It's all mental......
Thursday came to a close with a quick recap of Fridays plans and a nomination of the days MVP's. Much to my surprise, Eric was interested in testing my writing skills and I landed one of the days awards. After a climbing up Mount Lemmon, I think everyone deserved the MVP award.
Since Lemmon was mainly a solitary ride for me I will share a few of the high and the low points of my morning. The first revelation came when I rolled out of bed in the morning. The previous days strength session included some leg extensions while balanced on a ball. I should have known from the sneaky smile on Brian G's face as he gave me some pointers that this was going to hurt. It did, My hamstrings were barking at me. My first though was how can I climb like this. It's only 26 miles I kept telling myself. The weather was absolutely perfect and we spun out of town nice and easily. At the start of the climb I looked down and did some quick math, 26miles of climbing plus the 8miles of spinning to get out there. 34 miles would be the magic number to get to the top.
Eric and I chatted a bit up the first bit of the climb enjoying the views. As Sean rolled up almost effortlessly he reminded us to go easy for the first 13miles. I glanced down at my power meter and decided the numbers I was seeing didn't agree with this mantra so I eased up a bit. Kevin and Jim rolled up and we rode together for a bit and then they were off. No victories for me today but it was all about the views. By this point we were looking back down into the city and it was amazing how quickly we had climbed above the city.
Thankfully Eric had given some great pointers on bike fit the previous day and I raised up my seat. Almost a CM. My knee was feeling a lot better. Thanks for that. This was about the time things started getting tough. There's no reason we all shouldn't be able to make it to the top, but the mind can do funny things. As the road snaked around and the others stretched off in front I thought, "this is going to suck if my legs don't hold up, I can't not make it to the top" It was time for some mental trickery..... Step 1, was enjoy the day and look around at the views, no more looking down at the speedo. This isn't a ride where you really want to know your speed or how far you've come. Step 2, set a goal. I told myself, if I kept a good attitude all the way up it was my ticket to to a bike upgrade.
The road wound on and we came into a stretch of trees. The temps, smells, and air changed. It was great. Soon I had gone through my first bottle of Hammer's Mango Fizz. I like that stuff. Luckily Brian G was there for a on the fly water bottle refill and promptly delivered a topped off bottle out the passenger window while driving up the mountain. Impressive.
As my legs tired I took in the panoramic views and reminded my self of my goal to keep a good attitude. Finally we were near the top and Sue offered a bit of encouragement just as the climbing was coming to an end. A group of us rolled into the cookie cabin to realize there were no other bikes there. That only meant one thing. The people out front had gone the last bit up to the ski area. I contemplated for a minute as I stood in front of the cookie cabin, but then that pesky goal popped back into my head. I hadn't made it all the way. Back through town I went, about 1/2 way I did a u-turn and said screw that. But as the thought of no new toys for the bike came to mind I suddenly became motivated and I was off. If it wouldn't have been for the small personal goal, I would have never seen the top.
Special thanks to Scott and the random pickup drive who heard me mention I lost my areobottle on the trip down from the ski area. Their teamwork saved me the search for a new one. Mt. Lemmon tops my list of all time amazing road rides. Great fun, and great people. Camps been a blast, but I think I've had my fill of carne seca at El Charro!
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