"Committed!"

Either I am???....or maybe I should be???...I'm not sure which. We woke up to a nasty day this morning. Chilly and raining. I didn't really know what I was going to do as I was scheduled to do some kind of tough bike workout, but certainly not in this weather. As tough as I think I am, I couldn't imagine spending 4 or 5 hours out in the cold rain. I was still pondering it when Roo came back from her run with what sounded like a reasonable compromise. Ride for 50k and then run for 10. That actually sounded not bad, because I knew that if I could only endure the bike portion in this crap that the running might actually be a relief. So that became the plan. After about an hour of getting ready...shorts, hoody, shirt, tights, socks, socks again, hat, jacket, shoes, gloves camelback, energy gel and bike....not to mention that I also had to prepare, dry socks, hat, gloves, shoes, towel and water for my run afterwards, I finally headed out. I started around my 50 k loop in my normal clockwise direction, or at least up to the first corner. At that point, I considered the wind and made the decision to change direction and turned right. That meant that the first 7 k would be with the wind instead of the last 7 k against it, so of course it felt great right off.

At about 7 k however I suddenly felt something wrong with my left shoe. It seemed to have way too much movement. It didnt take me long to figure out that the cleat on the bottom of my boot had come loose. Hmmm? for a moment I considered just continuing until I realized that at the very least I could easily loose one of the 3 screws, and becasue they are special it would be a pain in the butt to replace. So picture this. Its raining pretty good by now, I'm standing on one foot in a puddle, with my bike leaning up against a hydro pole, my shoe off, trying to dig my little tool kit ouf of my bag, all the while trying to keep my unclad foot dry. Well, somehow I got the cleat tightened, got the boot back on my foot and then tried to get my tool back into the bag where it didnt want to go becuse I couldnt figure out how to collapse it again. But finally I rammed it in, and proceeded to bend down to tie my shoe, only to have my camelback slide over my shoulders and hit me in the back of the head ...nice ....remember it's 4 degrees and raining!

But I got everything back together and headed out again, and was actually still feeling ok. That lasted for about 10 minutes when I suddenly realized, guess what? Yes you got it...I was wearing 2 shoes. So after another hydro pole and another 10 minutes (both feet soaked now), and another bonk in the back of the head, I was back in the saddle again. Oh did I mention that both of my hands were wet and frozen by this time, as I had my heavy mitts, which of course I had to remove to do my repairs.

So ok, away we go again still feeling very committed, determined not to let this noise get to me. The second leg of my trip was almost wind neutral and so I was chugging along fairly well when I realized that I had to pee. I had a large coffee with my breakfast before I left and had been drinking steadily up until this point. Well on any given day in the summer this is no problem. Just pull over at a bush and do your thing. But in this case it would mean nearly undressing as I wear these suspender style shorts with 2 layers on top of them. So I had the option of holding it, or peeeing in my pants. I chose option 'b' and before you think this is pretty disgusting please know that I need to practice this anyway. It is considered perfectly normal to do so in longer triathlons and believe it or not it is not as easy to do as it sounds. After a life time of holding it there is a certain psychological barrier to just letting it run down your leg. And that's exactly what it did...run down my leg and into my left boot. How did I know this? Well easy. It was warm. Why my left leg I don't actually know, as the wind was from that side so it could not have been the cause. The only thing I can guess is that it was a factor of positioning, so to speak. I should also mention that I was a little surprised to have so much yellow liquid running down my leg as it wouldn't have done so until the chamois in my shorts was completely soaked. So now to compound wet feet, and wet hands, I was effectively riding down the road in a wet diaper!

Anyway, with a nice sense of relief, a temporarily warm left foot, and only 25 k to go I was still hanging in. Except my computer said that I had only gone 20 k, which I didn't understand as I knew very well where the halfway point of this loop was. Oh well, I probably hit the reset inadvertantly at some point or else the rain had messed with the unit, so I didn't worry about it anymore.

The next leg of about 10k was directly into the north wind, and boy it was not fun. I was barely managing 20 k/hr and my feet were starting to chill a little. Fortunately for my left leg and foot my bladder was full again. It was easier this time as my inhibitions were apparently diminishing. It was also on this section of road that I suddenly figured out that there was nothing wrong with my computer. Because of the direction change that I had made just into the ride I had cut almost 5 k off the trip! I had forgotten. Oh well I thought, 45 k would be just fine. So on home I headed. When I got there however I just couldn't accept 45 k and so I stuck the 5 k back in at the end, and arrived home glad to be there.

So into the back room; dry socks, hat gloves and shoes and away I went again. Of course I was still in my wet diaper. After 5 minutes I had a loose shoe lace which I had to retie 3 times before I got it right, but lo and behold the rest of the run was uneventful and much to my surprise, actually fairly easy.

So in the end, my 50k bike ride took about 2 hours, my little transition about 10 minutes, and my 10k was actually under 55 minutes, which pleasantly surprised me.
And that was that....committed! or committed?

Before I go I need to tell you briefly about our visitor of yesterday. Janine Grespan of CTV news. She was a very outgoing, animated, bright lady and Roo and I had a good visit with her and the cameraman Buck. They took me out and did a bunch of filming on my bike which I really enjoyed, and then there was probably a half hour of interview. The 2 segments of about 2 1/2 minutes each will air on November 25th and December 2nd during the six oclock CTV Southwestern Ontario news. Unfortunately we do not get the right channel here as it is only on cable so we may have to go and visit somebody a few times. She also said it would probably air on the noon news the following day(s).

I wish to dedicate day 59 to my brother in law 'beaudacious' Bernie, who knows what commitment means.

“There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.---Unknown

AND

“The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'.---Unknown

love
peter