I set out this morning intending JUST to go for a bit of a bike ride on my new chocolate coloured Norco Bush Pilot Bike ... I headed out to the dam (my usual route) and decided to turn left rather than right as I crossed the east side of the spillway. Had I gone right I would have looped around the buffalo pen, headed west to the Husky Ethanol Plant, then returned home within 20 minutes ... Instead, I turned left and began heading north on Provincial Road 262 ... the question a friend asked yesterday was rattling in my brain:"Have you made it to Clanwilliam on your bike yet?" She had asked with a smile.
I answered honestly, "Not yet, but I WILL ..."
With my decision to turn left came the commitment to TRY and reach Clanwilliam ...
It took an hour and a half with the return trip ... there were moments when the knots in my thighs brought tears to my eyes, there were climbs up hills that caused my knees to throb with pain, and there were moments when I wondered what-the-hell am I thinking?
BUT ... I not only reached Clanwilliam ... I rode THROUGH town to stop at the cemetery on the north side of town for good measure!!!!
To be honest - the ride there was far easier than the ride back ... with the wind in my face and my legs tired from the accumulated distance covered, the ride back to Minnedosa was tough ... but with each pedal stroke I got closer to my goal ... in the face of the dull ache that settled in on my legs as I pushed farther than I had biked in YEARS, I focused on THIS pedal stroke ... and THIS metre of road ... and THIS hill rather than how much more distance I had to cover to get back to Dosa ...
My legs ached ... my back was throbbing ... my shoulders were knotting up ... and my wrists were in agony ... but metre by metre ... breath by breath ... pedal stroke by pedal stroke ...I not covered the distance, I managed to do close to 40 kms (25miles) this morning on my bike and it FELT GREAT !!!!
Now my shower beckons ...
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