Yesterday, I completed the longest bike ride in my life so far. What started out as a potential attempt to prepare for Seattle To Portland (STP) ride , became a let me do it mission and I was on it for entire Saturday – June 25th, 2016.
The Red-Bell 100 is 104 miles long. Add to that a pre-start preparation of about 2 miles and a detour of 9 miles, it became a 115 miles trip. I finished it! It was painful at times and challenging. There were many trails, hills, and wooded section that I rode through in this ride. There were many new people that I met during the trip. There were many new things I observed during the trip. Despite all this, it felt like a long meditative journey of me, myself, and my bike. There is no other way to justify spending nearly 13 hours on the trip with about 11.2 hours on the bike seat. The euphoria and the satisfaction at the end of the trip is fantastic!
Some lessons I learnt during the trip are:
- Be Thankful – Gratitude goes a long way for self-health.
- Be Focused – Focus on the trail keeps you going away from distractions.
- Be Determined – Try, try, and try again will get one thru hills and valleys.
- Be Prepared – Preparation meets Opportunity means success.
First I want to thank my wife for getting me the Trek 7300 FX 11 years back. I was not interested in getting a new bike for the attempt I made. Yes, it has heavier frame than a road bike. Yes, it has bigger tires because of the hybrid structure and hence was probably slower than the fast road bikes. Again, I was not spending more money on the bike before checking out the biker, i.e., me :-). This bike served me well. And that was a nice gift from my wife.
Second, thanks to my friend (this blog keeps names confidential) who inspired me to try out biking. He had the trust in me and inspired hope that I should attempt at least a 20 mile ride before going further in preparation for STP. The 20 mile attempt started at 6 miles, became 38 miles and now 115 miles, all within 2 weeks.
Third, thanks to a new biker friend who I met the trail. We met at the lunch station on the 63rd mile. I was attempting this Red Bell miles ride for the first time and so was he. I was attempting the longest ride in my life and so was he. I asked if we could travel together. He agreed and we joined forces from that point to the end. Thanks to his support and encouragement in the last stage, I made it to the end zone.
Biking was a solitary act with my foot on the pedals, hands on the gears and brakes, and eyes on the trail. Every 20 miles or so, we had a rest stop to stock up on calories and water. Otherwise it was a solitary act of steady progress with every push of the foot. The upcoming breeze was comforting. Nonetheless, I had to push the pedals to make progress. I recalled several instances in my life when I had to work hard and make progress. I recalled several inspiring folks who helped me shape who I am today. It felt like a long mediative offsite where I was able to stay focused.
Once I got past 45 miles, I was happy. Hey, I had reached the longest distance already. When it got challenging to pedal, there was the second thought that popped head encouraging me to quit. And the primary thought was combating this with let us do another 20 push of the pedal, and another 20 … which kept me going. The hill climbs, especially at 56 mile mark and 90 mile marks were very challenging. We took a long turn near mile 90 and ended up traveling a wrong hill up and down. Eventually when we discovered we were going in the wrong direction, we had already gone about 4.5 miles. The only choices were to a) come back the hill up and down, b) give up, or c) ask for help from the organizers. We went with (a) and that meant another hill climb adding to already challenging times. The determination to get to the end despite this, kept me going.
Then starting at about 100th mile of our trip (including the detour) came the famous Chuckanut Dr. It is a great scenic drive. We were climbing this hill at about 6:30PM. It was great to see the bay lit with evening sun. The climb was tough for me. Thanks to the gears, I was able to switch to the smallest gear and keep pushing myself. The hill climb and ride lasted for nearly 10 miles followed by another about 5 miles to reach the final destination. After having come such a long distance, I was determined to finish it. And that determination in the mind helps, despite the pain that my back and the legs experienced. Finally at 7:45PM, after a nearly 13 hours being on the bike, I reached the destination in Bellingham.
Overall, I am excited and satisfied with this trip. It was challenging and something that could have been on the bucket list for a long time. Thanks to all the mini core exercises I had been doing, a ready to use bike, great ride organization (they gave a good route and fed us well), and my new biker friend, I was able to complete it to reach success. Sometimes our life is like that. We have to keep preparing. And occasionally the opportunity will come by for us to show the preparation and succeed.
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