Saturday, July 2, 2011

Meeting Steve on the road

About a week ago I wrote a post about scheduling some workouts with a training partner, in hopes that said training partner will hold you accountable.  What I didn't mention, is that there are obviously times when it is still best to just throw in the towel.  Don't get sucked into forcing yourself to meet up for a workout if you are feeling excessively tired or worn down...chances are that you could actually benefit from the rest!

That's exactly what happened to me the other day.  The Captain and I had an early morning bike ride scheduled (a 5:00 a.m. start) when I received a text from him at about 4:14 a.m. saying that he would not be joining me.  He had been working some crazy hours and was a little short on sleep, so it was definitely better that he take the extra few hours of rest.  As for me, I immediately reset my alarm and went back to sleep too!

I ended up getting out of bed at about 5:30 a.m. so I could be out the door by 6:00 a.m. for a shorter bike ride.  About five minutes after leaving, I received a phone call from The Wife, and being the über-safe person that I am, I answered it while riding my bike (I was wearing my helmet!).  We had a short conversation, and noticed a shadow creep up behind me while I was hanging up.  Once I hung up, I met Steve.

The cyclist that was now riding next to me introduced himself as Steve.  We began talking, and actually had a great conversation.  He does cycling races, and was out to do some hill work that day.  I explained that I was on my way to work and would be turning right when he turned left.  When we came to the intersection, I decided to go straight to add a few more miles, and Steve decided to join.  We continued talking about how he used to live in Scottsdale and always felt that a lot of the cyclists out there feel like they "own the road" and that cars should yield to them...definitely the wrong way to think (the car is going to win that battle every time).  We also talked about our bikes...he rides a '94 Trek that weighs 26 pounds, and doesn't have another bike that he races on.  Pretty impressive.  I also learned that he had a buddy who was killed in a cycling accident...run down from behind (I didn't ask when this happened, but obviously the 3 foot rule was not followed).

It was pretty awesome meeting and talking with Steve because he seemed like a very positive person and just loved riding his bike.  He just moved over into my neck of the woods, or desert I guess, so hopefully I run into this guy again and I can draft off of him for a bit!

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