Do you ever get certain cravings? Ice cream, watermelon, mama’s cooking. Or wanderlust? Misadventures, exploring, new places. The pursuit of endorphins. And then toss in the emotions of nervousness and excitement. You’ve done this before but it doesn’t really make it any less daunting. The night before my first Dallas embarkment, I was just so unsure of the route, conditions, of what could happen. It was a little scary, but that adds to the fun. Fast forward to this past Tuesday; my body was craving a double century. To be out under the sun all day with wind in the hair, just me, my bike and the road. There’s just no other feeling like it. Legs spinning, heart thumping, the mind absorbing all stimuli. The pursuit of dopamine. Crushing miles at 30 mph, I lose track of time and right then and there, I’m in the zone. And you can’t shake it; sometimes you’re just in there for hours on end. So come Tuesday, I figure my legs were feeling great from the previous week of riding and decided Thursday would be the day to ride to Dallas. Great winds, no rain, mostly cloud cover. My tenth double in the bag, fifth time to Dallas. Again, huge shout out to my friend Jason for being able to take the day off and drive my car up so that we could head back home the same day. Alternate plan was to stay at my brother’s place and endure the 8 hour Amtrak ride on Friday.
There’s an important message in here somewhere. I’m not naturally gifted with this. It only came around through consistent hard work and dedication. At least in cycling, outside of the pro level, work ethic will trump natural born talent. The message is this: encourage, support and push yourself because it doesn’t matter what others think of you. Your greatest competitor is not the other guy over there; it is your past and future efforts. In due time, greatness will come and the work will have been worth it. You got this.
A few highlights
6:15 AM start, in the dark until 7:30
Sun finally peeps out at 8:30
4.5 hour centuries
Legs woke up at mile 113
The biggest rush of dopamine at mile 193
Tacos with family and friends at finish