I had on my bike. Richard said he normally didn't use his really low gears but that he had to today in order to go slow enough to stay back with me. He is too kind. By the way, Richard is only 64 years young.
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