Falling Flat

This weekend: meltdown!

Actually, the weather was lovely, I just almost lost it!

A local bike shop offers weekly group rides (supposedly) for beginners on Saturday mornings at 10am. I figured since the bike has taken a backseat to running (because I love it) and swimming (because I hate it/can't do it), I should give it some love.

With great bravado, I went to the bike shop and waited outside. Since it was a beginner's ride, I figured I would at least be middle of the pack, as I am, arguably, in good shape.

Oh no, no, no. I was met by a LOT of yuppies on fancy bikes with padded bike shorts, clip in shoes, at least 3 bottles of water attached on their bikes, fancy sunglasses...they were intimidating to say the least. I started to feel panicky, wondering if I had come to the right group ride, but no one else seemed to have ever gone to the Sunday ride (which is SUPPOSED to be for intense, crazy cyclists!). However, everyone was really very nice. They were all encouraging, eager to answer my questions and support me in my silly efforts of riding my ancient (CLASSIC) bike through Washington, DC. HA! Victory! I will conquer my fears! I kept telling myself that even if I looked stupid on a bike, even if everyone has to wait for me after a hill or a tough spot, I will still go and do my best because that's how you learn. I'm ok with looking dumb.

So we set off!

And when we got across the street, the group leader pointed out that I had a flat tire already!

So I walked back to the bike store, dropped off my bike, went over to my boyfriend's apartment and proceeded to bawl. Because I am a mature grown up and a tough athlete.

Here's the thing (which I pointed out to my boyfriend several times): I can handle the race being hard. I can handle tough training. I can handle falling off and scraping my leg open. What I cannot stand is not even being able to START my training. It brought me down so low this weekend that I even talked about backing out of this stupid triathlon. I mean, I was looking for a challenge, but I want to be able to actually finish! I guess there's that whole element of, be careful what you wish for. This is a bigger challenge than I realized it would be. Don't ask me WHY I thought a triathlon would be easy, I just thought it would.

In the end, I went out for a run and then came back and got back on the stupid bike. Instead of going for a group ride, I went for a date ride, meaning that my boyfriend helped me get back out on the road. Which was much more fun than a group ride anyway :)

Also, on Sunday I went out to the park by my house and did "yoga in the park." Free yoga! Do you know what a great deal this is?? Yoga at a studio costs anywhere from $15-$20 per session. And it was so much more interesting to do yoga outside. I could let my mind wander a lot more and I didn't really need to listen to the instructor - I just watched what other people were doing and listened to the drum circle playing nearby. I would absolutely recommend doing Yoga in the Park - it is a great way to get introduced to yoga in a non-threatening setting.