Succeed or Fail on Your Own Terms

When you are out there cycling it is you, your bike and the road.  It is a challenge as to how you will handle yourself in any given situation.  You are alone.  If you fall and get hurt, how do you handle that?  If you have a mechanical...how will you cope with that? If the weather changes, are your prepared for that?   If you have a steep up how do your propel yourself up that?  No one will save you, rescue you and fix the problems.  It is you, your bike and the road.

 Cece has  had this experience several times while on the bike.  Once during a century she struggled to continue after her damaged shoulder gave out at mile  47 after she was hit and run.  She pushed on.. pedal stroke after pedal stroke  as the pain got worse.  She realized, it was she and her bike and the road...just the three of them...stroke after stroke.  What would she do?  How was the pain speaking to her?  How would she go on?  In this situation, she was able to make it until mile 71 and then got off her bike sobbing because the shoulder had collapsed and she could hold on to the handle bars no longer.

A friend told Cece a story about a fall he had on the bike and how he  could barely hold on after his wrists were injured and he still had 8 miles to go to get home.  Somehow he was able to ride those 8 miles and get to his vehicle.  How did he conquer this pain and move on?  It was he,his bike and the road.

On a 96 degree day in Moab during the Moab century tour after almost being thrown off a cliff by a huge RV, Cece had to go on to finish her ride.  It was so deadly hot and there was no water on  the course.  Her friend had collapsed and she was left to ride many miles by herself in the heat without any water.  She knew that she had to go on.  She had to finish.  It was Cece , her bike and the road.

And so, as Cece watched Cadel Evans in the Tour power up those hills and set the pace and pull the peloton up the Alps, Cece had this feeling that for Cadel it was he, his bike and the road. He as making his destiny. He was determined that he would do it and he would succeed...and he was determined...she could see it on his face. This is what he had trained for...come for...worked for.. In the time trail chute, he was in a zen like state,.  He was focused, he was still and he was breathing in a paced way.  He
was in the zone.  Cadel knew what he had to do and he was reviewing that in his mind.

As she watched him in the time trial, Cece was  cheering him on...shouting at her computer,clapping her hands,  shouting out affirmations, telling him to stick to his plan....to take risks, but not thoughtless ones...and as she watched him,   it was another situation of man, the bike and the road,  No one else could do it.  It was succeed or fail right there...on two wheels spinning.

Santa Fe Triathlon..or..."Where is Ayoub?"

When Cece and Stephanie arrived in Sante Fe for the triathlon, they were surprised to meet so many friends...some they had not seen for over 3 years!

Melissa

Ayoub

But it was not long until people started to come up to Cece and ask her if she was racing and if Ayoub was on her team again this year.  People were  scoping out the competition.  You see Ayoub is an elite Moroccan runner who is here in New Mexico training and  staying with one of Cece's friends.  He was a ringer for their team coming in with a low 15 minute 5K...which  he himself was not pleased with...the rest of us were...but he was not!  LOL.    People were very nervous that he would blow them out of the water once again.  Cece assured them that she was a spectator this year and she had no Ayoub and she watched each person suck in air in relief!

The fastest runner came in at 17+ and was  on a team.  Cece watched them the entire day.. The cyclist lost time for the team, but the swimmer made up time in the pool and they were able to come in 2nd place overall and first place for the co-ed teams. It was nice to watch the race and cheer her friends on.    Cece has the competitive bug once again and she is currently recruiting friends for the all women's tri in Rio Rancho  at the end of August.  It is called  Live , Love , Tri.

Everyone did well and had a great time! 

Stephanie

Little Boy Down...A Cautionary Tale

As Cece left her office on Friday afternoon, she was later leaving than usual and was faced with rush hour traffic in the city.  What to do?  She contemplated the various routes she could take home.  Too much traffic.  Too much construction.  That road is a parking lot at this hour.  So, she finally settled on going home the scenic route on Rio Grande Blvd....much slower, but more restful.

As she drove north on Rio Grande, as she approached Matthew and the COOP, she noticed a little boy half in the road, lying on his back with his bike flattened out alongside him.  Was he hit by a car?   The little boy was not moving.  Cece called 911 and reported this and worked to turn her car around given the median in the middle of the road.

Once on the scene she saw the boy move and sit up.  She got out of her car and spoke to the boy.  He wanted water.  Cece only had hot water in her camel back bottle in her car.  But, he said he wanted that.  It turned out that this was Johnny.  He looked about 9 years old, but he was a 17 year old boy with spina bifida.    As they waited for the paramedics and his auntie to come, she discovered that he had not eaten and had had nothing to drink as he rode his bike in the 97 degree heat in Albuquerque in the late afternoon sun.  His eyes were bleary and not well focused and he poured water over his head.   The paramedics arrived and  it turned out that he was exhausted and dehydrated and had heat stroke and had collapsed on the road because he just could not go on to get home.

Cece will never forget her ride in the Moab Century Tour last year when it was 96 degrees and there was no more water on the course with 20 miles to go on the ride back in to the finish. It was extremely difficult riding and many went down.

This is a good reminder to ride early in the morning if possible when there is this type of heat...to eat and hydrate well and be prepared with more water than you think you will need.

Girls and Legs!

Can you guess whose legs these are?  The other morning when we met,  we asked this man on a commuter bike to take a pic of us and he asked us if we wanted the sexy legs in the pic.  Cece told him "just the boobs" and off we went!    But today, Cece herself took the legs!

This reminded her of another "leg shot" that was taken pre-century ride when we all decided to wear stillettos or as high as we could for a poignant leg shot!.

And this remidned her  of another leg shot that was taken pre-triathlon in  Santa Fe.

 Anyway, this am we took another picture too.  Ellie and Stephanie did a long climbing route and Cece and Jamey did a casual talk and bond ride with a few hills thrown in for good measure.  The friends all met togehter at first then the groups split.  What fun!

Here is the perfect triathlon team!The Shark will need more coffee though!

First Stage of the Tour with Street View

Cece is by no means a techno expert...and she does not have cable...so she has to resort to her computer most days to watch the Tour!  It was with great fascination that she discovered that at Steephill TV online,  she can get Google earth and also a street view of the stages of the Tour De France!  She was particularly fascinated by the street view which shows a map and then you can hit "Play" and you can ride along the exact route that the Tour will!  So you get to "ride along" with the big guys from your armchair!Also, you can move the "little man" on the screen to, for example, just see what the climb looks like from the saddle.  Here is an example from the First stage:

The Tour Starts this Saturday!

You can watch the Tour De France live on Steephill TV. When you go to their site you will see a long list of live coverage options. They also feature profiles of each stage and historical backgrounds of the towns that are passed through.> Cece really likes this because it is like taking a virtual vacation.

Here is a teaser from the Tour:

"Cutting Off the Nose to Save the Penis"

Cece read a very interesting article in the NY Times about a new adaptation to cyclist's saddles which decreases erectile dysfunction.    Here  is a picture of one of the saddles that have been tested out by many bike cops across the country.  This may sound odd, but the fact is that putting your soft spots, whether male or female on the tip of the saddle nose...is painful and causes numbness.  So, the article describes several research articles which are graphic to the mind  and a bit funny...and mentioned several saddles variations that many bike cops have tried.

Anyone out there who has a serious problem like this and rides,knows this is not funny problem!   Check this article out...you  might be interested in trying out one of the saddles so you can get some relief and begin to enjoy riding again!