Another 3,000-mile Smile

In the bag! Four months earlier than last year!

This magnificent milestone also commemorates my renewed Pikes Peak goal. On Labor Day, I received an email from the Assault on the Peak director announcing, yes, there will be another chance in 2012.

I had half-heartedly committed to next year's ride, provided it is offered, when Titanium said she'd like to climb a peak with me while The Lizard runs laps around us. When I learned with three weeks to go the ride was shortened by an hour, my heart sank. How could I expect others to join me when I wasn't even sure I could do it myself? When I came up five minutes short (by my cyclocomputer, but only three minutes short when the official results were posted) at the Glen Cove cutoff on this year's attempt, I didn't know if I wanted to try again. It's just too hard, I thought. I'm just not strong enough.

But I die hard. In every aspect of life. The ride director might as well have thrown a gauntlet at my feet. This year, I thought I needed to be 15 minutes faster. Next year, I have to be an hour faster than I was this year.

I don't know if it's doable, but I'm going to give it my best shot. My targeted training for next year began the day after Labor Day. I climbed the stairs (60 flights) the next day for the first time since about March, and I did them non-stop. That's the first time I've ever been able to do the stairs non-stop after a three-week or longer break. My goal is Pikes Peak, but my lifetime ambition is to not lose what I've built up since February. My lifetime goal is to keep fighting the diabetic tendencies and genes for as long as I can. My lifetime goal is to combat the arthritis with everything I've got.

PS: The date for next year's ride has not been announced. This year, it conflicted with the final stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The road up Pikes Peak will be completely paved next year. Wouldn't it be awesome if the Assault on the Peak incorporates a pro race during the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge (which really, really, really needs to be called the Tour of Colorado!!!), and we citizens get to ride the mountain the same day as the pros, just like the Mount Evans Hillclimb?!? You big guys think you can climb big mountains??? We've got a big mountain for you!!

I think I'll be playin' that Aerosmith oldie but goody now. "Dream on, dream on, dream on, dream on!"

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3,000-mile Smile

Made it!

I had envisioned doing 47 miles again last weekend, and then I'd be 11 miles over my goal with two weeks of 2010 pedaling to go and Waterton Canyon re-opening for a month next weekend. Unfortunately, we literally ran out of daylight during our milestone ride, so all I got was exactly 26 miles, every single mile I needed, down to the last drop. I'm there. I did it.

This was my best year since surgery in 2004. I biked a total of 1,824.8 miles in 2008. Last year I got in only 1,167 miles because I let too many other commitments gobble up all my free time. The Lizard, on the other hand, hit 3,000 miles on the final weekend of 2009, and that after a training-related injury kept him off his bike for two months. Plus, we moved, which kept us off our bikes a couple more months. If he could do it, so could I. So I set my 2010 goal for 3,000. And now I've done it. I don't know that you'll be able to wipe this 3,000-mile Smile from my face!

My road bike definitely isn't going to take a break for the rest of the year, and it actually may be in service a lot longer than I anticipated after losing the derailleur during Ride the Rockies last June. We had planned to retire my road bike to the indoor winter trainer when we learned it would cost only a couple hundred dollars more to buy a new bike than it would cost to rebuild the old one. The economy being what it is, buying a new bike might not be a wise use of funds. And now I've grown accustomed to the rough shifting of the mountain bike derailleur currently powering my road bike. I can get by another year if needed.

Six years ago, I wasn't sure I'd be able to ride anymore, much less the distances I thrived upon and enjoyed. Recovery from life-changing emergency back surgery took a lot longer than I anticipated. In a way, I was just like my bike is now. Parts inside me didn't work as smoothly as they used to and the way I wanted them to, but I kept using those old parts. Didn't really have a choice! New parts were not available!

After losing running and continuously struggling with descents while hiking, thanks to my defective parts, I was determined not to lose riding, too.

My neurologist back then said I wouldn't be able to wear a fanny pack anymore, and I likely wouldn't be able to wear a backpack. Fanny packs are so yesteryear, I don't mind losing them. After years of forcing the issue, I finally carry my own backpack. On my back. (I used to carry it on my front or over just one shoulder if my back rebelled too much.)

I figure if my back can handle what I'm putting it through, the road bike can, too. This bike has a lot of emotional investment, and it's stuck with me through thick and thin, plus a couple of good wipe-outs. I've even joined the OTBSC on it. Don't ask, 'cuz I ain't tellin'!

So I'm going to follow The Lizard's 2010 lead... his goal this year was 4,000 miles, and he reached it in 10 months. So my goal in 2011 is 4,000 miles. But I'll take the whole year! No point in rushing things!

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