Breathe

I drove over to Appalachian Ski Mountain for my first organized bike ride yesterday. It was a long 30 minutes because the entire way I was talking myself out of doing the ride. Could I last the 35 miles? I’ve biked part of the parkway and here’s a little secret, the hill from Moses Cone to Grandfather Mtn kinda sucks. So as I drove over, I knew 16 miles of that ride pretty well, what would the rest be like? I’d convinced myself that I’d just go over and check it out, maybe get the water bottle and other swag then ride the Parkway on my terms. But some very nice volunteers had me signing up with some great confidence builders, “that What you ran 7 miles yesterday? Oh, you can do this.” So with shaking hands, I signed my “you could die on this ride” waiver and got my bike out.


Here’s what I learned on the Rock The Blue Ridge Parkway Ride:

1. This WAS a ride, you tell them what time you’re leaving and off you go. Not sure what happens if you fall off a cliff.

2. It starts with a nice downhill until you get onto the parkway, the a LONG uphill that gets you in the mood for the ride, left half a lung around milepost 296, plan on going back and looking for it.

3. Riding up the long uphills, it’s all about rhythm, keep your feet going in a rhythm and the breathing then starts to mimic, even if on a few of them I sounded like one of those 1-800-HOT-CHICKS phone calls.

4. Laugh at yourself when you get lost and add another 2 miles to ride, realizing it when some guys say, “You’re doing the 75 miler too?” Sure they looked surprised, but I did too as I turned around. Wait, WHY did they look surprised?

5. Flat Top Dr is nothing but flat, very enjoyable riding the last two miles UPHILL to finish the ride. Lost another lung on that one with a few curse words that are still echoing through the mountains.

6. I can’t tell you any part of the parkway that isn’t beautiful, even climbing up Shulls Mill Road with very tired legs I marveled at the waterfalls, rhododendron, rocks as I fell over.

7. There’s nothing better than finishing up with Bluegrass, beer and bragging. Nothing tastes better than an ice cold beer when you've pushed yourself!  This also include a cool jersey and some great pictures showing I was actually there, including the lungs I left along the way (maybe someone will donate them).

The best part is pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, even if it meant going by yourself and having great conversations with yourself along the way (I only caught myself saying, “Huh” once!) Another bucket list event crossed off, wait a minute, isn’t there a 75 miler to this ride? And that, will be another story!

What’s your bucket list bicycle ride?